First heart palpitation and now shingles?!?

I wake up Sunday morning w/ this red mark on my right side. I figure, no biggie its just like a scratch or something. The next day blisters emerge. I'm like uhhhhh this can be no good. I start googling and narrowed it down to a few things. Apparently a lot of what has made me feel so blah lately have a lot to do w/ these stupid shingles. The blisters start to itch and burn to the point where I lose sleep, which unfortunately, I make up for in class.

I finally stop being stubborn and stop taking the whole wait and see approach and go to the health center. They tell me its shingles. The scientific name for it is Herpes zoster which is what the doctor originally called it. As he uttered the word herpes I looked up with my eyes bulged and he immediately said it had nothing to do with the std herpes. Even through all the pain I was feeling incredibly relieved. So shingles occurs when the virus that causes chicken pox starts up again. Once you get chicken pox, the virus stays dormant in you and something triggers the release of it. I was prescribed vicodin and some stuff to prevent it from spreading.

Vicodin is serious. Seriously awesome. I can see why House was addicted to them. The pain has become tolerable and the redness has become less red? I will never again complain about walking, running, or anything that has to do with my legs. These shingles have stripped me of my ability to get around from location to location pain free. The doctor said it was strange to see someone of my age to have shingles because they only usually occur in people older than 50. 50?! I am no where near 50!! Oh well, the worst of the pain has passed...