Shingles and vacation

[Anonymous]

If you (adult) are diagnosed with shingles, do you cancel your vacation plans? (not because of the contagiousness , it is a covered area, but because of fairly severe symptoms)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you (adult) are diagnosed with shingles, do you cancel your vacation plans? (not because of the contagiousness , it is a covered area, but because of fairly severe symptoms)

It would depend on how severely it is affecting the person. The first week was really bad for my husband but it got better after that. It depends on what kind of a vacation too. How easily can the vacation be rescheduled?

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t sit on the beach in the heat with shingles.

[Anonymous]

For people who have had shingles, have you had systemic symptoms like fever, chills, fatigue, internal pain, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For people who have had shingles, have you had systemic symptoms like fever, chills, fatigue, internal pain, etc?

Yes. Shingles was the sickest I’ve ever been as an adult. But it’s NBD for other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For people who have had shingles, have you had systemic symptoms like fever, chills, fatigue, internal pain, etc?

Yes. Shingles was the sickest I’ve ever been as an adult. But it’s NBD for other people.

What about the zinging pain of the rash itself?

[Anonymous]

I had very minimal symptoms with shingles, but it's a huge range. Get on antivirals as fast as you can.

In general, if I am very sick I would not go on a vacation.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t miss a day of work. The key is to start the antivirals within 2 days of the symptom onset. I noticed a “sunburn feeling” on my thigh on a Monday afternoon. By Wednesday i was urgent care and left with a prescription. I took them for a week. I would have been fine on a vacation.

[Anonymous]

What are the severe symptoms?

Family member developed shingles while ON an extended vacation and went on medication quickly and still had a good time. But her symptoms weren’t “fairly severe” and she still felt comfortable enough.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the vacation and how much relaxing you can do. I was scheduled to do a two day drive when I was early in a shingles episode and I could barely rest my back on the seat of the car for a short drive (rash was on my back), I could never have done it for two days. I felt sick and flu-ish for about 2 days and then physically uncomfortable for several weeks. I would not have wanted to be walking/hiking/being physically active all day, but I could have done it for a little while if I was able to relax after.

[Anonymous]

Is the rash on your face? If so do not go anywhere. You need to be near good medical care if it spreads to your eye.

[Anonymous]

I realized I had shingles on the first day of my vacation, while I was driving south. I was unable to get on antivirals quickly because I did not realize the importance of that and was not near my doctor. I could have gone to urgent care but didn't know to do that. I got antivirals about a week after the rash appeared, but that's pretty much too late to get much benefit.

I was on vacation for two weeks and the shingles was pretty annoying. It got worse as each day went by, itchy rash on my thigh and leg pain all the way through my foot. It would wake me up at night. That lasted for almost two months, long past when I was back from vacation.

My vacation only involved visiting relatives, not going to theme parks or hanging out on the beach, so it was barely okay.

[Anonymous]

Everyone is different in terms of how it affects them. But if you're highly infectious you should stay away from people.

[Anonymous]

when i had shingles i could not get dressed. no clothing could touch it. i stayed home until it improved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone is different in terms of how it affects them. But if you're highly infectious you should stay away from people.

It’s only infectious to people who have not had chicken pox or been vaccinated against chicken pox. You can spread shingles. Just keep the vesicles covered.