Shingles and PTSD

‘Madness of the trenches” flourishes

I was briefly in the emergency room at Cape Fear Valley Medical Center recently, and the young man who took my history was a former soldier.

When I brought up my experience with shingles, the virulent and terribly painful herpes zoster, grandchild of chickenpox, he told me some interesting information about military medicine.

Shingles, it seems, is very familiar to combat soldiers. It is part of that widely experienced battle wound, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The fact that young people could experience that condition, which I thought of as an old folks ailment, surprised me.

The reason is obvious. Herpes zoster has several triggers. But by far the most common is that well-known but ill-defined thing called stress.

Now, my mother had another name for shingles. She called it “the mad itch,” because it can literally evoke hair-pulling agony during its tenure.

The conversation at the emergency room led me to an unusual topic of military history.

That is, the non-bleeding wounds that war inflicts on its participants.

What one poet has called “the madness of the trenches,” and what World War II soldiers generally referred to by the polite term “battle fatigue.”

The fact that soldiers could literally go mad on the battlefield is an old phenomenon. The armies of Tzarist Russian actually established hospitals for soldiers whose injury was what we would term psychiatric rather than physical.
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http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=297593

Shingles
Also known as: Herpes Zoster

What is it?
It is an infection of the skin that causes painful, fluid-filled blisters.

Who gets it?
Shingles can occur in anyone who has had chickenpox. While it can occur at any age, it is more common in people over the age of 50.

What causes it?
Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. If you have had chickenpox, the varicella virus remains in a group of nerves in your central nervous system, but doesn't cause any symptoms. This is called a dormant virus. The central nervous system consists of the brain and spinal cord, which are connected to the nerves in the body. When the virus becomes active again, it causes the symptoms of shingles. No one is sure why the virus becomes active. However, it seems to be linked to a weakened immune system, such as in people who are ill (such as with cancer or HIV), have had major surgery, or are taking immunosuppressant medications or drugs with cortisone.

It can also be triggered by skin trauma, such as sunburn or injury, and emotional stress. Although shingles is not contagious, someone who hasn't had chickenpox can develop chickenpox if they have contact with fluid from a shingles blister.
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http://www.hmc.psu.edu/healthinfo/s/shingles.htm

Before I was 5 years old, I was tossed off a very high slide and landed head first on the ground. My scull was cracked. A few months out of the hospital, I had shingles. I have a tiny scar left over. I can tell you, it is not something I would wish on anyone. Later on in my life, I managed to get the hives. Both are terrible and you want to get rid of the skin you are in. Stress makes both of them worse. Having the shingles or hives adds to the stress and makes the conditions worse.