After staying up late for three days, the 28-year-old man felt so painful that he wanted to bang his head against the wall! Be careful of this virus, once infected, you will carry it for life!

It’s clearly time to go to bed, but I don’t want to sleep. I think to myself: I’ll play one more game before I go to sleep, watch one more episode before I go to sleep, chat for a while before I go to sleep… Before I know it, I’ve stayed up very late.

Many people know the disadvantages of staying up late, but there is one that you definitely won’t think of.

01

It hurts so much that I want to bang my head against the wall

After staying up late for three days, the boy had severe pain in his left ear

As a programmer, 28-year-old Xiao Zhou not only stays up late to play with his mobile phone, but also often works overtime. In his words, his life is "endless bugs to fix and endless hair loss." Over time, not only has his head become bald, but his body's immunity has also been "drained" by work.

Recently, the company had an important project. As the main force, Xiao Zhou was busy from morning to night. He had no time to eat and only slept four hours a day for three consecutive days. On the third night, his left ear began to hurt severely.

"I just happened to catch a cold during those busy days. I used to get otitis media easily when I caught a cold. As soon as my ear started to hurt, I took some anti-inflammatory medicine, thinking that I would get some sleep and it would go away."

On the fourth day, Xiao Zhou woke up and felt something was wrong with his face. When he looked in the mirror, he found that the left side of his mouth was crooked, his eyes could not close, he spoke with a slurred voice, and brushed his teeth with a leaky mouth. The pain in his left ear became more severe, and he could not hear clearly. He panicked and went to Hangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital for treatment.

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"The pain in my left ear felt like an electric shock, throbbing and like needles. It was totally unbearable."

During the examination, Chen Zhiling, director of the ENT department, found that Xiao Zhou's left auricle was covered with herpes, the left external auditory canal was obviously swollen, the surface of the eardrum was congested, the left forehead wrinkles became shallower, the nasolabial grooves became shallower, and there was air leakage from the cheeks. A hearing test revealed that the low-frequency hearing of the left ear was impaired, and the hearing of the left ear was significantly affected.

He judged that Xiao Zhou was suffering from herpes zoster of the ear, also known as "herpes zoster" in folk language. The virus invaded the nerves and caused facial paralysis and hearing loss. After a week of comprehensive treatment, Xiao Zhou recovered and was discharged from the hospital.

As one of the "most painful skin diseases", shingles has attracted attention many times.

Many netizens said: It really hurts!

Image source: Internet

02

Once you are infected with the herpes virus, you will carry it for life

Some patients may suffer from pain for up to 10 years

Herpes is a type of infectious skin disease caused by herpes virus infection. The most common ones in life are herpes simplex and varicella-zoster viruses. Oral herpes and genital herpes are both viral skin diseases caused by herpes simplex, and herpes zoster is caused by the "varicella-zoster" virus infection.

Herpes labialis is spread through direct contact with droplets, saliva, and blister fluid (the fluid inside the herpes).

Genital herpes is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse and can also be spread from mother to child.

The triggering factors of shingles include: long-term mental stress, fatigue, staying up late; long-term use of glucocorticoids; advanced age; suffering from leukemia, bone marrow transplantation, HIV infection, malignant tumors and other immunodeficiency diseases, etc.

Herpes zoster usually occurs in the lumbar sacral region and face. Non-specific symptoms such as fever, headache, and myalgia may appear before the rash appears. A few days later, the rash appears. The rash is usually located on one side of the body, distributed in a band-like manner, and is accompanied by pain.

If the herpes grows on the auricle, it will cause severe ear pain, ear stuffiness and other symptoms. As the disease worsens, some patients may also experience varying degrees of deafness, dizziness, facial paralysis, brainstem encephalitis and multiple cranial neuritis.

The nature of the pain varies, and can be "knife-like", "needle-like", "burning-like" and other pains. The pain in the acute phase is very severe. Studies have reported that the pain level exceeds labor pain and cancer pain.

It may recur even after recovery, and some patients may experience pain for up to 10 years.

03

More than 90% of adults

Have varicella zoster virus

More than 90% of adults have the varicella-zoster virus in their bodies. The herpes virus cannot be completely eliminated. After the initial infection subsides, the virus will lurk in the mucous membranes, blood, local sensory ganglia and most organs, "waiting for an opportunity to strike."

Although shingles causes symptoms on the skin, it is actually a disease of the nervous system.

Some people may ask, doesn’t chickenpox provide lifelong immunity? Why do adults still get attacked by the varicella-zoster virus?

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In fact, although the chickenpox in childhood seems to be cured, the virus invades the spinal ganglia or cranial nerve sensory ganglia along the sensory nerves and lurks in the brain. When our body's resistance is low or we are tired, nervous, stressed, infected, or have a cold, herpes zoster may occur.

04

People aged 50 and over are most likely to be targeted

The incidence rate among young people has increased

Doctors warn that shingles can occur at any age, and the incidence and severity increase with age, especially in middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old.

People over 50 years old have declining immunity and multiple underlying diseases, so the chance of experiencing nerve pain increases exponentially. They are also more likely to suffer from anxiety and sleep disorders, which seriously affects their quality of life.

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In recent years, as young people have increased work pressure, stayed up late for a long time, have irregular diets, lack of exercise and other bad living habits, their resistance has decreased, so the incidence of "herpes zoster" in young people has increased. Chen Zhiling, director of the Department of Otolaryngology at Hangzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, believes that the following points can be effectively prevented:

Combine work and rest, reduce staying up late, exercise moderately, eat regularly, strengthen your physical fitness, and improve your resistance to disease.

Avoid frequent colds and prevent infection. Infection is one of the causes of this disease. Elderly patients should prevent infection from various diseases, especially in spring and autumn, when the weather changes from cold to warm. They should add or remove clothes in time to avoid upper respiratory tract infections caused by cold. In addition, inflammation of the mouth, nose, and ears should also be actively treated.

Avoid trauma, as trauma can easily reduce the body's disease resistance and easily lead to the occurrence of this disease.

Doctors remind that if you are sick, don't panic. Early treatment usually has a better prognosis. You should rest more after you are sick, eat easily digestible food and drink water, and prevent secondary bacterial infection. Don't rub the affected area to prevent the blisters from rupturing. You can use wet compresses to promote the drying and scabbing of the blisters.

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Source: Chao News·Qianjiang Evening News

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