I got shingles at age 45 and here's what I learned

I'm not a medical professional but I can now tell you a lot more about shingles than I could three weeks ago.

This is how getting shingles made me feel. Photo by Jorg Karg on Unsplash

Listeners of the weekly MMA podcast I co-host with my friend Ben Fowlkes sometimes call me “Old Man Dundas,” because of my generally cantankerous attitude, inability to relate to The Youngs and difficulty navigating new technology.

A couple weeks ago I set a new personal record for the Most Old Man Dundas Thing That Has Ever Happened to Me:

I got shingles —  as in, the disease not the “rectangular tile of asphalt composite, wood, metal or slate used on walls and roofs.”

Crazy, right?

If you’re like me — old, but not actually THAT old (45) — you’ve probably never even considered shingles. Before this, my knowledge of shingles was basically zero. My only conception of it was as something my grandma would casually mention over her coffee when I was little.

Like, “That Gertrude’s shingles are acting up again.”

Or

“Don from the rotary club is having a terrible time with his shingles.”

There was a reason for my ignorance. Shingles typically only affects people over 50 (which I’m not … quite) or people with compromised immune systems (which I have no reason to believe I am) or people who are under stress (which, OK fine, that’s totally me like all the time).

But shingles is becoming more common among younger people. This is something I only learned after the fact. Hence, the reason I’m writing this. Not to be a fear monger here, but I want to warn my Fellow Kids™ that shingles is a thing that can happen to you — and honestly, it’s not that cool.

At the end of summer, when I got a strange, blotchy rash in the middle of my back I had no reason to think it was cause for alarm. I probably wouldn’t even have noticed it if my wife hadn’t pointed it out to me.

For a week or so before that, I’d experienced some minor itching back there but chalked it up to a terrible late-summer sunburn I got taking my kids to the waterpark.

Another lesson learned: Don’t trust your 10-year-old to put sunscreen on your back.

But a couple days later, the rash started getting worse. I’ll spare you the terrible details, except to say: blisters, dude.

So, I went to the walk-in clinic and took my shirt off in front of a doctor. She immediately said (seriously, without any time to think about it at all): “Yep, you have shingles.”

Shit.

A much cooler kind of shingles.

Thus person who — according to statistics — isn’t really supposed to get it.

Now, look, a disclaimer: I’m not doctor. I’m just a big dumb idiot who got shingles, so be warned. It’s possible I got some of the following information wrong and if you believe you have shingles you should go take your clothes off in front of an actual medical professional.

Anyway, here’s what I learned:

What even IS shingles?

Shingles is a reactivation of the chicken pox virus in your body. Again, crazy, right? If you’ve had chicken pox before — which you almost certainly have if you went to elementary school in the 1980s — the virus stays in your body for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

I did not know this. Apparently, the virus frequently hides out in the nooks and crannies around your spine (gross!). This is mostly fine, but sometimes, without warning, it can reactivate and cause this weird rash.

And that kinda sucks.

Where on your body can you get shingles?

Anywhere! The weirdest part, however, is that since shingles affects the nerves, you generally only get it on one side of the body. Insane! The rash moves away from the spine down the nerves, so the redness and irritation typically form in a horizontal band around your trunk.

This is sort of what happened to me. The rash didn’t really spread, but I had a red splotch on my back about an inch to the right of my spine and a couple of spots on the right side of my chest that were all essentially in the same latitude.

What does shingles feel like?

It burns! And itches. Some people experience a lot of pain, but my case was mild (*taps fist on chest, points thankfully at the sky*). It was more annoying than anything else. Again, I’m told this usually corresponds with age — younger people tend to have an easier time than older, etc. etc.  But at times the itch got bad enough that I wanted to cozy up to a tree and rub my back against it like a damn grizzly bear. Unfortunately, if you scratch, that makes it worse.

Isn’t that always the way?

Ahhhh, that’s that stuff. Photo by Stephanie LeBlanc on Unsplash

Because the virus travels down the nerves, you also feel the pain in places where you don’t even have the rash. For me, though the rash was small and localized to the middle of my back, I could feel the pain all the way over to the armpit and up my shoulder. It was disconcerting.

How bad can shingles get?

Pretty bad! Much worse than what I got. My advice is DO NOT do a google image search for shingles unless you want to see some super gnarly stuff.

How long does shingles last?

The rash usually lasts a week or two but can stick around longer. Mine only lasted a week after I got on the proper medication. It scabbed over (I know, sorry, I’m terrible) and healed up quickly. You can still see a faint red spot on my back, but it looks to be on its way out.

BUUUUUT the residual nerve pain can last days, weeks, months or in some rarer cases the rest of your life. I can still feel the nerve pain at times, but it’s getting better, so I’m hoping I don’t turn out to be part of the “rest of your life” crowd.

Is shingles contagious?

Not really*. It sounds like if someone comes up and rubs themself directly on your shingles rash while it’s still in its prime, they might get it. But shingles ain’t exactly COVID. Usually, you won’t spread it to anybody else.

(*UPDATE: A friend of mine, who IS a trained medical professional says: “Shingles isn't technically contagious in that it can cause more shingles, but an active case of shingles can spread chickenpox and be very serious for babies and young kids who haven't had the chickenpox vaccine (the final dose typically happens at 4-6 years old), pregnant women, or older and immune compromised people whose immunity to chicken pox is waning or compromised.)

What’s the scariest part of shingles?

The scariest part is that sometimes you can get shingles in your eye. In your eye! According to my online research, this can be pretty serious. It can form lesions on your eyeball and cornea and lead to permanent vision loss. If you think you have shingles in your eye (it’s usually, but not always, accompanied by a facial rash, I’m told) you should go see a doctor right away.

I didn’t have a facial rash, but I did experience some irritation in my eye. I went back to the doctor, who looked in there and said I was OK. There was no reason to believe the irritation was caused by shingles. Shingles can also give you pink eye or other minor discomfort, so that’s likely what was going on with me. It has since cleared up.

Uh-oh. Photo by ahmad gunnaivi on Unsplash

What should you do if you think you have shingles?

The most unfair part is, if you think you have shingles, you’re supposed to seek medical care within 72 hours. This is particularly shitty because, if you happen to be a generally healthy person under 50, how the hell would you ever guess that you had shingles in the first place? I certainly did not.

The 72-hour recommendation is so they can start you on an antiviral medication before the reactivated virus really establishes itself in your body. Don’t despair, though. I didn’t start the antiviral until after 72 hours and it still worked like a charm.

What do they do about shingles?

Shingles is a virus, so they can’t out-and-out kill the thing with medicine, but there is an effective antiviral medication. I did a seven-day round of Valtrex, which stops the virus from replicating and allows your body’s immune system to take it out. At least, I think that’s what it does. Again, I repeat, not a doctor.

Can you prevent shingles?

You can certainly reduce your risk. There’s a vaccine for shingles! Yet another thing I did not know before my own shingles journey. I’m betting if you are Generally Young you don’t know that, either. The vaccine isn’t usually offered to people under 50, but for obvious reasons I have come to believe that’s some horseshit. If I were you, I’d still try to go get it. If you have a doctor (which, if you’re under 50 and live in America: hahaha lol) ask if you can get the shingles vaccine.

Even if your case doesn’t get overly serious, my newly informed opinion is that it’s better NOT to get shingles than to get it.

Shingles. It’s not just for Gertrude anymore.