Originally Posted by Chem1

Well Gentleman you can add me to this club that no one wants to be a member of.
This bizarre affliction began for me about two months ago. I initially thought it might be work related as I am a research Chemist and was doing some work with Isocyanates which are known sensitizers. The condition has persisted however, weather I work with these compounds or not and now I am extra cautious to avoid any contact while working with Isocyanates.
Thanks to your posts I have developed a new theory, I believe this may be an unusual manifestation of the Shingles virus. I am not overweight and no chance I have HSV.
I do know for certain that I had Chickenpox (Herpes Zoster virus) at the age of 5.
Given Hiriser32’s experience with the latency of symptoms over years this screams retrovirus to me. Also if you check the net you will find that Shingles in rare cases can affect the Female genitalia (Vaginal Shingles). So why not the male? Perhaps even rarer still.
Would be interesting to know if all of you also had the Chickenpox.
I was reluctant to go to the Doctor as I figured they wouldn’t have a clew and as is the case with many of you my symptoms come and go as well.
At this point for me this is an extreme annoyance but nothing I can’t live with.
However based on your posts if this continues at my next scheduled physical I am going to present my PCP physician with this data and ask for a prescription of Valtrex (valaciclovir) to see if my theory has any merit. If this gives me relief I would like to follow it up with a Zostavax shot (Shingles vaccine).
If any of you have tried any of these two treatments and found any relief please posts your results.
Good luck gentleman we may be case studies for something new here..