Had it when I was 13, and had it again about 2 months ago (I'm 49 now). Keep it clean and dry, get  to the Dr, there are meds if early enough.

You should have gotten an Rx for an anti-viral drug.  I got my case of shingles back in December.  The rash cleared right up but it still feels like I was kicked in the back.  Muscle spasms / charlie horse.  Whatever drug they give to the herpes crowd is what you should have gotten.  It will shorten the outbreak and make the afterlife easier.  My dentist told me that he knows someone who off'd themselves over the pain from shingles.

Had that nasty shit in 7th grade from my ear running down my neck to my shoulder. Sucked ass.

You guys who are getting up there in age need to get the vaccination, just sayin'...

Post-Herpetic Neuralgia is a nasty condition we treat from time to time.  Those patients are MISERABLE.

The sammich-maker got them last year....And I got the shot the next day after she was diagnosed..

Let me tell ya the old saw of "If Momma Ain't Happy Nobody Is" really comes to the fore when dealing with the Shingles.

BTW...Places like Rite-Aid and such will give you the shot and it is covered by most insurance plans now. A few years back it was like $200.00 for the shot.

I had it after a wreck, right over my hurt back. I can't really explain the pain. The rash wasn't too bad in comparison to what I looked up but it was plenty bad and has left scars in both places. I was put on medication for something else and then she realized that it was shingles. She said at this point (couple days in) any shots wouldn't do a thing. It lasted about 2.5 months. That was the downfall of my workout routine and me losing a lot of strength and endurance.

Your nervepath has two endings so if it's on your upper right back, it should also break out at the nerve endings either on your lower right hand or if it's lower it should break out somewhere on your chest around or below your right nipple. It can also go across the whole nerve path back to front if severe enough.

Look for that.

so that's what that is! I got shingles bad in my early 30s. I didn't know what was wrong with me so I decided to suck it up...big mistake. I got it on my face, from my left eyebrow and it ran over my left ear and top of my head. the flesh bubbled up and got thick and I felt like it was on fire, the pain was so excruciatingly bad. it's probably the only time I seriously thought about killing myself. I spent about a week in bed, soaked in sweat, in and out of lucidity. my work called and talked to me and thought I just had the flu. I have no memory of them calling. it finally receded and I went to the head and looked in the mirror...big mistake no. 2!  the flesh over my eye had swollen to the point it was hanging over my eye. I had to lift it up to see. I looked like I should have been ringing the bells at Notre dame! that's when I decided to go to the docs. he took one look at it and said shingles. he also said he'd never seen it so bad that it was rare to get it on the face and to be so relatively young.  oh, yeah,can I take some photos? I want to write this up.

so anyway, he gave me steroid cream to rub on it and that seemed to do the job. the only thing is I have a permanent Charlie horse on my left eyebrow area and slighter tingling in the affected area.

This.  And the medication fucked up my stomach so bad I had to take an anti-nausea medication just to counteract it!  That was the worst pain I had been in in a long time!

My dad just had it and is trying to get over it. He had it on his scalp with big knots everywhere. He said the only way to describe the pain is that someone poured a couple fire ant beds on his head and then lit it on fire. I tired to get the shot but I was told I was to young. (26) I told them I would pay in hundreds but they said no.

So a quick update....this is day 3 with the rash....for the most part it's been bearable, mainly itch and a little pain..
Until last night    Had a few beers, it's 12:30 pm EST and I just got up and out of bed. If it wasn't for my dogs
bum rushing me to get up I would still be in bed.....I was up ALL night in pain
I would get little "naps" in, by 6AM I took a sleeping pill just to get some sleep....foggy as hell now

If my shirt or anything touches the area, it feels as if someone is driving a knife in my ribs. Not sure
if the beer has anything to do with it or not.