The nasty secret you didn't know about the chickenpox virus
Did you have the pleasure of experiencing chickenpox (varicella zoster) as a child? Well I did, and I don’t remember any one telling me that it could happen again later in life in the form of the shingles virus (herpes zoster). As a child, I like many others experienced the small discomfort of chickenpox, the bumps, the itching, and the lotion you had to put on them.
Unfortunately, for me it did not end there.
Twenty years later, there I am, Sgt. Chilly, United States Army fighting in Afghanistan not
realizing that my life is about to change in a painful way. It started on January 1, 2011 when my truck rolled of the side of a mountain due to faulty roads. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt just a few bumps and bruises, or so I thought. After a full examination by the medics, I am sent to my quarters to recover from what appears to be a dislocated and bruised shoulder. However, unbeknownst to the medics or myself, I was exhibiting the first signs of the shingles virus, “PAIN”. What the medics thought was pain associated with the
accident was actually pain from the shingles virus. The pain was quite extreme radiating from my spinal cord around the side of my torso, extending under my armpit and ending at my pectoral.
Now, for those who are not familiar with the shingles virus, according to Mayo clinic “shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox.
After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso” (na, 2012).
Subsequently, this is exactly what was happening to me, and for the next three days, I was in excruciating pain. After multiple visits to see the medic and to no avail a rash appeared. It was at this moment, that the PA finally had that great moment of epiphany and said, “you have the shingles”. Of course, I am at this time a young man of only 27 years and I have never even heard of the shingles so I ask, “the what?” After a brief description of what
the shingles are she laughs and says, “You’re too young to have the shingles, so I didn’t even think of that”. Well let’s just say I was not laughing with her as it felt like someone was burning me with a blow torch from my back around to my chest.
Now, here I am thinking, “Ok, what a place to get the shingles”. The next thought that crosses my mind is, “How did I even get the shingles since I was only 27”? Well, as I was soon to learn it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you had the chickenpox then you can certainly find yourself in a world of hurt battling the herpes zoster virus. Only there is nothing you can actually do except take the meds and suffer through some of the most excruciating pain you will ever experience in your life.
I have to say though, my friend the PA had a blast with this because I was the youngest case of shingles that she had ever experienced. She was just happy, every day for the next three weeks I was in her office so she could take pictures and document the case for her personal records. I did manage to learn quite a bit about the virus, its origin, mutation, and some things that can trigger the virus to activate a debilitate its poor sufferer.
Unfortunately, for me it did not end there.
Twenty years later, there I am, Sgt. Chilly, United States Army fighting in Afghanistan not
realizing that my life is about to change in a painful way. It started on January 1, 2011 when my truck rolled of the side of a mountain due to faulty roads. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt just a few bumps and bruises, or so I thought. After a full examination by the medics, I am sent to my quarters to recover from what appears to be a dislocated and bruised shoulder. However, unbeknownst to the medics or myself, I was exhibiting the first signs of the shingles virus, “PAIN”. What the medics thought was pain associated with the
accident was actually pain from the shingles virus. The pain was quite extreme radiating from my spinal cord around the side of my torso, extending under my armpit and ending at my pectoral.
Now, for those who are not familiar with the shingles virus, according to Mayo clinic “shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox.
After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso” (na, 2012).
Subsequently, this is exactly what was happening to me, and for the next three days, I was in excruciating pain. After multiple visits to see the medic and to no avail a rash appeared. It was at this moment, that the PA finally had that great moment of epiphany and said, “you have the shingles”. Of course, I am at this time a young man of only 27 years and I have never even heard of the shingles so I ask, “the what?” After a brief description of what
the shingles are she laughs and says, “You’re too young to have the shingles, so I didn’t even think of that”. Well let’s just say I was not laughing with her as it felt like someone was burning me with a blow torch from my back around to my chest.
Now, here I am thinking, “Ok, what a place to get the shingles”. The next thought that crosses my mind is, “How did I even get the shingles since I was only 27”? Well, as I was soon to learn it doesn’t matter how old you are, if you had the chickenpox then you can certainly find yourself in a world of hurt battling the herpes zoster virus. Only there is nothing you can actually do except take the meds and suffer through some of the most excruciating pain you will ever experience in your life.
I have to say though, my friend the PA had a blast with this because I was the youngest case of shingles that she had ever experienced. She was just happy, every day for the next three weeks I was in her office so she could take pictures and document the case for her personal records. I did manage to learn quite a bit about the virus, its origin, mutation, and some things that can trigger the virus to activate a debilitate its poor sufferer.