Updated on October 16, 2024
Nancy experienced a shingles infection in January of 2018. In this video, she shares her story, including her initial symptoms, her visit to the emergency room and how the shingles rash spread to her eyelid, nose and mouth before clearing up.
Medically reviewed in April 2020.
Transcript
My name is Nancy Collier and I'm 58 years old. Shingles is a virus that originates from the chicken
pox. The outbreak started in January of 2018, the first week. The first pain I felt was fire, like a match was laying
on my face, and severe itching. I saw a medical tent in about three days after the fire feeling started.
I wasn't sleeping, I developed shingles inside of my mouth, I couldn't eat for maybe three days.
I work a full-time job. It was very hard to concentrate and get through the day. The shingles developed on top of my eyelid
and they asked me to go to the emergency room because they said that shingles can cause blindness. But I kept the cream on my eyelids
and that went away rather quickly. On the left side of my nose, were the shingles developed, I can feel nerve damage.
It doesn't feel the same as on the right side of my face. To this day, I don't feel like the feeling has come back completely.
I really hope the shingles has not come back and the vaccination is something I look forward to.
As soon as you feel the first tingling and suspect that you may have shingles, get to the doctor
immediately. That does slow down the process.