Starting out, let me just say that, to put it mildly, life's been a mite stressful for me of late... on multiple fronts. Because why not, right?
There's been the "typical" stresses that come with life:
There's been the "typical" stresses that come with life:
- Migraines: it seems that I might be developing an 8th distinguishable type of migraine.
- Vertigo: the vertigo attacks are getting much more frequent, as well as severe and debilitating.
- Life Situation: my mother retired from 21 years of teaching and after the first school year of her not teaching, we have settled into a reasonable balance of both of our needs, but it's been a real shift.
- Family: there was a death in the family that, while lasting only a week, didn't happen in an easy manner.
Add to these that I've ended up coming out to my uncle's while Mom is out on vacation as I can't stay home by myself, and yeah, it's been stressful. Staying at my uncle's can be nice, it's a mini-vacation of my own in a way. I guess, however, life's caught up with me in an interesting way.
I've gotten shingles; at 29.
I'm incredibly lucky that the rash was in a small area, on my torso and not a more dangerous place such as my neck or face. Even though I didn't realize I needed to get the rash looked at and treated until the fourth day of the rash, instead of within the first 48 hours. However, the prescribed antiviral I was given did stop the rash from spreading, and it has since started to go away.
I was rather bemused that I did develop shingles, when I'm so much younger than even when the pharmacies start being willing to give vaccines. Nor do I have a compromised immune system, as is the other common cause.
Then it was pointed out to me: Stress
Major stress can make the body much more susceptible to illnesses. And I've been dealing with enough stress, not only the regular stress to my body from having chronic illnesses, but from major life changes as well. And that's natural.
I've never been one to... outwardly emote the stresses in my life. It's much more something that I tend to internalize. The stress usually then gets processed in bits and bites,usually when I get to where I feel is a safe place. There were times when I would make it though a very stressful situation much better than I would have expected only to fall into a complete collapsed mess. That collapse I'd go into would most likely be worse, I'd guess, than if I had been able to express the stress I was dealing with while I was in the situation.
This time, however, instead of my body's waiting to get home to purge its internalized stress, the release, yes in the form of my getting shingles, has happened much sooner. I'm hoping that that means I will be able to not have as much of a crash as I might have in previous times.
I hope also, this indicates I now feel safer in my own body.
That is my lifelong goal.
