What I have been able to find out is that someone who has had Herpes Zoster has a one in three chance of a reoccurrence of herpes zoster after the initial attack. Apparently those who suffer more pain have an increased chance of reoccurrence. If you had a particularly painful first bout this could be why you continue to have subsequent ones.

The time between the attacks may be as little as about three months and as long as 10 years after the initial attack. Recurrences are more likely in those who have shingles related pain for 30 or more days during the first episode, incidence of recurrences are twice as likely with shingles associated pain for two months or more, was 60 % more likely in women than men, and 40 % more likely in those who are 50 or older when they had the initial attack. But there can be recurrences without any of the above associations.

Those treated for severe Rheumatoid arthritis are more prone to have an outbreak of Herpes Zoster than those who have milder forms. This is probably due to the medications they take to decrease their symptoms. Many of the medications work by suppressing the immune system and this fact would allow Herpes Zoster to flare up. Those who receive solid organ transplants, ie liver, kidney, etc. all receive medications so their bodies will not reject the new organ. These transplant patients often develop Herpes Zoster. Another reaction to immunosuppressive drugs.

As for your head injury causing the relapses, I cannot find anything definitive to suggest that. The head injury would have caused stress to your body. Perhaps stress can also trigger a Zoster outbreak. That would be the only connection I would be able to find. You do not mention what part of your body is affected by the outbreaks. If you had your original outbreak on your head in the area of where you were struck to receive your mild TBI perhaps the nerves in that area are involved. If your attacks are on your body, I do not think there is any connection other than the stress factor mentioned above or any medications that you might be taking or if your immune system is suppressed for any reason.

Carol

Carol

Exposure to someone who has shingles (Herpes Zoster) can cause those who have never had chickenpox (varicella) to develop chickenpox. Keep your lesions covered as it is the liquid in them that spreads the virus. You are contagious only when you have the lesions. Herpes zoster, although a virus, is not spread by droplets in the air when one sneezes or coughs. Direct contact with the fluid will spread the virus. The doctor who treated you should have addressed this issue with you.

I hope this information helps and that you are on the road to recovery.

Carol

People like you, who insist on perpetuating and spreading urban legends about medical issues do far more harm than good.  All issues you have mentioned have long ago been addressed or acknowledged by medicine. When you spread disinformation you are not helping anyone. 

There have been studies addressing mercury levels in children and hold onto your hat, children with autism have lower mercury levels than other children.  Not higher, but lower.  The reason for the lower levels of mercury is because they tend to be picky eaters and do not eat fish, which is where everyone, children and adults receive elevated mercury levels from. There has never been a correlation between autism and ethymercury (thimerosal). 

Go to sites on the Internet that give real information and not scandalous, black news sites meant to keep you and others like you under the thumb of fear mongerers like Newsmax, Town Hall, and World net daily.  Maybe you could even look at the actual rates of pandemic influenza in states and over the world and see the deaths adding up from those who have not been vaccinated.  Even your local newspaper would address this issue.  

The U.S. had not even begun to see the usual casualties from seasonal flu yet.  You can choose or not choose to take any vaccines you wish.  Vaccines can and have saved many lives (for instance the poliomyelitis vaccine) and will continue to do so.    

Carol 

Some of my last comment to Subvet416 did not post for some reason.  This type of communication may have some quirks.  Herpes zoster of the face is the much rarer kind of shingles and in many ways more scary healthwise. The assitance of an opthamologist who has dealt with this is very necessary as you know.  Hope all is well.

Carol

I think I used the word usually before the once in a life time case of shingles, but with medicine, illness, diseases, nothing can ever by exactly definitive. At least not as solid as taxes.  The shingles vaccine is supposed to be a once in a lifetime vaccination, but since the vaccine is relatively new, we have not had many years to see how long the immunity might last. For sure shingles does not have the reptition rate that other herpes viruse have. 

You have a good thought about maybe we do not live long enough to get the second case.  Lifetimes are expanding in years as we are better able to deal with chronic illnesses and hopefully can offer a quality of life that one can enjoy into the later years.  The ‘Don’t get sick, but if you do die quickly’ statement is offensive to say the least.  There has to be a way for this nation to be able to take care of our elders and insure a better quality of life for all.  I have read articles now that say that our grandchildren will easily live past the age of 100.

