Up On The Roof.....

For this past few weeks, I have mentioned sun poisoning.

Apparently I was wrong. I went to a doctor yesterday on an unrelated issue and he took one look at my (now healing) lesions and pronounced that I had shingles.

Who knew? I knew there were shingles on the roof but I have absolutely no need of shingles on my head. They're nasty little buggers and continue to cause me discomfort because even as they heal, they itch! Mine were located on the right side of my head and face. They were on my forehead, my eyelid and in my scalp. I'm scratching like a dog with fleas and it's rather disgusting.

The doctor tried very hard (but unsuccessfully) to terrify me. He told me that having shingles on my eyelids could have lead it to going into my brain which would be fatal. (Living is fatal.) He also told me that I need to take pills because I might end up with postherpetic neuropathy for the rest of my life. Basically that means that I'd have a permanent headache and sore scalp.

This led me to think about something. For generations and generations, people have had shingles and gotten over them. (I treated mine with honey and aloe vera.)

I've never been one to run to doctors for relief from every passing illness. Some things run their course and that's how it's always been. I don't like the idea of dependence on chemicals to make sure I never feel any effects of any illness I might have.

On the other hand, I'm not an idiot. If there was something seriously wrong, I would see a doctor. There are medications I take because I have hypertension. I don't want to spend the last 20 years of my life drooling in a cup because of a stroke.

I'm not promoting lack of medical care at all.

But I am promoting limits on how often we weaken our immune systems by not allowing antibodies to form because we kill the process by alleviating every possible discomfort.

Shingles suck. No doubt about that one. However, letting them run their course is probably the best idea unless a really serious side symptom occurs. While I was definitely very sick, I wasn't in danger. I was just sick.

Any opinions?

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