Originally posted by: Baked
Originally posted by: bctbct
Should have posted earlier, within the first 5 posts someone would have told you had the herp.
Would you like some?
I had shingles, what a bitch. I felt healthy enough, it just itched something fierce and I was pretty desperate for some relief. I went to the local drug emporium a few times and bought a variety of lotions. Also contacted the federal government, who will send you stuff about shingles. By the time that info came I was way past the worst phase and it was useless to me... i.e. many weeks. Having done research, I realize that the same virus that can give you shingles can give you meningitis, potentially very serious, even deadly. It's also the same virus that give you chicken pox, and people who get that always have the virus in their system. Normally, after the chicken pox goes away the virus doesn't cause any symptoms but stays dormant, and is thought to reside in your spine. Some people at some later time in their life experience further effects from the virus, generally being a shingles attack, which is usually not dangerous so much as a rather uncomfortable condition that subsides and goes away after some weeks. Meningitis, is probably the most dangerous possible effect of the virus. Shingles usually only happens once to a person if it happens at all. I think it can happen more than once, but my impression is that recurrence of shingles is fairly uncommon.