Richard asks…
Does having Shingles effect your weight?
My grandmother’s friend has recently developed Shingles, and is curious about if having the disease, Shingles, has any effect on your weight or not.
admin answers:
Shingles have an inflammatory component to them, and a mainstay in treating inflammation are corticosteroids. Unfortunately, a side effect of steroids is weight gain, so yes it is possible to gain weight if her doctor decides to give her steroids (hopefully in addition to a good dose of pain medication). However, depending on the location and severity of the shingles, some people have greatly reduced appetites, so they either maintain or lose weight while they are ill.
Sorry to hear about your grandmother’s friend. Encourage her to hang in there! Shingles are terrible, and can last a month or more.
Lizzie asks…
Can someone die from Shingles?
My sister was told people can die from Shingles if the disease encircles the neck or chest. Is this true?
admin answers:
Very rarely, shingles can lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation (encephalitis) or death.
See link
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm
Ruth asks…
Shingles and autoimmune diseases?
So, I am starting to get the shingles virus for the second time in a year. This time I got to the doctor before a scar has appeared and he has given me the anti-viral Valtrex, which can be used to treat shingles. I suspect the fact that I am susceptible to shingles may have something to do with the fact that I also have psoriasis, which is an autoimmune disease. My Dad also has psoriasis and he even got the shingles at the same age. Does anyone know more information about this? I’ve looked at a couple of websites but I could use a more expert opinion from someone who may have had experience dealing with or researching this.
admin answers:
I’ve heard that there might be a connection between the two skin diseases. I think people are focusing too much on the vaccines and not enough on finding out the cause and a way to treat it. My mom had shingles last month and it really took a tole on her. I found this lotion online called Shingles Relief from a company called Nature’s Rite. My dad uses their Sleep Apnea Relief but this lotion really helped my mom. She said after a few days it didn’t feel so painful and she was able to put her clothes on and go to the store and stuff.
Michael asks…
I take levothyroxin for my thyroid, I work in a bad enviornment, could I have gotten shingles because of it?
The enviornment is where adults have chicken pox and other diseases
unknown to us.
admin answers:
You can not catch shingles from being around people with chicken pox. When you had chicken pox (most commonly as a child) your body was exposed to the virus. You developed immunity to the chicken pox, but the virus remained dormant in your body. Now, for whatever reason (sometimes stress, or lower levels of immune function) your dormant virus has shown it’s ugly head and popped up as shingles. You could have gotten shingles even if you were stranded on a desert island, in a matter of speaking, you caught it from yourself.
If your “bad” work environment is causing you a lot of stress, it could be contributing to all sorts of illness because stress weakens your immune system.
Linda asks…
can you contact shingles through blood?
while taking care of a patient i had contact with their blood. then i found out they have shingles, does this make me at risk for the disease?
admin answers:
No you cannot.
Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, VZV, can be spread from a person with active shingles to a person who has never had chickenpox through direct contact with the rash. The person exposed would develop chickenpox, not shingles. The virus is not spread through sneezing, coughing or casual contact. A person with shingles can spread the disease when the rash is in the blister-phase. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer contagious. A person is not infectious before blisters appear or with post-herpetic neuralgia (pain after the rash is gone).
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