working on it wrote:...My rash is a band from front-to-back, and it looks the same as his did, and the pictures on the internet, so maybe I've got it (it itches pretty bad, but not as bad as poison ivy). I had mild chickenpox after receiving the vaccine as a kid, so it's a possibility that I have shingles. At 67, I guess I was a likely candidate. Hope it goes away soon. I'll only go to the doctor if it gets worse....
It did get worse, much worse, after my last post. First, I became extremely chilled, but feverish (thermometer still remains packed away, somewhere), and went to bed after my wife got home. I wore three shirts, and used two blankets, but still was frozen. About 10pm, I woke up, with severe back and leg pains, a migraine, and was dizzy (not vertigo). An hour later, I felt better, and warmed up, and returned to bed. About the rash...when I was chilled I didn't notice it much, but when I awoke this morning, it burned like fire all day. My wife insisted I go to my healthcare group's after-hours clinic, after she noted that the rash had doubled in coverage overnight. The doctor took one look at it, and wrote me prescriptions to treat SHINGLES. And yes, it actually burns/itches worse than poison ivy, which I presumed was the ultimate rash.