How do you know if you have shingles?

Shingles Hurts: Shingles is a severe painful rash in one part of the skin and only on one side of the skin. Your physician can diagnose this for you.

Only varicella virus: Shingles is a condition where the zoster virus emerges from hibernation in one of your nerve roots. It travels down the nerve and exits in the distribution of that nerve where it causes pain, blisters and skin sensitivity. The only way you get shingles is to have had chickenpox in the past or have received the vaccine (although less often).