In a world where auditory justice prevails, hearing a word like shingles would evoke Christmas cheer, as in ‘Let’s jingle and shingle on a one-horse sleigh’. Or it would bring to mind tinsel and shiny decor, or a dance step from the 1970’s. What it wouldn’t, and shouldn’t, refer to is debilitating pain, ugly fluid-filled skin blisters and lesions, severe headaches, and warning bells for a lifetime of pain caused by a compromised immune system. But life is often unfair, and the seemingly harmless-sounding shingles is the common-use term for Herpes Zoster or Postherpetic Neuralgia.

I had to undergo a crazy crash course on ‘shingles trivia’ two weeks ago. And for those of you reading this that are nearing 50 years old, or have past that and aren’t acquainted with shingles; it may be prudent to read on, and take fair warning from my words today.

It all started one Wednesday, with what I suspected to be a sty on my right upper eyelid. Went to a dermatologist, and was prescribed some creams and advised to do a saline solution compress. The next morning, Thursday, saw an aggravation in the eyelid; and I went to an opthamologist, who showed more concern, and put me on antibiotics. But by Friday morning, the right side of my face had puffed up around the orbital area, with blotches extending to the lower cheeks, and my nose was turning reddish on the right side. Super-worried at this point, and saw an allergologist on Saturday, who diagnosed it as shingles - putting me on antivirals (five a day, for a week), and pain medication. This was confirmed by an Internist I saw on the same day.

Shingles (Herpes Zoster) is described as ‘a painful viral infection causing a blistering rash, typically on one side of the body, from the reactivation of the dormant varicella-zoster virus that also causes chickenpox’. The risk of it occuring increases with age and weakened immunity. Anyone who has had chickenpox can get shingles, as the virus is still there in your body.

While lesions on the face or eyelids are less common (more common is on the body and torso), they’re considered more serious - which was not so great news for me. Serious infections in this area of the face can lead to long lasting nerve pain, weakness of facial muscles, risk of stroke, inflammation of the brain (encephalitis), eye damage and/or blindness. Now you basically had me in panic mode, as on top of all that, I’d hear about how painful shingles attacks can be.

Sure, we can joke around and say I looked like Rudolph the RedNosed Gargoyle; and my eldest son, upon seeing my photo, commented how it was a very David Cronenberg, body-horror look. But levity aside, it would seem that stress and lack of sleep may have resulted in an unfortunate condition in my body, and a compromised immune system; and I had awakened this ‘sleeping’ virus.

So one stays relatively fit, eats healthy; and something like shingles can still creep up on you, like a thief in the night. I was seeing a doctor on Wednesday, but it was only on Saturday morning that the shingles diagnosis was pronounced, and I began taking the right medication. There’s a lesson there in itself, how symptoms don’t manifest right away, and one has to stay vigilant, and know your own body - seeking help and medical advice as required. Plus ironic how only two Sundays ago, I was writing about health & wellness.

I’m writing this on Tuesday, and my orbital area is still painful to look at. There’s a ridge right under my eye, and when I gingerly prod it, it’s like there’s fluid underneath the skin. Around seven blisters angrily dot the right side of face, from between my eye and ear, to several above my lip - forget shaving for now; and there’s the Rudolph effect on my right nostril.

Can also feel a blister inside my nostril, so it’s sensitive when I blow my nose, and there are the ones on my scalp. I don’t know if I’m being paranoid, but I feel there’s one on the roof of my mouth, and there is tenderness when I press on my upper right throat. And yes, it’s so crazy how all this is happening, but exclusively delineated on my right side - with the left side super-normal and unaffected. In fact, as Issa was saying, that it was affecting only one side, showed it couldn’t be a severe allergic reaction.

When this is over, and I’ve quelled this outbreak, I’m being advised to get the two-dose Shingrix vaccine. It doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get shingles, but it does build up your immune system; and if you still get it, it’ll hopefully be a mild version. What I’m going through now is awful. I have to work from home, can’t exercise (perspiring on the blisters is frowned upon), and I’m not certain what it’ll be like five days from now. Going through this ordeal, I really wish I had been more aware of shingles, and had the vaccine. I urge you to find out more, and opt for being preventive. No singing of Shingle Bells for me!