Furtinan - I am very sorry to hear of your plight but you have had some excellent advice from Julia & Jody.
I advise all Fodorites to take as much care of your body as you do planning the next trip.
As part of my holiday planning regime I have a month-long course of Neurobin injections (1 a week) to boost my nervous system before I leave. These are also for non-travellers who have a lot of stress at the workplace. You will be bouncing off the walls after a couple of these!

Be very careful with facial shingles. My mother developed shingles of the mouth - shortly after flying to Australia from Toronto. THis progressed to Ramsey Hunt Syndrome - very similar to Bell's Palsey (paralysis of the face). That is shocking - can't blink your eye so must tape it shut at night.
You should get antivirals within 72 hours. In Australia, doctors must get permission from the Dept of Health to prescribe the Shingles Pack of anti-virals. They cannot prescribe later than the 72 hour window.
Both my mother and I have had shingles 3 times - so much for not recurring :(
I would not have been able to travel even though I only get a small patch on my inner arm. It makes me very agitated and tired,and the itch/pain is sometimes quite unbearable.
I find a teatree cream is the onlything that relieves the discomfort. The antivirals do seem to relieve the severity of the attack.
Luckily we have not developed the neuraglia.

http://www.nfid.org/factsheets/varicellaadult.pdf

So sorry about your wife's illness, furtinan.

It really is too bad about furtinan's wife's shingles. But to be honest, I'm not sure how concerned about her condition he actually is. He has not come back to this thread but has since posted 2 others asking about the cost of petrol in Europe and how much cash he can take out of the country.

furtinan: Shingles is nothing to trifle with. Before you continue your plans, you really do need clearance from you wife's doctor. (And WHY do you want to take a lot of cash w/ you anyway??)

Perhaps he wants to take that much cash in case it is needed for her medical care.

But I always wonder if some of these questions are asked by people writing books :-D

It never ceases to amaze me how many people come to this forum to ask important health questions. furtinan, surely you can see from the different and conflicting opinions here that you need to consult your wife's doctor!

SusanP, I'm with you. I've refrained from answering this thread. I've known several people who have suffered with shingles including my mother, and what I KNOW is that no two cases are any thing alike. There have been a couple dozen suggestions above, but as far as I'm concerned there has only been ONE good one:

See your doctor.

I usually refrain from any health related posts. I just don't think that a travel forum is the correct place to be looking for medical advice.

But this time, I had to put my 2 cents in. I was concerned about the possible public health hazard furtinan's wife could present. In her situation, she could potentially risk hurting others.

I wonder if fur's wife had already gone to the MD and was told that she SHOULD NOT GO and he was trying to get a "second" opinion. After all her shingles just began. The contagious period can last for up to 2 weeks if the rash is still active (open lesions) and their flight is next week. Her desire to go SHOULD NOT cause her to disregard her risk to others. I hope this is not the case.

Shingles are contagious ..but only if you come in contact with the exudate from the blisters...and only if you have had chicken pox

Many people have NOT had chicken pox nowadays. It is not as common as it used to be. And how do you know who has and who has not had it? Adult chicken pox can be very serious, not the milder version seen in kids, and can cause fatal pneumonias. Esp if these people have any immune system compromise.

If the wife touches her blisters (she may do it subconsciously)
then touches a cup, door handle, seat back, tray, cart, etc, then someone else touches it, that person is exposed and can expose others.

If she is contagious, she is a PUBLIC HEALTH HAZARD! If even one person on the plane or somewhere along the trip has not had chicken pox is exposed and ends up miserable with chicken pox, it that fair to that person? Esp since it could have been prevented by the wife staying home and taking care of herself.

She needs to get to a physician and get on the appropriate medication. Time is on your side and there are now some anti-virals that will work. I think with a week, she will be O.K , not be any kind of health hazard and will still be able to have a wonderful time. Do not panic, do not listen to stupid people (sorry, if the shoe fits, wear it, if it doesn't , chill.) Life is too short to to not to try to enjoy it to the fullest. Have a greeat trip and send us a trip report.

I can't believe this thread and the fact that furtinan has not even posted back. I too think that the doctor of his wife advised her not to travel and he is looking for validation that it is alright to. Good grief, guess we all have to think about people on planes that should not be on planes.

I didn't connect the other thread about taking money to the UK until it was brought up here. Strange IMO.

And where is furtinan??

Ok, folks, time to calm down.
All we know about furtinan is what he has posted, which is a pretty benign question about whether what his wife wants to do is safe.

He has received good advice, that being to see a doctor and to be aware that shingles can be contagious.

There is nothing "bad" or "sinister" about furtinan not responding to the advice given. For all we know he/his wife have acted on that advice and are too busy scrambling around and putting a new plan together to post a reply.

I am confused by those of you who have developed the theory that furtinan's wife's doctor told her not to fly and furtinan is using fodors to develop ammunition for forcing his wife to travel against medical advice. There is nothing in furtinan's message that suggests this.

Speaking of asking one's doctors....
When I had shingles, I went to the doctor's office several times over the course of about five weeks (the first time being the visit with the nurse practitioner who misdiagnosed it). My doctors never told me to stay home from work or avoid close contact with other people. I specifically asked whether I could go swimming without endangering other people, and I was told that going swimming would be fine and would not sporead the virus.

My own superficial reading led me to conclude that contact with open shingles blisters could be risky for someone who never had chicken pox, especially someone with a weak or undeveloped immune system, but that it would be much less risky than contact with someone with chicken pox.

Sorry but I think it's disgusting for this person to even think about going in close quarters with other unsuspecting people.

In addition, shingles is no picnic. Why would his wife want to be in pain and away from their home?

I sure didn't mean to convey that furtinan was "forcing" his wife to travel. Hope I didn't give that impression. That would be abusive behavior. He said that "she still wants to go is it safe to fly thanks dennis".

I personally do not understand why that question was asked here. IF his wife had gone to the doctor surely the doctor would have advised (assuming the doctor was told a trip was planned) whether it was safe to fly or not.

If his wife has not gone to the doctor, per my original post I strongly suggested that he get his wife to a doctor immediately.

And regarding the question "is it safe to fly" I think that is a twofold question. Safe for her? Safe for the other passengers on the plane?

I can say this, if I had shingles on my face there is no way I would, at this point, be planning to take the trip to Europe in a week, whether I had purchased travel insurance or not.

I sure wish both of them the best. This is not a problem I would wish on anyone.

P.S. I think some of you are speculating FAR too much about Furtinan's motives and what his wife's doctor did or did not advise and what Furtinan does or does not care about. I also think thre's a whole world full of people who are not addicted to Fodors and who simply ask a question once, without obligating themselves to reply to all the responses or to confess further details of their private lives.

Hi cmt, I agree with you. And going along that line of thinking I would never think to ask about medical decisions on Fodors. Take care.

"thre's a whole world full of people who are not addicted to Fodors and who simply ask a question once, without obligating themselves to reply to all the responses"

True - but a simple "Thanks" is just good manners. He has multiple answers to all of his threads but hasn't aknowledged any of them . . . . . .

<<True - but a simple "Thanks" is just good manners. He has multiple answers to all of his threads but hasn't aknowledged any of them...>>

tsk, tsk, janis... what about the possibility that his wife is worse (or perhaps not even worse) - - and he is attending to her needs, and not taking time to sit in front of a computer!

chances are he has not been back at all - - in (gasp!) the past 28 hours!