Shingles?

Well this is a crazy one. For the last couple of weeks I've had a painful rash break out on my body. Just to the right of my right nipple is a bothersome ring of painful itchy spots. About 8 inches below my right armpit is a powerfully irritating spot. And there are three more whelts on my back. In addition to that, my chest cage (skeletal) hurt like someone had sat on my chest overnight. My right foot, too, was hurting, but there was no visible problem there.

After a lot of research it seems I have "shingles". It is the only possible explanation. At first I was convinced it was a spider bite. Like a brown recluse or something. But when there was no "head" formed, and no "necrosis", and when the other spots formed, I knew an insect bite was out of the question.

So what does it feel like? Like a healing burn. It hurts, and itches. It is tender but it also itches. It throbs sometimes and then is finished off with a powerful itching. Weird!

So what works best? I found that deep rubbing Icy-Hot into the spots, while excruciating at first, tends to numb the area enough to provide relief from the painful itching.

Today I feel a little better, but the spots are still there, itching away!

I'll keep you posted about all this weirdness!