hi i am 18 years old and i have had shingles twice. the first time it was when i was 7, on my chest and back. then, about 4 months ago, i got it on my right hand. it is still painful and – being on my writing hand – is a problem. it started just before my a levels and i could barely write anything in them and was sick throughout them all (results this thursday, waiting to see if i've done enough to make my uni offer!) my advice is to see your doctor straight away if you suspect shingles because – as i have found – it can be very problematic if not treated straight away. anti-viral medication is usually only effective if started within the first 48 hours apparently. good luck and get well soon if you are unlucky enough to get it! :D xx

Hi i have a friend and not so long ago her mum got shingles, my friend has got a boyfriend but she went on holiday and came back saying that she had caught a simailar thing of her mum, but what i don't understand is she had problems down below and found it hard to use the toilet on her own and couldn't share drinks or any thing else, i thought it sounded like herpes and i think she might of cheated on her boyfriend. please help me because i am worried for a friend.

Around when i was in year 3, I caught the chicken pox. I think while I had chicken pox i caught something else I don't know what it was but i have these annoying keloids on my skin because of it.I'm in going into year 10 now.
can i get anything to help them go away?

Hey
IM a 20 year old girl!
Fit and healthy and ever now again i get this red rash on my face..about ten yours ago it started and was really bad, very itchy and it blister and i went to the doctors and they transfered me to hospital and i was told it was shingles with a secoundary infection. But evey since then i keep getting a rash there..maybe once in a blue moon. But a few days ago it came back..in the same place as it always does..but it was worse this time…went to the doctors again and they said it was a coldsore and give me some cream…but woke up the next morning and it was evening worse..had spread and got more redder and had started to blister…went to another doctor and said it was shingles! But how come i just get it in the one place? Isnt shingles meant to be over your body and plus my shingles doesnt hurt me at all!

HI
MY DAUGHTER HAS HAS SHINGLES 6 TIMES AND HAS JUST GOT THEM FOR THE SEVENT TIME ,SHE IS IN A LOT OF PAIN THIS TIME,I WENT ON TO A AMERICAN SIGHT AND THEY SAID ZOMIDEX CREAM FOR THE BLISTERS AND ZOSTAVAX TABLETS HELP PREVENT SHINGLES .PLEASE CAN YOU TELL ME IF YOU HAVE HEARD OF THESE TWO ITEMS,AND IF SO ARE THEY ANY GOOD FOR THE CONDITION.

I too have small like blisters which I have had for years, usually on my right foot around the heal,i too have recently developed patches on my bum cheeks, and on the inside of 1 thigh, they itch like hell and then the skin peels off, I have had loads of prescriptions of different sorts of cream from the doctors and most don't work and some have made it worse.
i have bought a spray for athletes foot called MYCOTA, it stings when you first put it on but i think it helps. My doctor was puzzled by this, so I have given up asking for help from them.
I thought I saw on an Emb bod programme the same condition, but I don't know what episode, or what it was called any help?

I have a 19 year old friend who got the shingles not long after her grandmother passing, as a result one morning she woke up to find that she could not move her arm when her mother took her to hospital she was told that the shingles had affected her nervous system when she was discharged from hospital six weeks later she had lost the use of her leg and also any feeling in it, after years of hospital visits and different treatments, she seemed to be making really good progress, she still had no feeling in her leg but she was walking with the aid of a stick. Then in november 2008 she came down with glandular fever which completly knocked her for six and in january 2009 she again got the shingles but this time they were all in her mouth . All the inside of her moutrh is black and her bottom lip hangs down which cracks and bleeds constantly she has had stitches put in it but no sooner is she home when they break and she is back to square one. As you can imangine at the age of 19 that this is of a great upset for her, she is a fantastic girl and has great parents but all of them now are wondering if they will ever see the end of the line with it. If anyone has had a simalar expereince please help her with whatever information you can give.

Hi, I have a reacurring rash, which started on my right foot, looks like pin heads then it dries up and the skin peels off but itches like hell. This I had for two years on and off. Now it's also around my middle and on my bum also my chest is affected. I am 55 years old. Been to the Dr. several times. He never gave me a diagnosis, he gave me some cream and some anti-hystomins, but nothing helps, as fast as one cluster heals, another one appears. HELP !!!

Hi I have had Shingles a few years ago,but have now got them again or so my GP thinks as I have them on both sides of my body which Ive been told this in uncommon. They are on my arms and I have been getting a dull ache down my arms it feels like a dead arm. I was just really worried as they say its serious if it affects both sides of body help. I would love someone to say that they have had it twice and on both sides of body to feel reasurred.

hi i am 14 years old and i caught the shingles and my GP and my mum found it very very weird for me to have it at a young age at first my mum said not too worry as she thought that it was only an insect bite until i started to get groups of these growing round my waist but liuckly i got the medication and i now only have very itchy scars