Shingles

Shingles, or Herpes Zoster, is another of my memorable part of my holiday in Europe. I did not know that I had shingles symptom in my second week of the trip. It started with a mere group of spots on my upper left of my back. My wife and I thought that it was probably due to bedbugs as our hotel room in Budapest looks old. Even when it started to be painful, I thought it was normal as we decided to poke the first spots.

It only became strange when few days later, another group of spots appeared on my left chest. But thank God that my holiday was not really affected, it was mild enough that I could still go around as usual.

Initially I thought of delaying to see doctor upon reaching Singapore. But as it was becoming more itchy on the plane, I decided to go an A&E department to get it checked. Apparently it was confirmed to become shingles.

That’s where I learned more about shingles. My friend has got shingles this year but I did not pay attention to the details and background of shingles. Now that I have experienced it myself, I get the clarification from doctors that shingles cannot cause others to have shingles as it is from our own chickenpox virus which became active again after being dormant. The condition for triggering it is a low immune system. Therefore, shingles is usually happening for old people or those who have low immune system such as post-surgery patients. For me, it was perhaps the change of weathers in 5 countries that I visited.

It became a blessing in disguise when I got 5-day MC. It sounded bad initially as I had to forgo my work. But later on I realize it is a great blessing. I can stay with my wife at home as she has not started working yet. Also, I could have more time to recover from jetlag and to clear my e-mails in a small chunk everyday. So by the time I came back to work, I no longer had jetlag and my e-mails were all cleared.

At the same time, it is a good reminder to not take our health for granted. Anytime our immune system drops, there is a chance for a disease to come. So let’s take care of our health.