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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Preparing for your appointment
By Mayo Clinic staffSome people have such mild symptoms of shingles that they don't seek medical treatment. Severe symptoms may result in a visit to the emergency room.
What you can do
You may want to write a list that includes:
- A detailed description of your symptoms
- Information about your medical problems, past and present
- Information about the medical problems of your parents or siblings
- All the medications and dietary supplements you take
- Questions you want to ask the doctor
What to expect from your doctor
Your doctor will examine your rash and ask questions about your general health and when these symptoms began.
- Shingles: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/detail_shingles.htm. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Ferri FF. Herpes zoster. In: Ferri's Clinical Advisor 2009. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2009. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/143941389-3/853489074/1701/269.html#4-u1.0-B978-0-323-04134-8..50011-2--subchapter24_5768. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Shingles disease: Questions and answers (herpes zoster). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm. Accessed June 17, 2009.
- Albrecht MA. Epidemiology and pathogenesis of varicella-zoster virus infection: Herpes zoster. http://uptodate.com/home/index/html. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- AgePage: Shingles. National Institute on Aging. http://www.niapublications.org/agepages/shingles.asp. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine Q&A. Centers for Disease and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/varicella/vac-faqs-gen.htm. Accessed June 18, 2009.
- Herpes zoster vaccine Q&A (Shingles). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/vac-faqs.htm. Accessed June 18, 2009.
