Can shingles affect you mentally?
Shingles is a painful rash that affects one in three adults over 50, but anyone who’s had chickenpox is at risk. It can have lingering effects—including pain and depression.
How do you know if shingles has affected your brain?
Shingles of the brain is called herpes zoster encephalitis. It is a rare but serious complication. Besides the shingles rash, other symptoms start quickly. They include headaches, vomiting, fever and confusion.
What does shingles look like in the head?
When shingles occurs on the head or scalp, symptoms can include headaches and weakness of one side of the face, which causes that side of the face to look droopy. The symptoms usually go away eventually, but it may take many months. In some cases the pain can last for weeks, months, or years, long after the rash heals.
Can depression cause shingles?
Stress and shingles This may have an impact on overall health, feelings of depression, and the immune system. Some researchers think that a weakened immune system can reactivate the varicella-zoster virus. Since stress affects the immune system, many researchers believe that stress could be a trigger for shingles.
Can shingles cause mental confusion?
PHN pain is felt in the same area where the rash was, and for some people it’s the worst and longest lasting part of shingles. Sufferers can experience depression, anxiety, confusion, trouble sleeping, and weight loss.
Can hormone imbalance cause shingles?
Women, particularly during the menopause transition, have higher rates of shingles than men, most likely due to hormonal changes to their immune response. These changes at menopause can increase the rate of many immune-related diseases (such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis).
What is the root cause of shingles?
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you’ve had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.
What are the long term side effects of shingles?
Complications
- Postherpetic neuralgia. For some people, shingles pain continues long after the blisters have cleared.
- Vision loss. Shingles in or around an eye (ophthalmic shingles) can cause painful eye infections that may result in vision loss.
- Neurological problems.
- Skin infections.