Hi, and thank you for taking the time to read my post. I am a 38 year old woman. I was diagnosed this week with shingles ( I had chicken pox as a child, and mono at 18). My shingles are located on my right side mid trunk from spine to rib cage. They are what I would call mild (meaning not many), though I do have 4 well defined ones that look like large mosquito bites, on my spine. I am not experiencing much pain, it comes and goes and is the stabby kind. I did see my dr who said its definitely shingles and prescribed Valtrex.
My question is why shingles at 38? I have been married and monogamous for 13 years. My husband recently had an HIV test for insurance purposes and is negative. I had an HIV test that was neg. before we were married. I have an autistic son and am always under a lot of stress, but have been for some time (years now) and never got shingles before.
I do have terrible eczema over what I would call about 80 % of my skins surface. My derm suggested tanning bed, since the eczema is so wide spread. I dont want to do that, so I scratch CONSTANTLY. My skin often cracks and bleeds or bruises from all the scratching. Could a so called "injury" like this cause a shingles outbreak? Or should I be more concerned that this is caused by underlying disease, such as lymphoma ( I lost my maternal grandmother to non-hodgkins at 70). Also, I have been using elcon on and off to control the eczema and did recieve a cortizone shot earlier this year for a lung infection. The only other meds I take are propranolol for an accessory pathway, and HCTZ for BP. Please advise if you think further immune testing is wise. Thanks!