Lea en español Shingles is a funny-sounding name for a seriously painful disease. How painful? That's hard to put into words. Printable ones, at least.
Officially, shingles pain can range from mild to severe. The words "itchy" and "burning" frequently come up in descriptions. Some use "horrendous" and "excruciating.
" Sufferers might relate to David Letterman. After he missed more than a month of his late-night talk show in 2003 because of the disease, his list of "Top 10 Good Things About Having Shingles" relied on a string of expletives to make this point: There's nothing good about shingles. Medical experts would agree.
In addition to that signature rash and pain that can last for weeks, months and sometimes years, shingles – formally known as herpes zoster – also is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. Here's what you need to know about the virus and how to protect yourself. What is shingles? Shingles is caused by varicella zoster, the same virus that causes chickenpox, said Dr.
Sharon Curhan, a physician and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. "After a person has chickenpox, the virus stays in their body for the rest of their life," she said. Most of the time, our immune system keeps the virus at bay, but years and even decades later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.
Who's at risk? About 1 in 3 people in the U.S. will have shingles in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease .