prescription - a drug that is available only with written instructions from a doctor or dentist to a pharmacist; he told the doctor that he had been taking his prescription regularly. ethical drug, prescription drug, prescription medicine.
Definition. Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso. Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus â the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles. While it isn't a life-threatening condition, shingles can be very painful.
Years later, the virus can become active, causing shingles. The first symptoms of shingles are unusual skin sensations. These include pain, itching and tingling. Other symptoms include confusion, fatigue, fever, headache, memory loss, an upset stomach and stomach pain. These symptoms generally occur one to five days before a painful rash appears on one side of the body or face. In most people, the rash develops on the torso and extends to the front and the back of the body. The rash forms very painful blisters that typically become scabs in seven to 10 days.