Carol

This particular article just deals with the herpes zoster (shingles) not the other herpetic viruses. Herpes Simplex Type 1 is usually the culprit for sores in and around the mouth. There may be tingling and pain days before an outbreak of Herpes simplex, due to nerves being manipulated by the virus. Herpes simplex often is reoccuring while shingles or herpes zoster is usually a one time occurence.  If a person has shingles and the blisters that usually accompany it, the only way someone can be exposed is through the actual transfer of the fluid from the blisters.  Even then herpes zoster will cause chickenpox (varicella) in those who have not already had the disease or the vaccination for it.  I believe that I remember toothpaste ads, when it was first put on the market with flouride added, as using the marketing words of stannous fluoride. A more accurate term for it is tin(II) fluoride.  Gel-kam that you mention and Flo-gel are used to apply fluoride to the teeth, often in a dentist’s office.  When you receive the warning "no eating or drinking for 30 minutes" you have had a fluoride treatment which is supposed to strenthen the enamel on teeth.   

Weakened immune systems, and stress alone can make our immune systems less effective, can allow these viruses to make a home in us.   Healthy life style and good nutrition are very good ways to make it harder for these opportunistic viruses to affect us. 

Bubble suits may help with some infections, but sometimes, as in the case of herpes simplex type one(cold sores) they just happen. 

Carol   

Almost everyone has been exposed to the virus at one time or another in life, and now carries the anti-bodies. This exposure usually occurs in infancy or early childhood and causes the blisters. If the individual’s immune system is healthy, these blisters heal and do not return as the neural pathway is blocked by the immune system. If the immune system is ever compromised, the virus can break out and replicate again with the blisters. I had my first herpes outbreak as an adult shortly are being “treated” with psychiatric drugs, which weaken the immune system. For the eight years that I took those drugs, I had many breakouts. When I began an orthomolecular program and was able to withdraw from the psych drugs and renew my immune system, the breakouts almost stopped entirely. I say “almost” because even if I went several years without a recurrence, an extremely emotional or physical situation could still trigger a small breakout. Then I learned of a treatment that has kept the little bastards heads down like Ma Deuce for many years. Stannous Fluoride is an anti-viral agent which works by killing the nerves in the skin or mucous membrane which are the final gateway to herpes breakout. This chemical compound (non-patentable) is used in dentistry to prevent and treat viral infections, including herpes in the mouth, and works very well. Dentists would not be happy working in a mouth having herpes outbreaks without having stannous fluoride available. Vets will probably remember the boot camp gargle with strong fluoride. This took care of any infections in the mouths of recruits who had never seen a dentist or brushed their teeth! Unfortunately, stannous fluoride is not approved by the FDA for use anywhere else on the body where the sales of other patented, prescription drugs might be affected, even though those drugs are nowhere near as effective on herpes as stannous fluoride and can have harmful side effects. Well, kids are smart and when the epidemic of herpes began in the 1970s, primarily due to poor nutrition and its damaging effects on immune systems, kids eventually discovered that TOOTHPASTE, applied to a “cold sore” and allowed to dry would dry up the blister in a day or two, and that it never returned in the same place (because the neural network had been shut down by the stannous fluoride). There is a much more potent source of stannous fluoride in a Colgate product called Gel-Kam available in some states without a prescription but not in others. Google “Gel-Kam and herpes”. Lots of people know about this. Gel-Kam does cause “nerve damage” and that is the reason why is is not approved for use outside the mouth (the dental profession). However, stannous fluoride, in the form of a tiny dab of Gel-Kam, only has to be used once at the site of each blister, so nerve damage in minimal. Many people can tell when they are about to have a breakout and see the spot of red skin and feel the tenderness than precedes the blister. Gel-Kam applied at that point will frequently prevent the formation of the blister. Neck pain can also be an indicator that a breakout is imminent. So, a good strategy many have found to deal with herpes is to build up the immune system with a healthy life style, good nutrition and supplementation, and finish off any hard core “dead enders” with a dab of Gel-Kam. If we follow medical logic to its Aristotelian conclusion, we find that first, almost everyone has been exposed to herpes and is potentially contagious. Second, there is no way to determine if one is contagious or not because blisters are not required to transmit the virus. Therefore, nobody should ever kiss anyone else, ever. I could not live like this. The next step would be a bubble suit for everyone!