For the last few days I have had shingles so I am fed up and bored and I might as well try and do some good.

I woke up Wednesday morning with what I thought was an insect bite on my cheek (red) . I then found a few bites on my scalp.

At 11am I met a friend but by noon she said you know that bite it's now 3 bites on your cheek you should get it checked out it looks like a rash, I ignored her.

At 1pm I co-incidently met my friend who is a GP, straight away she said what's that on your cheek and quickly checked my scalp. That's not a bite it's a shingles rash.

Me: but but but I don't have a rash on my body and I am not stressed out (common misconceptions).

Anyway she caught it very early and by 2.30pm (it had already spread) at her urgent insistence I had anti virals.

The medication will just slow the virus down so like a cold I have to go through it. It has spread to my chin neck and shoulders but now seems to have stopped spreading. It is sore and tender to the touch. Luckily I have a very mild case pity the poor sods with it all over their body sleeping most be hard.

Shingles is a left over from childhood Chicken Pox and mainly impacts people over 50. I am too young to have the shingles vaccine. It is not highly infectious but you should keep away from children and old people as it can give them chicken pox spread by touch.

My GP friend was most concerned about it moving towards my eyes and ears (it hasn't) it can do serious damage if it does.

Summary
If you have a bite mark or rash and it spreads then it it probably not a bite mark. Speed is essential in 1 hour it grew on my cheek so don't delay in getting treatment.

When I am 65 I will have the vaccine so if you are coming up to that age don't delay.

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One more point

Bad luck Badger. Hope you feel better soon.
Recently there have been a few cases where I live and it sounds nasty.

Had a bloke in work two weeks ago who thought he had shingles. He was there for two days before we felt confident in our diagnosis and told him to fkoff home.
The second day, he did look rough and a bit tired.
Thankfully no one else has come down with it.

Edited by Forest Hillbilly (08 Jun 2024 11.28am)

"The facts have changed", Rishi Sunak

Yup I have heard this. It follows the nerves like a train track which is why my GP friend was able to guess where the rashes on my scalp were.

I had all the childhood illnesses including chicken pox and from memory I am sure my mother told me I got off lightly, so fingers crossed. However my have aches and pains are not just where the rash is but follow the nerves.

Like I said in my OP I think I only have a light dose.

One more point