Symptoms
The symptoms of shingles are relatively typical. At first, the patient feels a slight feeling of sickness, with headache, aching limbs, and a slight fever. Neck stiffness may also occur in some cases.
As a result, pain occurs in the area supplied (dermatome) of the spinal ganglion. There is pulling, stabbing, and sometimes dull pain. It is rather rare that this phase is painless, but it can also be the case.
There is a smooth transition to the subsequent phase, in which the symptoms are dominated by tingling and sensation in the corresponding skin segment. These are sometimes described by patients as pain and sometimes as tingling. The degree of pain varies from individual to individual and also depends on the severity of the infection.
In some cases, however, extremely severe pain can occur, which then makes therapy with painkillers absolutely necessary. In any case, typical, small blisters, approximately the size of a pinhead, form afterwards. They have the shape of rice grains, and sit on the reddish rash.
These vesicles form regular fields, which are arranged in bandages, and again are strictly limited to the affected skin segment. This can be particularly annoying on the neck, as textiles such as shirt collars, scarves or ties rub against the rash. Shingles on the neck often causes very severe pain.
The varicella zoster virus attacks especially the nerves. These nerve pains are perceived as particularly agonizing.It is therefore important to take high doses of painkillers. In addition to the classic painkillers, special nerve painkillers (e.g. drugs such as antidepressants) can also be used.
Unfortunately, without adequate pain therapy, it happens relatively often that the pain persists even after the disease has healed. This is called post-zoster neuralgia. This is nerve pain that occurs after the actual shingles (herpes zoster).
Further information can be found here: Pain with shinglesIn most cases, shingles is a very painful disease. Those affected often have to take very strong painkillers so that the pain does not become chronic. Unfortunately, this risk is always present, especially with nerve pain.
Of course, it is also possible that shingles starts with relatively little pain in the early stages. If the blister-like changes on the skin are detected early and treated quickly and consistently, it is quite possible that shingles in this case is largely painless. However, such a course is rather unusual.
The typical rash in shingles consists of small fluid-filled blisters. These affected skin areas itch terribly. It is important, however, not to scratch despite the itching.
This allows the blisters to open before they become crusty and the highly infectious contents can leak out and a second infection with the virus can occur in another part of the body. Furthermore, scratching often leads to scars. To relieve the itching, special ointments or creams can be applied to the pustules.
The lymphatic system protects the body from pathogens. Therefore, shingles on the neck can also cause swelling of the neck lymph nodes. The varicella zoster virus is responsible for this.
It attaches itself to the ganglia (= accumulation of nerve cell bodies) and leads to an inflammation of the corresponding nerve and the skin region it sensitively supplies. Together with this characteristic rash, swollen neck lymph nodes are a classic sign of shingles. Of course, swelling of the neck lymph nodes can have many other causes. Further information can be found here: Swollen neck lymph nodes
