Question: My husband (45 of Italian descent) has had shingles, mononucleosis, and Bell's Palsy in the past ten years. He is a second shift worker who is physically fit, not overweight, and a healthful eater. He has been suffering for over four weeks with pain behind his ear, down his neck, now below his chin, headaches, fatigue, some numbness in his face and tongue, facial pain, a general feeling of being unwell (especially in spurts), and recently, diarrhea. He has also complained of a feeling of being sunburned around his torso on several occasions, but not on a consistent basis. He is not sunburned. He said that it comes in waves, and usually by the time he goes to bed at 4:00 a.m., he feels horrible and cannot get to sleep. He visited a family physician two weeks ago, and the doctor took three vials of blood for tests, but we have not received any results as of yet. When he was recovering from Bell's Palsy (mild case) a few years ago, the same doctor he is seeing now analyzed his blood to determine if his immune system was suffering, and it appeared to be strong. We read about XXXXXXX Hunt syndrome this week and his symptoms seemed in-line with this. He is feeling absolutely horrible at work again tonight, and I am worried that something more serious is wrong. If you have any advice regarding whether this is something that should be addressed with another doctor right away, I would appreciate your comments. It is extremely hard to convince him to see a doctor -- especially for a second opinion. Please disregard the medical history section written earlier. I began typing the question in this area. My husband has no known allergies or history of disease. His father had a stroke and died years later from complications, and mother is still living and well.

Thank you very much.
-XXXXXXX

Thank you, Dr. Bhatti. In response to your original reply and question above, as a child he did have, according to his mother who is a nurse, "the worst case of chicken pox" she had ever seen. He has been under a lot of stress the last ten years, and working second shift (until 2:30 a.m.) cannot help matters. Thank you, again.
Best Regards -- XXXXXXX