Have you seen that commercial for shingles?  There is an elderly man that has this horrible rash that is all over his face and he constantly wears a grimace of pain and every one gives him these pitiful looks as he winces his way through life and the commercial.  The commercial leads you to believe, as well as everything else you hear, that shingles is an old people disease.

Yeah.  I found out that isn’t true. How? I got shingles! 

Yup, 30-year-old Katie was diagnosed with shingles this past weekend.  I noticed a rash near my armpit last Thursday and by Saturday it still hadn’t gone away.  Instead of ignoring the problem, like I usually do when it comes to medical things, I decided to get it checked out.  Which is a good thing because if you didn’t know, shingles is a virus.  Meaning the longer you go without treating it the worse it gets.

So once I got over the shock of having an old person disease, I started on the trek to get antiviral meds that weren’t a million dollars.  Ok, so they weren’t a million dollars, but they were $250.  Luckily my amazing husband discovered Blink Health and we were able to get them for $25.  I don’t fully understand how it all worked out but I am VERY happy I didn’t have to spend a ton of money on meds.

Why am I telling you all about my shingles?  First of all, as a PSA because even though we commonly associate shingles with our grandparents if you’ve had the chickenpox, you have the potential to get shingles.  Second, don’t ignore medical things.  I can name the number of times NOT going to the doctor has been helpful.  Zero.  The number is zero.

Finally, stress can show up in really weird (and expensive) ways.  Sometimes it’s a headache, sometimes it’s indigestion, and sometimes it’s a painful rash with blisters near your armpit. Try not to brush off the clues that your body is giving you.  It’s way smarter than we give it credit for and usually, things like shingles are a way of your body waving a flag and signaling something is up.  Pay attention to that and honor that.  You aren’t weak or less than because of that and your body and health will reap those rewards.

In happier news, we had a great Memorial Day weekend DESPITE my shingle pit (for that is what I have named it to make it less of a downer) and got to see family and eat lots of wonderful food.  Adam and I also got our new tent weatherproofed and ready to go for our first camping trip of the season next weekend!  Can’t wait to get out there and enjoy the great outdoors as well as cook things over a fire.  Something about that camping fire just makes food taste 10x better.

Hope you had a nice holiday weekend and shingles doesn’t come knocking at your door any time soon!