PCL Week 6 – “Angela has a pain in her arm”

Risk Factors for Shingles:
You can only get shingles if you have already had chickenpox (virus lies dormant)
· 20% of people who’ve had chickenpox develop shingles

Risk Factors:

• Stress and fatigue
  o Excessive emotional and physical stress or extreme fatigue
• Conditions that weaken your immune system
  o E.g. cancer, HIV/AIDS
• Certain treatments
  o Radiation therapy
  o Immunosuppressants
  § Chemotherapy
  § Steroid medications
• Age
  o >60y/o » 3 times more likely to develop shingles
• Ethnic background
  o White people are 4 times more likely to develop shingles
• Gender
  o Some studies suggests females are more susceptible
  

Angela appears to have all of these risk factors in some way.
She has become more stressed and fatigued than usual due to her daughter’s chronic pain which is requiring her assist a lot more around the house.
She has had breast cancer in the past and been on Tamoxifen which may have weakened her immune system.
She is an 88 year old, white female.