Diagnose me

In the fall of 2016 I was working at a daycare as the lead teacher in a 1 year old classroom. One day, a little student came in with a bumpy rash all over his body. His skin was very dark so it was hard to determine redness, but he was itching them and seemed pretty miserable. I called his mom and she picked him up to take him to the doctor.

About an hour and a half later, she brought him back and told me it was allergies. I had no reason not to believe her.

But then, a few days later, I started developing giant blisters up and down my neck, back of my head, and on my shoulders. They were so painful I was in tears and unable to move. I ran a fever. I went to an urgent care clinic and they told me I had shingles. I said, “isn’t that a bit odd? I’m 26 years old and I’ve never had chicken pox.” (You can only develop shingles after a previous chicken pox infection. It’s also nearly unheard of in people younger than 50). The doctor dismissed me. She prescribed an antiviral medication and just told me to rest.

The blisters took almost two months to go away. I was so sick I had to quit my job. I lost weight. I was exhausted. Eventually I started feeling better in December of that year.

I have scarring and permanent nerve damage from the largest blister that was on my neck.

No doctor has been able to tell me what it was, but no other doctor has believed it was shingles. I’ve been told it was possible breakthrough adult chicken pox (I was vaccinated as a child) or some other type of viral rash.

What do you think?