Shingles, again

For the second time in as many years, I have shingles, only this time it is on the opposite side from where it first broke out 6 or 7 years ago. Having just returned from camping, I assumed that the red itchy spots on my back and side were bad insect bites, but when they began to really hurt, I suspected the worst, so on Saturday morning I called and made an appointment with my doctor for this afternoon. He took one look and said, yes, it's shingles, again. I'd hoped that the strong meds that I took the first time would knock it into permanent submission, but apparently not, so I am back on the same medication as before. I suspect that the extreme stress that I have endured this past year in addition to being very ill in April with a high fever has lowered my resistance and caused this outbreak. I wondered why I'd felt so tired recently, but I chalked it up to all of the travel, packing and unpacking from that and still unpacking my stuff into my new apartment. I guess I now know why I have not felt myself in recent weeks. What worries me is that these lesions appeared while I was on vacation two weeks ago, so it may be too late to prevent post-herpetic neuralgia. I am already experiencing some serious pain on my right back and side that worries me. The doctor said that only 2% of patients experience post-shingles pain, but knowing my luck, or lack thereof, I'd probably be one of them. So I'll start the medication around bed time and take it three times daily until I am done, then wait one month and go get the prescribed shingles vaccine that my doctor wrote me a prescription for. Then I see him again in another month after that to follow up to see how things are going and whether I am experiencing any after effects of this shingles outbreak. Sucks that this happened and that I am one of the people who had a second outbreak, but I have been under some serious duress lately, so this is apparently how my body reacts to such things. Well, life is finally calming down and I am slowly adapting to my new home, Yes, it's got issues, yes, there are things I dislike about it, but for now......it's going to have to be home, because I'll be damned if I move again anytime soon. Too time consuming, to exhausting, too frustrating......and I do not need that kind of stress. Time to dial it back a bit and have more "me" time. I need to get more rest and relaxation and take better care of myself. My body is sending me a message and I need to heed it. After all, I'm not 26 anymore, but 56. Time to treat my body a bit more gently and carefully and treat it with the TLC that it so richly deserves. I need to shake this latest case of shingles, and if that means scaling back some things for a while, so be it. I need the rest and I have a good excuse.