Pre-Shingles

I keep seeing these commercials for shingles medication that warn if you've had chicken pox, the shingles virus is already inside of you and they're freaking me out. I believe I did have chicken pox as a child. I distinctly remember my father telling me I had them when I was a baby and he and my mother put socks on my hands to keep me from scratching myself. But when I asked my father recently about my bout with chicken pox, he said he couldn't remember if I'd had it or not. (Too bad my mother's not alive so I could ask her because I'm sure she'd remember.) My father is in his 70s, so I don't expect him to remember events from more than 40 years ago. In any case, I fear it's just a matter of time before I get shingles...painful, blistering shingles. I think I'm in pre-shingles mode now. Do you have shingles? No. I have pre-shingles. I'm a carrier of the shingles trait. Shingles just seems like an awful thing to have to suffer with. In the commercial I saw, the narrator said a bout of shingles could last up to 30 days. I can't imagine having a painful, blistering rash for a month. Oy! My father told me his doctor wrote him a prescription to get a shot that helps with shingles pain. The shot doesn't prevent you from getting shingles, but it lessens the pain if you do get it. My father told me he was still in the "thinking stage" and he hadn't decided if he was going to get the shot or not. I'm probably too young to worry about shingles now, but I just have a feeling the shingles will be a part of my life in the future. Now I need to get on Google and read everything I can about shingles to try and prepare myself for what's to come.