{"id":5468,"date":"2025-07-09T16:13:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T19:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aleyork.com\/?page_id=5468"},"modified":"2025-07-25T19:27:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:27:55","slug":"saude-mental-x-saude-fisica","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.aleyork.com\/en\/saude-mental\/saude-mental-x-saude-fisica\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health x Physical Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mental and physical health are interconnected. Stress, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion can directly affect our bodies, and I have a real story to share that shows exactly how this happens in practice.<\/p>\n

I got Shingles after 40: another chapter in my turning-40 crisis<\/b><\/h2>\n

Ent\u00e3o… peguei Herpes-Z\u00f3ster.<\/p>\n

Just one more thing to add to my famous turning-40 crisis.<\/p>\n

I was already on an emotional rollercoaster. I was in the middle of trying to remove my IUD \u2014 something I attempted three times, unsuccessfully, because the IUD string wasn\u2019t visible. The professionals tried everything, but couldn\u2019t remove it. The solution was to schedule a surgery with anesthesia. The date? July 3, 2025.<\/p>\n

But on July 2, I was diagnosed with Shingles, or herpes zoster as it\u2019s formally called. I had never even heard of it before.<\/p>\n

How did it start?<\/b><\/h2>\n

On Monday, June 30, I woke up with a swollen eye. I thought it was an allergy. I\u2019m allergic to pollen, dog hair, and things like that, so I didn\u2019t think it was anything serious. I took the allergy medication my doctor had recommended before and went on with my day as usual.<\/p>\n

The next day, July 1, I went to work normally, still thinking my body was just reacting to a typical allergy. But that night, everything got much worse. I couldn\u2019t sleep because of the itching. Little bumps started appearing on the left side of my breast and around my ribs.<\/p>\n

My husband thought it was heat rash, which actually made sense since it\u2019s summer here in New York. But something inside me said: something\u2019s not right.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I talked to a friend and described the symptoms. She said: this sounds like shingles.<\/p>\n

At the time I thought: shingles? What\u2019s that?<\/p>\n

But since I was already heading to the ER, I decided to check there.<\/p>\n

I got to the emergency room, explained the symptoms, and it didn\u2019t take long to confirm the diagnosis: Shingles.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t

Diagnosis and treatment<\/b><\/h2>\n

The ER doctor prescribed three antiviral medications for seven days. I left with the meds in hand, thinking that would be the whole treatment.<\/p>\n

But later, talking to another friend, he mentioned his husband had shingles too and also used a cream.<\/p>\n

So I thought: would that help in my case?<\/p>\n

I called the clinic and spoke with the doctor. I explained that even with the antivirals, the itching was still very intense and bothering me a lot.<\/p>\n

She prescribed an anti-inflammatory cream specifically to relieve the skin symptoms caused by Shingles.<\/p>\n

She sent the prescription directly to the pharmacy. I picked it up the same day and added the cream to my treatment.<\/p>\n

Honestly, it made a big difference in relieving the itching and discomfort.<\/p>\n

Important: The medications used to treat Shingles, including creams, must be prescribed by a healthcare professional. Each case is unique, and self-medication can be risky.<\/p>\n

What might have caused it?<\/b><\/h2>\n

In my opinion \u2014 and it lines up with what I later learned \u2014 it was a combination of factors:<\/p>\n