I've just experienced my first episode with Shingles and am concerned about others getting the virus.?

I know Shingles is caused by the same virus that causes Chickenpox. I also know someone that has already had Chickenpox cannot get the virus from me and that once the blisters scab over, the risk of someone getting the virus from me is over for the current episode. If they have not scabed over, should I avoid all contact, physical and proximitry, with others or just physical? Should a co-worker who is trying to have a child avoid even close proximitry with me (i.e. same office or conference room)? The blotches and blisters are covered by bandages and clothing so are not visible to others.

You can give it to someone if they get the fluid. I was told anyone can get it from you. How do I know? Because I have had shingle outbreaks.

Once the area is scabbed over you are safe. Covering is a good idea. You also may need to see a doctor for Zoborax pills that will help clear up the painful ruptures. Are you in pain? That is normal because the virus tracks along nerve lines. The doctor told me from where my ruptures were that I had chicken pox at about age three and my relative confirmed that.

The outbreak can take several weeks before you even notice the sores. Expect at least a week before the scabs appear. In the meantime wash your hands a lot and keep the areas covered. Where I worked I could not go to work until a doctor cleared me and the scabs were there.

Shingles usually comes out during stressful times. But sounds like your are being smart about worrying about others.

Be safe and don't spread the virus while you are broken out.

Just avoid physical contact.

And it is crap about people who have had chickenpox can't get the virus. I had chickenpox as a child and got shingles in my late teens. Shingles is only really caught too if there is a low immune deficiency. I got shingles as I was going through chemotherapy treatment. I had my parents and my boyfriend applying lotion to my back four times a day and no one else caught it.

My mother had an outbreak of shingles about a month ago. She kept neosporin(sp) on it and kept it covered. Just be safe and do that same thing.

I had shingles and they didn't bother me much at all. My Aunt had had them some years before me and they didn't bother her much either. Her husband had them some years before she did and they bothered him greatly. Genetic I guess. She and I were blood kin and he was only kin by marrying her. I work in a hot factory and I only felt a stinging pain when a drop of sweat got on the shingles. I was of those people that don't sweat much so I seldom felt pain.

I know of no one who got the shingles from me. I treated it like poison ivy. I put Calamine Lotion on it. I was always getting poison ivy and no one else in the family did. Some cases of poison ivy were more bothersome than others. If I could manage it them I could shingles also.

Some people say stress is involved. I do not remember that time as being more stressful than any other. Some say the immune system is weakened but I wasn't sick or weak at that time. I have suffered some stressful and sicken times since that time throughout the years and have never been bothered by shingles again.

If you get it you get it and only God knows why.?

shingles is also an airborne transmitted disease. If you have it stay away from other people. keep yourself covered. it is highly contagious. stay away especially from pregnant women.
Shingles is a form of the Herpes virus, as is the chicken pox and cold sores, another strain is common in the genital area. All are transmitted by contact. If you have cold sores and give oral sex, your partner will get genital herpes. If you have genital herpes and receive oral sex , your partner will get oral herpes.
chicken pox by the way is also transmitted via airborne spores, not contact as most believe. please stay away from anyone trying to conceive male and female, and anyone who is pregnant.
The herpes virus never goes away out of your body, it is always there once you contract it lying dormant in your spinal fluid, it will "attack" you (outbreak) during periods of stress, low immune system , exposures to cold, heat , wind ect... at various times in your life. Some people may have only one outbreak in there entire lives, others may have frequent outbreaks.
shingles is a direct result of having previously had the chickenpox, yes you can transmit shingles to a person who has had the chicken pox! So if you rub neosporin on somebodies shingles, you may not experience a outbreak shortly after, it is a virus and can lie dormant in your body (spinal fluid) for weeks to years before you experience an outbreak. kinda like HIV see :) So you see somebody else besides God knows why:)
P.S. There is a vaccination available to persons who have never had the chickenpox.
Can I have the ten points please????