Everyone knows about the chickenpox. When you are a child you remember the
unbearable itch of the red annoying spots that are all over your body. I have thankfully never had to experience
this. But, in your time Dad, it was the
common thing to get. Parents even took
their children over to other homes so they could catch that nasty bug and get
it over with. It was thought to build
your immunity. However, today we are
seeing the booming repercussions of that chickenpox case that you had years
ago. It is known is Shingles. This infection presents as a painful rash,
anywhere over the body. However, it is
most common to appear in a stripe of blisters on your torso (Mayo Clinic, 2015).
It is a remnant of the varicella zoster virus, the same virus that causes the
chickenpox (Mayo Clinic, 2015). The
virus has hidden in the nerves of your body for all of these years, and it
finally decided to strike when you least expected it to.
http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/03/scariest-reason-shingles-vaccine
Even though you experienced Shingles about 3
years ago from today, you are still living with effects today. Although the condition is not life
threatening, the pain can be unbearable (Mayo Clinic, 2015). I know you have unanswered questions that I
will never be able to answer, but someone else may find this blog when they are
suffering from shingles in the moment. I
want to talk to you about what the virus is, what it does, who it affects, how
to treat it, and how nurses (or soon to be nurses like myself) can help
you. Hopefully one day they will figure
out how to help the pain you are experiencing, but until then, we can only help
out others from contracting this virus in the first place.
References:
Mayo Clinic. 2015. Diseases and Conditions: Shingles.
Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/shingles/basics/definition/con-20019574
Photo:
Goldberg, C. March 8, 2013. Common Health. The Scariest Reason to get the Shingles Vaccine. Retrieved from http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/03/scariest-reason-shingles-vaccine
