http://www.contagiousshingles.com Are shingles contagious? What are the symptoms of shingles? Best shingles treatment? Learn all about shingles and find ways to ease the pain. en-US Wed, 3 Feb 2010 23:45:40 +0000 http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Contagious/index.php At its dark ugly heart, the shingles disease is a viral infection that outwardly displays itself as a painful and unsightly rash. Although shingles can appear anywhere on the body, the blisters most commonly form a band wrapping from the middle of the back around one side to the chest's center. Doctors say that the varicella-zoster virus sometimes lies dormant in nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain, later reactivating as the extremely painful shingles.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Contagious/shingles-vaccine.php The shingles virus is an unsightly belt-like rash accompanied by pain, which is a form of chickenpox that usually comes later in life. The visible symptoms last 2-4 weeks, as do other symptoms like fatigue, headaches, fever, chills, body aches and discomfort. Of those who develop shingles, 1 in 5 suffer a serious complication known as post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), which means the pain lingers long after the blistering sores have gone.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Contagious/shingles-virus.php "Shingles is actually the reactivation of the chickenpox virus," Dr. Jennifer Ashton explains on the CBS Early Show. "So if you've had the chickenpox, you can get shingles and in fact, about a million Americans get it every year.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Symptoms/index.php Shingles is an infection of the skin that is caused by the varicella zoster virus. People that have shingles develop the condition in childhood in the form of chicken pox, but there are also a few adults that contract the shingles symptoms as well. The virus can remain dormant in the bloodstream for years before it becomes noticeable, so you'll need to make sure that you are continuously aware of the symptoms if you or your child have had chicken pox in the past.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Symptoms/shingles-herpes.php The frightening thing about shingles herpes, genital herpes and oral herpes is that once you've got it, you're stuck with it. While there are treatments and pain medicine options aimed at soothing an acute outbreak, the virus still lies dormant in the cells for years and years. Currently, researchers are learning more about how killer T-cells get inadvertently "turned off" by this family of viruses -- not to mention HIV, another immune-attacking virus.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Symptoms/shingles-pain.php Most adults can still recall the mental and physical pain of childhood chickenpox. We remember the baking soda baths, the calamine lotion, the intense urge to itch our scabs until they bled, the feverishness, the fatigue, the embarrassment of being covered in those hideous red dots and the solitude of being locked away until healed. Later in life, the virus can re-emerge again as shingles, an even more painful version of the herpes virus.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Symptoms/shingles-rash.php Sometimes people are confused when they see the telltale signs of a shingles rash. "Looks like I have a spider bite," some people say initially. Then, later, they surmise, "Perhaps it's just hives -- an allergic reaction to something.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Treatment/index.php You'll know you need shingles treatment straight away if you've been having pain and a rash appears. "If you have pain, and then a rash, that's an important signal," says Dr. Karl Beutner MD, PhD.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Treatment/treatment-for-shingles.php Without treatment for shingles, many older patients develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a severe, excruciating painful rash. Doctors estimate that 1 in 4 patients with shingles will develop this condition, even if they are treated quickly with antiviral medication. However, if they do not seek treatment right away at the sight of the rash, then the odds increase to 1 in 2.[...] http://www.contagiousshingles.com/Shingles-Treatment/treatment-of-shingles.php Varicella zoster is also sometimes called the "chickenpox virus." Once a person has the pox, a little bit of the viral coding is saved in the spinal cord and reactivates decades later when the immune system has been weakened through illness, chemotherapy, old age or other circumstances. Once it's reawakened, the virus travels horizontally across the body, down nerve pathways, and in a belt-like formation around one side of the abdomen, chest or eye.[...]