self diagnosis

Does anyone else out there do this? You wake up one day with oh, let's say, a rash. Instead of going to a doctor, you just get on the internet and google "rashes"....and see where it takes you. Okay, I'll admit it, this is exactly what I did about a week ago, when a mysterious rash appeared on my stomach and my side...and then my arm...assuming it was likely some kind of insect related thing, since I felt otherwise fine, I quickly narrowed it down to - oh dear god! - bed bug bites. Because that is just about the worst, most creepy crawliest thing I came across during my computer self doctoring journey, so that must be it, right? Anyway, once I had it in my head that there was even the remotest possibility that this indeed was the problem, I began systematically dismantling my entire bedroom. I'm talking about going through my entire closet, my dressers, throwing out clothes, washing everything else twice in hot water. Then I pulled apart the bed, got rid of the pillows, the duvet, washed all the sheets etc in hot hot water every day for a week, and then proceeded to vacuum every square inch of my box spring and mattress daily also, and naturally every other square inch of my bedroom. During all of this no one else in the house appeared to be afflicted with any sort of skin abnormality, but I remained convinced that I was battling an infestation. At night I would wake up, sure that if I turned on the light I would see them, crawling all over the sheets...okay, I actually got up, found a flashlight and spent ages crawling around the bed, lifting the covers, the sheets, looking all around, but found nothing.
Anyway. So this morning I get up, and as I'm dressing the rash that has reached my back starts to burn and prickle...so I contort myself and with the help of a couple of mirrors I attempt to have a closer look at what the hell is going on back there. Meanwhile, I realize that my arm is also burning and prickling...and suddenly the light bulb goes on. I mean the one in my head, not the one in the bathroom. A clustery rash, blistery bumps, burning prickly pain, and all on one side of my body...and off I go to the computer again, to google "shingles" this time. Aha! As I continue to read I become more and more convinced that THIS is what I have. And really, it doesn't look so bad. In fact, I'm pretty damn happy if this is what it is, 'cause I'll definitely take shingles over frigging BED BUGS in a red hot second, that's for damn sure. Okay, but yes, just to make sure, I did call and make an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow, because you never know. But I am feeling pretty good about this diagnosis - who knew that finding out you have shingles would bring me such relief?? And the other good news is that my house got one hell of a good cleaning before I figured it out, so it's a win win situation all around. Well, sort of. Kind of an always look on the bright side of life scenario really. God, I'll be so disappointed if it turns out to be something else tomorrow....well, something worse I mean. :) Oh, and it's really kind of serendipitous, actually, because you see, you get shingles only if you've had the chickenpox - which I got for my 6th birthday, in fact. And this Friday is my 44th birthday...so seems rather fitting, doesn't it?