pml, I’m sorry for your loss. That does sound like a very stressful year! But you made it thru and your shingles are mild, so that’s great.

I, too, had had a very stressful period. Thank goodness the shingles was a delayed reaction and didn’t happen right in the middle of the stress!

What your doctor said about contagion was partially correct. Shingles are not contagious. But from all that I’ve read, the virus IS contagious to people who have not had chickenpox. E.g. if you have a grandchild, who has not yet had chicken pox, come visit you, that child could catch the virus from you and get chicken pox, just as if he/she could if they came into contact with someone who has chicken pox.

And since, for example, my husband has already had chicken pox, he was in no danger of catching anything from me, even if he happened to touch a lesion. But that also means the virus is in his body, so it could manifest as shingles at any time.

It’s been recommended to me to get the shingles vaccine, but I haven’t done it. Apparently, it is not guaranteed to prevent the shingles and it can cause worse problems. If you search for “shingles” on this site, you can read about people’s experience with that. Of course, a lot of people do get the vaccine and they are perfectly fine. I just prefer not to risk it.