Shingles at 24

**NewCoke** · 05-21-2009, 12:50 AM

Is this common this young or a sign that I need to de-stress or both? Anyone else out there get shingles way too young?

I was lucky to catch it before it spread too much but I would happily get rid of that which I do have. Even if it means I don't get to tell bad jokes about roofing. Thanks for the info.

**EggMcClone** · 05-21-2009, 01:01 AM

It's rare but not unheard of. If your immune system is depressed for some reason you're more likely to have it happen. Stress could cause it or being sick from something else could as well. Sometimes it just happens.

**ISUboi12** · 05-21-2009, 01:24 AM

This is weird because I just had a conversation today about a girl who was applying to graduate school when she started having facial paralysis on one side. Turns out it was shingles and it was so bad that she had to spend the next six months of her life learning how to reuse those muscles and nerves. Never went to graduate school.

It obviously isn't unheard of. I think anyone who has had chicken pox still has the disease lying dormant in their system... If our immune system is compromised then we are susceptible to diseases that we normally wouldn't be. Hopefully doctors can pinpoint the cause and you will have a quick recovery.

**LeSchmick** · 05-21-2009, 01:59 AM

What the hell are shingles? (not the housing coverage)

**ISUboi12** · 05-21-2009, 02:05 AM

Originally Posted by LeSchmick

What the hell are shingles? (not the housing coverage)

chicken pox / herpes

not to be confused with: AIDS............

**HiltonMagic** · 05-21-2009, 03:13 AM

I had it at 21.

**isuclone89** · 05-21-2009, 04:39 AM

I had it at about 8 and again at 40. It was by far worse when I was 8.

It is generally something that happens when you are older.

**Clone1450** · 05-21-2009, 06:25 AM

I got it in High School I believe due to Wrestling. Not that I caught it from wrestling but that my immune system and body were probably being ignored/abused during that time. I wasn't exactly smart about cutting weight and such.

**brycy** · 05-21-2009, 06:57 AM

Had them at 12 when I was detassling corn with the family. I wasn't tall enough to reach the tassles in one field and had to bend the corn over. I was a very late bloomer. Thank goodness mom would come back and help my a-hole brothers wouldn't. Haven't had them since, but they fealt like I was beening stabbed. Doctors said I was one of the younger cases they had seen at the time and most medicines weren't designed for children.

**cyfan964** · 05-21-2009, 07:18 AM

I had them last summer at the age of 24 as well. I however, chose to wait it out and let it spread a bit before I did anything about it. Mine was on the right side of my body... shingles only effects 1/2 of your body, it never crosses over the spine... don't know why, but that's what the doctor told me and mind was from spine to the center of my chest all the way around my upper body.

The worst bumps went away relatively quickly with the medicine, but I still have a few small ones a full year later. Shingles lives in your nerve endings so the reason I knew something was eventually wrong is because I could barely lift my right arm without cringing in pain, unfortunately the pain from shingles lasted with me for about 6 months before it subsided... doctor said sometimes it can take longer.

Anyways, it's not fun, but not life ending.... I wish them upon no one. I also think stress is always just a cop out for when doctors don't know why the hell something happens.

**egami** · 05-21-2009, 07:38 AM

My wife is a nurse and we had this conversation once...seems like it's more common, even in younger people, than you may think. I know I was surprised too.

Originally Posted by ISUboi12

This is weird because I just had a conversation today about a girl who was applying to graduate school when she started having facial paralysis on one side. Turns out it was shingles and it was so bad that she had to spend the next six months of her life learning how to reuse those muscles and nerves. Never went to graduate school.

I am not doctor, I just play one on the Internet, but that almost sounds like a mild stroke. Didn't know shingles could do that.

**balken** · 05-21-2009, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by HiltonMagic

I had it at 21.

Originally Posted by brycy

Had them at 12 ...

Originally Posted by isuclone89

I had it at about 8 ...

Oh yeah, well I had them in utero.

**cmoneyr** · 05-21-2009, 08:03 AM

I had them about 2 years ago, so I was 22. Sucked, sucked hard. Mine was on my head, showering was the worst, every drop of water felt like I was getting stabbed in the head.

It was funny going to see the doctor before I realized what they were. I told him my hair hurt, because it only hurt when my hair would get brushed or moved, not when I just touched my head.

**jaretac** · 05-21-2009, 08:08 AM

Shingles are extremely rare that young and you have to have had chickenpox earlier in your life in order to get shingles. Shingles are basically the same virus as chickenpox, but the traditional chickenpox must come first and shingles (unlike chickenpox) can't be transmitted.

From what I know, shingles most often start up when the bodies immunity system is weak, which is why it normally attacks older people. If you have shingles that young, you probably need to figure out what is weakening your immunity or things may only get worse as the years go by. Stress is likely the main factor.

**iccyfan** · 05-21-2009, 08:08 AM

I had a very mild case my senior year of HS, basically a really nasty rash over ~ 4 sq.in. of my ab's. As it was during basketball season, it was quite painful (and I always had to be a "shirt" in practice)!