Shingles symptoms

        One of the things that most people know about shingles is that it is a skin problem. For every known fact about the shingles disease, there are about five things that people are unaware of. The most surprising truth about shingles is that almost everyone has had it or will develop it at some point in their life. That might explain why the shingles symptoms are so easy to miss if the disease does not develop a rather serious form.

       The very first shingles symptom in the book can be mind - blowing for some persons. When the patient visits the dermatologist on a suspicion of shingles, the first question that comes out of their attending physicians' mouth is not the classical and expected "does it itch?", but rather the seemingly completely unconnected "have you ever had chicken pox?". Yes, the first shingles symptom can date back to the patients' early childhood. Yes, it is chicken pox. Now, every informed sufferer will ask their dermatologist for the reason behind that question. The answer is pretty obvious, but completely unknown to the general population: the same virus that causes chicken pox when the patient is a child will be the pathogen agent for the shingles that appear when the person becomes an adult. It is completely possible for the sufferer to have missed this original shingles symptom by a mile, but the physician will not.

       Now, the most important piece of information that an affected person needs to have is that shingles develops in stages. This allows us to arrive at the right conclusion: shingle symptoms depend on the stage of the disease. In some cases, the shingles symptoms coincide from stage to stage, but most people present with distinct sets of symptoms. This not only makes the shingles diagnosis easier, but it also allows the physician to establish the proper course of treatment for the patient.

Shingles symptoms pictures

        ...read more about shingles contagious: Shingles contagious

        ...read more about shingles treatment: Shingles treatment

        From the moment that the chicken pox virus reactivates in the patients' body to the moment that the prodromal stage (pre - rash stage), the person will work his or her way through a cascade of shingles symptoms that are easily mistook for anything else. Basically, this branch of shingles symptoms includes the following: headache, sensitivity to light, flu - like symptoms and absolutely no feverish attacks. Obviously, all of this can be a sign of pretty much every other disease out there, be it dermatological or not. However, there is one shingles symptom that will start to point the patient in the right direction: a small portion of skin will itch. First, only a few spots will turn redder than the skin surrounding them. After a few days, the spots will connect and a thin strip of skin will appear, redder and itchier than before. In about a week, the strip will enlarge and a band, about ten centimeters in length, will start to develop. At first, the itching is insurmountable, but in a couple of days, it too will disappear and the patient is left with a red band of skin. This kind of shingles symptom does not limit itself to one area of skin, but it can appear all over the place, in random spots.

       Once the band is fully formed, the first stage of shingles can begin its evolution. The prodromal stage presents, mostly, with the same shingles symptoms that the pre - prodromal stage has: pain, burning, tickling, tingling, numbing of the affected areas. The numbness can appear as long as five weeks before the actual rash shows up and it often goes undetected because of its placement. For example, it is unlikely for a person to feel the numbness of a ten by ten centimeters portion of skin on their lower back. These shingles symptoms are usually common on the chest and the back, but can appear on the belly, the head, the face, the neck and even on the arms and legs. As the disease progresses, but still finds itself in the prodromal stage, the patient can experience flu - like symptoms: headache, stomachache, chills and diarrhea. Unlike the flu, there is no fever whatsoever. Finally, just as the rash appears, pain and swelling of the lymph nodes occurs, alerting the sufferer that something is wrong with their body.

        ...read more about shingles symptoms in pregnancy: Shingles symptoms in pregnancy

       The second stage of shingles is called the active stage. Basically, this is the time where everything happens. The rash begins to develop and is fully formed in about seven days. At first, an angry red strip will make its appearance on one side of the body. Shingles never affects both sides of the body. After a while, some pustules will develop on top of the red strip of skin, filled with clear liquid. If nothing is done in the meantime, the liquid will turn cloudy in a couple of days. Usually, the rash is not dangerous, but if it affects the face area, then things can get a bit tricky: too close to the eyes and the patient might be left blind, too close to the nose and he or she might suffocate and too close to the mouth and the virus might reenter the body in a modified form and wreak all sorts of havoc in there. In essence, the only perilous location of the shingles rash is the face. Also, along with the rash, pain is an important shingles symptom. Patients often describe it as "needles piercing the skin" or "feels like getting tattooed".

       After about three to five days from the moment when the pustules' liquid turned cloudy, the little bags will rupture, crust over and, eventually, heal. Only rarely do shingles patients heal completely, with their skin left perfectly unblemished. Scars usually accompany the kinds of skin problems caused by this particular pathogen agent. With the sickness running its due course, the shingles symptoms disappear along with the crusts, though some extreme sensitivity to touch remains, as a reminder of the infected areas.