Coping With Viral Infections

Developed skin rash which rapidly spread to one side of my abdomen and itched terribly. I knew that I needed to get to a doc within 72 hours for some Valtrex in case it was shingles. Of course this was a weekend. The ER doc took one look and said “shingles”. They loaded me up with painkillers, Valtrex and some anti-itch pill which made me incredibly drowsy for about three days. By the fourth day the rash started to spread across my abdomen, both arms and chest. I went to the dermatologist who took one look and said “that’s not shingles and I just got into something”. As this was during a frost snap, I knew I hadn’t been outside for days. I went back to work and hit the computer and came up with pityriasis rosea. Yes, I know it is mainly in young adults, but most of the pictures I saw on the derm. web’s were of fifty year old women. I had the “herald patch” and a couple lesions looked like ring worm. I read that there is some evidence that Valtrex for pityriasis will lessen the severity of the rash. They were right. By the third week, most of the spots had disappeared.