Jo Ann
I can empathize -- I too had shingles as a young adult (age 20 -- I am now 49). The dr. I saw for this extremely painful diagnosis made me feel even worse! "I see a lot of this in old men." Well, I made it through with this bout (it is actually a dormant chicken pox virus). Ten years later, after unusual health problems, I was diagnosed with SLE (lupus). Just a few years ago after reading a lengthy article on shingles, I learned that a weakened immune system can cause this outbreak (shingles). You may want to discuss this with your primary care physician to rule out underlying disease. Best of luck to you.