Thanks Doris for all your medical help. Your personal help with Katie was gratefully received. I heard in the old days when the Shingles go around your waist you died. I would have rather had them there. They went around my chest and across the whole back. Being a woman you have straps right where they were. I have heard so many places, and one right across the face. Also heard they can come back once a year, so far lucky. Norma ----- Original Message ----- From: <Up2Nutrix@aol.com> To: <NJ-MEMORIES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, November 13, 2002 1:15 AM Subject: [NJ-Memories] Re: Childhood Diseases > In a message dated 11/12/2002 4:31:05 PM Mountain Standard Time, > NJ-MEMORIES-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > > > I had them all, the only > > one that carried over was the chicken pox. I was told its in your system > > and I got the Shinges 3 yrs. ago. True Doris? > > > > Yup. What happens is that the chicken-pox virus (the "varicella/zoster > virus") doesn't necessarily go away after you've had the chicken pox. > Instead, it hides out in cranial- or spinal-nerve cells and just waits for > you to have some sort of stress in your life that triggers them to come out. > They travel right down the nerve roots to the endings on the skin, and there > they set up that painful eruption that we know of as "shingles." The name has > nothing to do with the stuff on your roof; it comes from the Latin word > "cingulum," which means "girdle." That's because the most common site is > around the waist, where a girdle would be worn in the olden days. The > infection can follow any of the sensory nerves, though, which is why it can > even pop out on the face or in an eye. Incidentally, those blisters on the > skin with shingles are chock full of chicken-pox virus; so if you should get > it, stay away from anyone who hasn't had chicken pox. > > Hope this helps -- > > Doris in Colorado (Up2Nutrix@aol.com) > "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -- > Jim Elliot, missionary and martyr > > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >