My mum has got a rash! Can anyone help?

[girlsmum]

Hi, my Mum is really embarassed to have a rash, she hasn't even told my Dad (!).

Can anyone suggest what it could be - the rash is across her torso, like chicken pox but without the scabs and is very itchy. Her glands are also swollen.

The thing troubling me is my dd recently suffered from measles after receiving the MMR. Does this sound like measles?

Hoping for someone cleverer than us to help x

Could it be shingles? this often goes acorss the torso.
It is similar to chicken pox and is quite serious for older people, she should get it checked out

Are some of the spots pustulles i.e. white head spots?? If so then that sounds like shingles, worth getting it checked out though! Just a thought, has she changed her washing powder or soap recently??

sounds like shingles, she is feeling any pain as shingles can also be very painful? Make an appointment with GP tomorrow.

I suggested shingles but the rash is not in circles.

(Sorry if I sound thick, but I thought shingles appeared in circles).

It appears in bands, usually on one side of the torso only but sometimes on both. It does sound like shingles to me - is it painful? Shingles can be really painful and the pain can stay long after the spots have gone.

If it's shingles, which it could well be, a prompt-enough trip to the gp could get her a prescription for acyclovir, an antiviral that can decrease the severity & duration of the illness. But if she waits too long it'll be too late, and it'll have to run it's normal course, which can be months.

If you don't know what shingles is, it's a revisitation of the chicken pox virus later in life, but the disease itself is quite different from chicken pox.

As coincidence would have it, I'm in the US visiting my father who has a terrible case of shingles--one of the worst cases the doctors have seen. . .so I guess that's why I'd urge your mum to get it checked. It's unlikely it'll be as bad as my dad's, so don't panic. (My dad has a form of leukemia that, though basically benign, makes him more succeptible to illness.)

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Some of the spots do have a white head like spot on them and my Mum's neck is exteremly painful.

But my Mum being my Mum will put off seeing the doctor thinking she'll just get by. I will definately ring her first thing to make sure she has made a GP appointment.

Just another question, as my dd's have never had chicken pox can they get it from someone with shingles? Crikey I'm so un-medically minded!

Thanks guys x

Shingles occurs in people who have had chickenpox and is a reactivation of the dormant virus. Shingles often occurs many years after the initial chickenpox infection. Shingles is contagious and may itself cause chickenpox. However, contact with a person with shingles or chickenpox cannot cause shingles.

She mustn't put off seeing the GP, if it's shingles it needs treating as soon as possible otherwise, as Medea says, it will be too late and it could take months for the virus to run its course. Drag her there kicking and screaming if need be; she needs to see the GP.