Hi Laurie,

>This seems EXTREMELY young to have shingles, anyone know what that may
>indicate?

My daughter had shingles when she was 8 or 9 after using too much Nix for
lice. (I switched to teatree oil). She has celiac too and had recently
begun a gf diet. Just have Mark eat very well, nothing refined; the
medication is very dangerous and hard on the liver.

I gave my daughter a lot of vitamins and good food. The shingles went away
on its own.
In my Alternative Medicine book, along with diet, equal parts of oat straw,
St. John's wort and skullcap tinctures is suggested. Peppermint oil
topically for the pain or a gel from licorice root and soaking in water
help as well. Apple cider vinegar and vitamin E oil are good for the rash.

Mark is small for his age and has always had a lot of allergies and a weak
and/or overreactive immune system.

Nissa is also very small for her age. She is 12 now and about 4' 7". Short
stature and failure to thrive are symptoms of celiac disease.
>
>I also think I remember someone posting about shingles being associated
>with a major disease,

My book mentions cancer or Hodgkin's disease but it seems that the medical
profession exaggerates the danger to scare us into taking the very toxic
drugs.

>If there is any info you can share about shingles and associated diseases
>to help us understand why he has it so badly so young, we would be grateful.

It is associated with celiac disease www.celiac.com and the state of
malnutrition that results without a gf diet. Ron Hoggan has a good article
about shingles:
http://www.gluten-free.org/hoggan

Hope this helps,

Susan