Quarantine: We're in a mini-lockdown but it's not Covid, it's shingles – Hayley Matthews

My eldest son was complaining of a very itchy back recently and being fond of a back scratch, I thought he was just after some comfort.

Hayley initially thought her son was being overly dramatic when he complained about an itchy back, but a trip to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary saw him diagnosed with shingles (Picture: Getty/iStockphoto)

After a day or two, I noticed a few small circles like bites, so put some calamine lotion on but it clearly didn't help as he nearly jumped through the roof.

He can be a bit dramatic at times so I just put this down to the usual protest of any creams and lotions and told him he's fine and to just get on with it.

Then came the complaints of sunburn which is impossible as it's November and again I said "you're fine, stop moaning".

I also said just ask one of your pals to scratch it, if it's itchy at school. He didn't, and just as well because it turns out what he's got is a tad contagious. After googling sore red blisters, a call to NHS 24 and a trip up to the Royal Infirmary,

shingles was the diagnosis.

The doctor said this was the first case she'd seen in a kid and mentioned she'd had it a few weeks ago too. She also said she'd heard of loads of people having it recently so I've no idea if it's anything to do with us all being extra clean, stressed or if maybe it's just random, however, there seems to be a lot of it going about.

Our son has been quite sore with it and now I'm feeling terrible for not taking him seriously and noticing earlier, it's just you rarely hear of kids with shingles. I'd be so confident to say that you're more likely to hear about a kid cleaning their room than you are to hear about a kid getting the shingles.

So we're quarantined in a mini-lockdown which is going to be challenging. This means more time off school until the blisters burst and scab over, which my son is delighted about (I hope you're not eating whilst reading this). So it's back to the home-schooling (PS4/YouTube/Netflix etc) until everyone stops scratching away like a group of meerkats!

I think we're in for a rough ride of it because the little one hasn't had chicken pox, and many people have said that we're likely to catch shingles too. Everytime I scratch my arm or if Mr Hayley complains of an itch, we all jump to high alert. I've heard shingles is much worse in adults than in children so I'm just hoping that enough hand washing is going on for us not to catch it.

If little baby Oryn gets chicken pox, then it's going to be a rough ride. However, the younger they catch these things the easier, I suppose.

So, you won't see us out and about for a few days because we're hunkering down with calamine lotion and antiviral medication.

I'm also stocking up on a huge bottle of gin and lots and lots of tonic. Mainly because I've read great things about the medicinal properties of quinine in tonic, but more importantly, who doesn't need a gin and tonic at the end of the day – even more so in times like these? Scratch, scratch and cheers! 

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.