I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that my husband, who is not in the medical field, had called it! When I got home, he looked up my symptoms online and decided that I had shingles. I had thought I was too young to get the illness, but I later learned that cases are increasing among younger people. He’d been right.
Because the lesions and swelling were around my eye, my doctor’s main concern was my vision.
Shingles infections that impact the eyes can lead to serious complications, including blindness, so I needed an emergency eye appointment. My trip to Costa Rica was looming, and I would be in places without easy access to medical care, putting even more pressure on the situation. Luckily, my eye doctor was able to fit me in and performed a complete exam to confirm everything was okay.
I was taking antiviral medication at that point, and my doctors stressed that I shouldn’t touch my eye or the shingles rash. Otherwise, I risked developing a bacterial infection—or even spreading the virus to others. While shingles itself isn’t contagious, the varicella-zoster virus can spread through contact with fluid from the blisters you get, which can cause chicken pox in people who’ve never had it. However, my doctors told me that because I’d need to be pretty up close and personal for that to happen, they weren’t concerned about me passing it around on my trip, so off I went.
Though I was medically cleared to travel, I wasn’t in the condition I’d hoped to be. I was taking the antiviral medication, which I suspect was a big part of the reason why I had a headache and felt a little dizzy at times. This was a seven-day vacation where I was changing hotels every night, which is stressful enough on its own. My health issues added another layer to the chaos.
On top of all that, my rash started to scab over during the first few days of my trip, making it look almost like I’d fallen face-first onto concrete. It was scabbing under my eye, and I found it pretty gross-looking. Not only were the scabs embarrassing, but they were also extremely itchy—at points unbearably so. I put anti-itch cream on them—I still don’t know if that was the right choice—and tried to ignore how miserable I was feeling.
I was worried about developing shingles complications, but I had a guide with me the whole time. I knew he would help if I needed to get medical care, and I was grateful for that.
The experience made me change my travel insurance.
If my doctor had said I couldn’t travel to Costa Rica, I would have stayed home—and it would have cost me a lot of money. Instead, I went through the trip in extreme discomfort. I’m usually pretty good about having travel insurance, but after that trip I switched to a plan with a telehealth option. I reasoned that if I developed something in the future that could be diagnosed visually, at least I could “see” a doctor, even while on the road.
I’ve learned that shingles is challenging to diagnose because a number of other conditions can cause similar symptoms. In younger people like me, shingles usually isn’t what people think of first.
One of the most frustrating parts of my experience was that I consulted multiple doctors and was told they didn’t know what was causing my unbearable symptoms. I should have advocated for more testing or further investigation, but I was so desperate to feel better that I was willing to accept “we don’t know but take antibiotics” as an answer.
It took about five weeks to feel like myself again—long after I returned from Costa Rica. And unfortunately, I now have a scar under my eye from the scabbing. I hope I never again experience an intense health issue like this while traveling. But if I do, I know I’ll be more determined to get answers quickly.