According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 3 people will acquire shingles in their lifetime. This risk increases as you age, especially over 50. Even if you are under 50, however, you can get shingles. Trust me, I know.
I use to think that people under 60 just didn’t get shingles, and to be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what shingles even was. Once I returned from a bus trip to New York City, I begin to feel worn down and had itchy, burning spots on my back. I discovered that shingles could happen to anyone (if they have had chicken pox). If you have had chicken pox, the virus is inactive in the roots of your nerves. If you have not had chicken pox, then you can get chicken pox from the shingles virus.
The trip was a whirlwind weekend filled with hours upon hours of attempting to sleep on a bus to walking around New York to traveling back on the same bus feeling exhausted and dirty. This created the perfect storm in my body to contract the varicella-zoster virus, herpes zoster or, more commonly known as, shingles. It couldn’t have been a worse time for me to get struck with illness. It was the middle of October during my senior year; a time when I had observations, papers, and class projects due that I could not afford to miss.
It started with painful bumps on my back that were only irritated when I took a shower. After a week, I would not leave my bed unless I had class or student teaching, and I was barely eating. My sister gave me an informal diagnosis of “yeah that looks poisonous—I’m not touching it” before I went to an actual doctor. The doctor said that I was already passed the point of contagious and that she could only prescribe me something for the pain and an antiviral medication that she said probably would not do much for me since I was in a late stage of the virus. By this point, my little bumps had turned into pea-sized blisters that made it painful to even wear clothes. I was told that because the virus was on the left side of my back, that if I got shingles again, it would be on that side again. The doctor also said I was lucky to not have the rash on my face because it could cause blindness if it got into my eye.
All those commercials involving old people and their shingles rashes do not represent all the other people that get this painful virus. Every 1 in 1,000 20-somethings get the shingles virus each year according to the CDC. Although people younger than this targeted age get the virus, the Federal Drug Administration only approves the vaccine for those 50 and older, leaving those younger to suffer with the pain and irritation that the virus causes. Pain does not just stop when the virus stops. One complication that can occur is Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN). This complication is described as continuous nerve pain after the virus has left the body. This nerve pain can last anywhere from 30-90 days.
For at least a month I was plagued with the pain on my back from the blisters. Even after the rash cleared, I had nerve pain for months. I felt like I had Voldemort attached to me causing the worst pain imaginable. I was told that I contracted the virus because I was not getting enough sleep and my immune system was run down. I thought back to the many times I had gone out with friends on cold nights and stayed up far too late. I wondered how I had not caught the virus before, or how was I the only person I knew to get shingles? With so many people in college wearing their immune systems down and not sleeping, one would think it would be more prevalent.
Because I have had shingles once, I have an increased chance of getting the virus again. If I get the virus when I am pregnant or around pregnant women, there could be detrimental effects to the baby. I also have to wait 30-some odd years to be able to take the vaccine for shingles. It is not something I am excited for, but it is something that I have to deal with.
