The Commonly Mistaken Sign Of Shingles You Shouldn't Ignore

If you've ever had shingles, you'd know how particularly uncomfortable the experience is. Caused by the reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) — aka the chickenpox virus — in the body, this painfully itchy condition is actually far more common than you might realize. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1 million people in the United States contract shingles, and about a third of the country's population will experience it at least once in their lifetime. That's right: It is possible to get shingles more than once; the only way to protect yourself from this annoying skin condition — which has no cure, by the way — is to get the shingles vaccine.

If left untreated or undiagnosed, shingles can cause long-term complications in the body, which is why it would be in your best interests if your doctor could catch it early. Unfortunately, there's a common telltale sign of the disease that tends to be mistaken for something else: sudden skin rashes erroneously attributed to other causes (e.g., swimming in chlorine-treated water).

On Reddit, user u/survivorsavedmylife shared her mild annoyance at the fact that she developed a rash on her arm after taking a swim while on vacation. The user also posted pictures of her rashes, describing them as painful and noting that they had spread to different parts of her arm over the course of three days. 

Commenters were quick to point out that it was likely shingles — and sure enough, after consulting a doctor, the user posted an update confirming that it was, in fact, shingles. "Honestly, I'm still a bit confused how I got this in the first place," she shared, "because I've never had chicken pox." It's worth noting that it's possible for a person to have had chickenpox, or the virus that causes chickenpox, without them ever realizing it.

Speaking to Newsweek, she revealed that over the course of getting diagnosed, she also learned the difference between chlorine rashes and shingles rashes: "What I didn't know was that chlorine rashes usually occur on both sides of the body, where it gets in between the bathing suit." In contrast, the shingles rash tends to appear on only one side of the body.

Ultimately, it's much safer to have rashes of any kind checked by a medical professional than to assume what they are or to self-diagnose. (On a related note, here's how to distinguish between eczema and shingles.)