12/29/2025
Medwin Clinicians
Did You Know!!!
Medicine: Beyond the Basics.
Shingles the reactivation of chicken pox
That childhood chicken pox virus never actually left your body. It’s been hiding in your nerve cells for decades, just waiting. Here’s what most people don’t realize about shingles. After you recover from chicken pox, the varicella-zoster virus doesn’t die. It retreats into nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain, lying dormant sometimes for fifty years or more.
Then something triggers it. Stress, aging, a weakened immune system, and suddenly that virus reactivates. But instead of the widespread rash you had as a kid, it travels along a single nerve pathway, creating an intensely painful, blistering rash that typically wraps around one side of your torso.
The pain can be excruciating because the virus is literally inflaming your nerves. Some people describe it as burning, stabbing, or feeling like electric shocks. The rash usually lasts two to four weeks, but here’s the scary part: the nerve pain can persist for months or even years afterward in a condition called postherpetic neuralgia.
About one in three people will develop shingles in their lifetime, and your risk increases significantly after age fifty. The good news? There’s a vaccine that can reduce your risk by over ninety percent. If you’ve had chicken pox, that virus is still in there, and knowing the signs of shingles can help you get treatment early, which makes all the difference.
This is Dr Edwin, If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Don’t forget to like, follow and share this video with anyone who may find it useful.
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🚪 Open M-F 8:30am-4:30pm
☎️ 954-835-5863
📧 Medwinfl@Medwinclinicians.com
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