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Could this rash be shingles?

Could this rash be shingles?

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A few red dots are not usually cause for alarm. Maria thought they could be anything — a bug bite, a scratch, a reaction to an especially itchy sweater. But when she woke in the middle of the night, clutching her left side in pain, she knew something was wrong.

Maria, a 27-year-old from Salt Lake City, had shingles.

“I had these weird little red dots on my left side,” Maria said. “But I had no idea what they were, and they hurt like crazy. At first I tried rubbing lotion on it or covering it with Band-Aids, but nothing helped.”

Shingles, which is caused by the varicella zoster virus, is “a painful rash that typically appears in one area on one side of your body and looks like a cluster of small, fluid-filled bubbles or vesicles,” said Allison Kierstead, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at the University of Utah Health Care Redstone Health Center in Park City.

Maria described feeling jolts of pain radiate through her entire body several times an hour. Lying down, stretching or even touching the left side of her body was excruciating. Daily routines like going to the gym, getting dressed or showering became agonizing tests of Maria’s pain tolerance.

“I couldn’t wear normal clothing, I couldn’t workout. Certain positions, sitting or standing, somehow triggered pain. It felt like the entire left side [of my abdomen] was under attack,” she said.

Believe it or not: You had it all along

Oddly enough, everyone who has ever experienced shingles already had the virus in their bodies. That’s because varicella zoster is the very same virus that causes shingles’ better known cousin, chickenpox.

“Anyone who has had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine has the potential for contracting shingles,” Kierstead said. “The shingles virus is suppressed after the first exposure and then remains dormant in certain areas of the sensory nerves.”

In other words, shingles is what remains after you recover from chickenpox. And while it is most common in older patients, shingles — just like all herpes viruses — can resurface in any patient with a weakened immune system, regardless of age. Stress, other illnesses and chronic disease are often precursors to shingles because the body is already fighting to stay healthy, Kierstead said.

There’s been a spike in shingles cases in recent years in everyone from millennials to their parents and grandparents. No one knows exactly why there has been an increase in cases worldwide, but some doctors suggest it may be due to the now-standard chickenpox vaccine.

“One theory is that because so many people are getting vaccinated, there’s less disease in the community, so people are not repeatedly exposed to the virus and have less opportunity to enhance their T cells — the cells that fight this infection,” Kierstead said.

Another theory suggests the survival rate of people with more threatening health problems, such as cancer, Hepatitis and organ transplants, is contributing to the rise in shingles because they already have compromised immune systems.

“I have seen a person evaluated for gallbladder disease, only to have the shingles rash erupt several days later,” Kierstead said.

Could this rash be shingles?

The most significant sign is the telltale rash on one side of the body. Because the virus lives in the nervous system, many people will see it populate along their ribcage. But, Kierstead warns, shingles often first develops as a burning pain several days before the rash appears.

If you suspect you have shingles, it’s crucial to make an appointment with a physician within 48 hours. The earlier you catch it, the better your outcomes will be, Kierstead said. If you catch it within that window of time, most doctors will prescribe an antiviral pill to decrease intensity and duration of the symptoms. Even so, it can still take 7-10 days for the rash to go away and the pain to subside.


Shingles often first develops as a burning pain several days before the rash appears. It’s crucial to make an appointment with a physician within 48 hours.

Untreated shingles can result in nerve pain that is very hard to treat and, in extreme cases, can last the remainder of a person’s life. Untreated shingles can also cause an infection in the nerves of the eye, which may result in long-lasting vision impairment.

For those who have already contracted shingles, it’s important to remember that the virus may resurface again. “The most common misconception is that the shingles only occurs once in a lifetime,” she said. “But, the reality is that almost one in three people will contract shingles and one in 12 may have it again.”

In order to decrease your chances of contracting shingles, Kierstead recommends people 60 and older becoming immunized against the virus. “Data show that the immunization will decrease your risk of shingles by 50 percent.”

“I’m just glad people are becoming more aware of it,” Maria said. “If I had known even a little bit about this disease, I may not have waited so long to see the doctor and missed my window to get the antiviral pills and had to live with the pain for weeks longer.”

To make an appointment at the Redstone Health Center in Park City, call 435-658-9200.

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University Of Utah Health Care

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