Shingles

So about every three or four minutes, it feels like someone is shoving a knife blade under the ribs on my left side.  On the plane ride back from Orlando, I had this pain in my left shoulder.  I thought I'd done something stupid like pull a muscle while swimming at Blue Springs.  The next morning, a spot on my chest hurt, sort of where the ribs run into the sternum.  Picture an imaginary bullet shot by a little person.  In one side, out the other.  I poked around on line and thought, it's probably just where the muscle in my back attaches in the front.  Then I got a very light rash on my abdomen.  I'd had hives in Orlando due to something I was allergic to in the water at the amusement park, and it seemed like this was just a recurrence.  Then it started to really hurt.  So I was back to see Jennifer at urgent care in Eagan for the second time in two weeks.  Shingles.  Damn it.  They put me on an anti viral.  My mother recommended lysine as well.  And now I can expect 3-5 weeks of tender skin and sharp pains.  It's not keeping me from doing anything, but it sure is a distraction at work.  On a positive note, after taking the lysine, I seem strangely energized and  like my old self.  I'm interested to see if that's consistent and whether the shingles are the result of some sort of imbalance.  Hopefully, between the dog bite, the splinter so deep in my palm it wouldn't come out, the shingles, and the allergy to the water, and...I think there was one other malfunction in there somewhere...I should be done for a while.