Internal shingles can cause symptoms such as persistent pain, fever, cough, abdominal pain, and headache . When shingles affects internal organs, it’s a serious complication that requires urgent medical attention.
Can shingles spread to your stomach?
Shingles usually affects a specific area on one side of the body and doesn’t cross over the midline of the body (an imaginary line running from between your eyes down past the belly button). Any part of your body can be affected, including your face and eyes, but the chest and abdomen (tummy) are the most common areas .
Can shingles pass the midline?
A typical shingles eruption never crosses the midline of the body and occurs only on one side: right or left. Extremely rare cases of shingles may become diffuse and spread to the entire body in patients with very compromised immune systems.
What can be mistaken for shingles?
Shingles can sometimes be mistaken for another skin conditions, such as hives, psoriasis, or eczema .
What triggers a shingles outbreak?
Shingles is caused when the chickenpox virus is reactivated . After a person has had chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in certain nerves for many years. Shingles is more common in people with weakened immune systems, and in people over the age of 50.
What is the most painful stage of shingles?
Typically, the peak pain of shingles is felt within 4 or 5 days after the first symptoms develop , and it comes along with a blistering rash. As the blisters scab over, the pain usually starts to disappear. In some cases, the pain does not go away. This is known as a condition called postherpetic neuralgia.
Will shingles go away if left untreated?
Shingles, or herpes zoster, usually clears up in 2 to 4 weeks . However, as the infection can spread to other organs, it may lead to serious and potentially life-threatening complications if left untreated.
How long do you feel unwell with shingles?
How long does shingles last? Most cases of shingles last three to five weeks . The first sign is often burning or tingling pain; sometimes it includes numbness or itching on one side of the body. Somewhere between one and five days after the tingling or burning feeling on the skin, a red rash will appear.
Can shingles appear in multiple places?
The rash can appear on any part of your body, but it typically appears on one side of your trunk or torso . The location of a shingles rash depends on which nerve in your body the virus spreads from. Usually, the rash is contained in one or two areas of your skin called dermatomes.
Why do shingles not cross the midline?
The body is split into two halves. This is because each nerve runs from one side of the spine in the back to the middle of the front of the body and does not cross this midline. This is important when considering the rash of shingles.
Can shingles affect both sides?
Very rarely, shingles can cause more widespread infection, or can affect both sides of the body, but this is usually only in people with a weakened immune system . The most commonly involved nerves are those supplying the skin on the chest or tummy (abdomen). The upper face (including an eye) is also a common site.
What does mild shingles look like?
Raised red rash which usually appears a few days after the pain. Multiple blisters which appear in a stripe pattern. The blisters contain fluid and they break open with crusting.
Can you get shingles on your legs and ankles?
While a shingles outbreak usually appears as a band across one side of your torso, it can appear anywhere on your body, including your leg and groin .
What do shingle spots look like?
The rash appears as blotches on your skin, on 1 side of your body only . A rash on both the left and right of your body is unlikely to be shingles. The blotches become itchy blisters that ooze fluid. A few days later, the blisters dry out and scab.
What age are you most likely to get shingles?
That’s why shingles tends to be more common in people older than 50 . The risk of shingles continues to increase as people age. Some experts estimate that half the people who live to age 85 will get shingles at some point. Shingles can affect younger people, too, as a result of factors that can affect the immune system.
How painful is shingles on a scale of 1 to 10?
“Shingles is extremely painful,” Wigand-Bolling said. “On a scale from one to 10, most patients will say the pain ranges from six to 10 .” Between 1 and 5 days after the first symptoms occur, a rash will develop in the affected area.
Does your back hurt with shingles?
Shingles is an infection of the spinal nerves by the herpes virus causing painful blisters on the skin of the affected dermatome. Patients may experience back pain in the lumbar spine preceding the outbreak of shingles . After the infection subsides, some patients may still experience chronic nerve pain.
Do shingles symptoms get worse at night?
It can be constant or intermittent and may get worse at night or in reaction to heat or cold. The pain can result in fatigue, sleep disturbance, anorexia, depression and, in general, a lowering of quality of life.
