Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although
shingles can occur anywhere on your body
, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso.
How Long Can shingles spread on your body?
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 you spread shingles on yourself?
Shingles — also known as herpes zoster — is a condition caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.
Shingles itself is not contagious
. It can’t spread from one person to another.
How do shingles travel?
A person with shingles can spread the virus when the rash is in the blister-phase. The blister fluid is filled with virus particles. The virus is spread
through direct contact with the rash or through breathing in virus particles that get mixed in the air
.
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 are the final stages of shingles?
- The stages of shingles are tingling pain, followed by a burning feeling and a red rash, then blistering, and finally the blisters will crust over.
- You will typically develop a rash about 1-5 days after you feel numbness or tingling pain.
Can I get shingles in two places at once?
People with herpes zoster most commonly have a rash in one or two adjacent dermatomes
(localized zoster). The rash most commonly appears on the trunk along a thoracic dermatome. The rash does not usually cross the body’s midline. Less commonly, the rash can be more widespread and affect three or more dermatomes.
Will shingles go away if left untreated?
If left untreated,
some complications of shingles can be fatal
. Pneumonia, encephalitis, stroke, and bacterial infections can cause your body to go into shock or sepsis.
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.
Can shingles spread by touch?
Shingles itself does not transfer from person to person
. However, the underlying virus, which causes chickenpox first, can transmit through shingles blisters.
Does having shingles make you tired?
Takeaway.
You may experience fatigue while you have shingles
. However, it’s also possible to feel fatigued even after the shingles rash has disappeared. Fatigue may happen indirectly due to PHN, a complication of shingles that involves lingering pain.
How do you know if you have internal shingles?
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.
What does the first signs of shingles look like?
The first signs of shingles include:
Unusual sensations such as tingling, itching, or burning in an area of skin on one side of the body
. Fever. Headache.
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.
Can shingles come back right away?
If you’ve had shingles once, you probably won’t get it again. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, it’s just unlikely. Also called herpes zoster,
shingles can come back a second or, rarely, a third time
. But you can take steps to help prevent it, or ease it the next time around.
What happens if shingles cross 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.
Do I need a shingles vaccine if I have already had shingles?
If you had shingles in the past, Shingrix can help prevent future occurrences of the disease.
There is no specific length of time that you need to wait after having shingles before you can receive Shingrix
, but generally you should make sure the shingles rash has gone away before getting vaccinated.
Do you need the shingles vaccine if you’ve already had shingles?
Shingrix is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for adults age 50 and older for the prevention of shingles and related complications, whether they’ve already had shingles or not.
You may get the Shingrix vaccine even if you’ve already had shingles
.
Do you feel ill with shingles?
Most cases of shingles cause severe pain and itching, and can leave scars. Fluid-filled blisters develop, break, and crust over during and a few weeks after an outbreak.
You also may feel sick or fatigued, with a slight fever or headache
. However, it is possible to have rashes that are so mild they’re not even noticed.
