A few weeks ago someone on this board suggested they had shingles and how painful it is. I responded with something about stress in their life.

Well I woke up last week with some terrible back pain. I thought I had done something to my back. The pain was so bad that I barely noticed the itching in my back as well. Turns out that I have shingles. And let me tell you - the pain is incredible. It shoots down from my back all the way down to my right foot.

I'm terrible at minimizing other peoples health problems - "it's okay just suck it up" - and I have sucked it up for the most part. But let me tell you when someone around you has shingles don't expect them to be very productive.