Shingles: The Reawakening of Chickenpox
Many of us think of chickenpox as a childhood illness — a harmless rite of passage that fades into memory once the itchy blisters heal. However, what most people don't realize is that the virus behind chickenpox, the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), never really leaves the body. Instead, it lies dormant in the nervous system for years, only to reawaken later in life as a painful and potentially debilitating condition known as shingles. Shingles, or "kulebra" as it’s locally known, is a viral infection that can cause severe discomfort. It’s the same virus that caused your chickenpox but reawakens when your immune system is weakened. In a radio interview, Family Medicine and Geriatrics Expert Dr. Cheridine Oro-Josef, likened the pain of shingles to "a dormant volcano suddenly coming to life." She emphasized that the most challenging symptom isn’t the rash itself, but rather the nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia or long-term nerve pain. Her patients often described this pain as "b
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