People write to me all the time about pain at the base of the spine — right on the tailbone, over the sacrum, in that awkward spot you cannot easily see and cannot comfortably point to. Half the time, the word they use for it is shingles. And without realising it, they are using that word to describe two completely different things.
Let me separate those two things for you right now, because the confusion around the name does more harm than the virus itself.
Shingles is herpes. Literally.
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that gives children chickenpox. It belongs to the herpes family. When most people say the word “herpes”, they mean one thing: oral or genital herpes. But the herpes viral family is much larger than that. It includes the chickenpox and shingles virus, the glandular fever virus, the cold sore virus, and the genital virus. As I wrote in my own book, herpes simplex is, if anything, “milder even than its relatives the chickenpox/shingles virus and the mono/chronic fatigue virus” — Making Peace With Herpes, 20th Anniversary Edition.
So when someone tells you they have shingles, and they mean the chickenpox virus waking up along a nerve, they are talking about a herpes virus. It is not the same virus as genital herpes. It does not call for the same approach. It does not carry the same story. But it is herpes all the same.
The other thing that sits at the tailbone
There is a second pattern that comes up constantly in the questions people bring me. You get recurring pain, tingling, burning, or a blistered outbreak right at the base of the spine. That presentation can be herpes simplex — the very same virus behind cold sores and genital outbreaks — lying dormant in the sacral nerve ganglia and travelling along the nerves at the base of the spine to reach the skin.
Why the confusion costs you
This mix-up hurts you in two ways. First, if you assume it is one virus when it is actually the other, you end up managing it on the wrong premise. Herpes simplex and varicella-zoster are relatives, not identical twins, and you do not handle them the same way.
Second — and this is the part that cuts deeper — is the maths of shame. Why will a person accept “shingles” as an ordinary nerve virus without blinking, yet fall apart if the exact same spot turns out to be herpes simplex? By their own family tree, simplex is the milder cousin.
The simple truth is that the label is the problem here, not your body. Skin lesions at the base of your spine, whichever branch of the family they come from, are just information from your body. They are not a verdict on your character.
What to do with the question
Stop guessing at a label you read online. Because these two viruses can look identical on the skin, only a proper lab swab — such as a PCR test taken from an active sore by your doctor or clinic — can tell you for certain which virus is there.
Once you have a clear medical diagnosis, looking at your whole health history and how your body behaves before, during, and after a flare is the entire point of an Initial Consultation — one full hour with me, one-on-one, wherever you live in the world.
If you want to talk it through, reach out to me through the <a href=”https://natropractica.com/contact-us/”>contact page</a> on natropractica.com.