Former TOWIE star Charlie King has revealed he’s been struck down with an agonising health condition.
The 40-year-old took to his Instagram stories to tell his followers that he’s got shingles as he showed off a picture painfully swollen rash with bumps on his neck.
Former TOWIE star Charlie King has revealed his agonising health condition[/caption]
He admitted he’s been struck down with shingles[/caption]
He wrote in anguish: “Shingles are horrible (it’s like being stung by nettles & it not easing off). Proper lousy.”
The ITV star later took to his stories to offer a health update as he expressed: “Honestly, thank you. I’ve had so many kind, lovely messages, reassurance. A lot of you have been through it.
“I didn’t know anything about shingles, I didn’t know they could really take a hold like they have but in a weird guys, it’s a wake up call because I have been super stressed with numerous things this year and I’ve really let everything consume me, to knock me off balance.
“I was saying this earlier in the week, that I’ve not been to the gym, I haven’t been eating right, I’ve not been de-stressing. I’ve just been kind of going back and forth with things and it’s no good.
“So I’m on the anti-viral meds and I’ll do what I need to do with this. I just want to feel better, I want to feel alert again and then it’s time to make a bit of a change so that’s what we gotta do,” the reality star signed off.
According to the NHS, shingles is an infection that causes a painful rash, with the first sign being a tingling or painful feeling on the skin and a headache or generally feeling unwell.
Usually the shingles rash appears on the chest or tummy, but it can also appear anywhere on the body.
Charlie joined The Only Way is Essex back in 2012 and was on the show for six series.
During his time on the show, his biggest storylines included his relationship with Gemma Collins as well as his friendship with pal Bobby Norris.
He returned to the show he found fame on in 2017 to have a heart to heart with Bobby about his sexuality, after denying being homosexual during his first run.
He appeared on This Morning and came out live on television as many viewers tuned in across the country.
Bobby and Charlie met up in a cafe and they grinned at one another as they sat down to eat.
Charlie admitted: “I’ve got to be honest, I’ve been so nervous about seeing you. Obviously I’m a fully fledged gay man, so I should reintroduce myself.”
Bobby smiled and welcomed him to “the club” as the pair laughed together.
Can babies get shingles?
IT is more common for babies to have chickenpox, and while they can get shingles, it is rare.
For a baby to get shingles, they must have had chickenpox in the past (even in the womb), or they were exposed to the virus during pregnancy or shortly after birth.
If the baby’s mother had chickenpox late in pregnancy, the baby may have been exposed and developed a mild case, allowing the virus to lie dormant.
If a baby got chickenpox in early infancy, the virus could later reactivate as shingles.
Signs of shingles in babies include; a localised rash on one side of the body, often in a stripe pattern; blisters that scab over in seven to 10 days and pain or irritability, although babies can’t express nerve pain clearly.
Chicken pox vs Shingles
In the UK, chickenpox is particularly common in childhood.
According to the UK Health Security Agency, about half of children have had chickenpox by age 4, and 90% by age 10.
While most cases occur in children, infants under four weeks old are at higher risk for complications.
But when it comes to shingles in young children, according to Pharmacy Times, for every 1,000 children observed over the course of one year, about 0.74 cases of shingles occur.
Charlie went on to say that he was “cool with all of that” now. He said: “When I look back and think about all the trauma I was putting myself through… and I’m just so pleased to have gotten rid of that burden.”
Charlie, who opened up about his botched nose job, then went on to say that they had both been off on their “journeys” and admitted that he had been “confused” as to why it had been so long since they’d seen one another.
“We were so close… you’d stay at my house, we went to Spain together. I mean, you told me you loved me.”
Bobby, who revealed his secret sadness, laughed in embarrassment and exclaimed, “Oh s***!”, before admitting: “In all honesty, losing touch with you and our closeness was so hard for me because, hearing that you had publicly come out… I felt embarrassed that I didn’t know.”
Charlie said that he had just removed himself from the “Essex bubble” and that he was guilty about that. However he described Bobby as a “closed book” and said that he had reached out to him over the years but felt that he hadn’t been that forthcoming.
Charlie featured on TOWIE back in 2012[/caption]