Hello, Welcome and thanks for posting your query to HCM. I can understand your concern towards the problem from which you are suffering from. According to oyur history you are suffering from recurrent episodes of shingles. The very first and important information to provide you is that - shingles occurs only one time in life and then has life long immunity after that. Only in some special circumstances of low immunity or in immuno-compromised persons or in patients on certain anticancer medicines can have recurrent episodes. But in those patient also it can occur frequently. In your history you have not provided the details regarding the number of episodes of your problem and how frequently these occurring. Have you shown your problem to a dermatologist or is ti been seen by a dermatologist during its occurrence. If not then it is best to consult a dermatologist especially during the occurrence of the lesions over the affected area. To reassure you finally, even if we consider it as shingles then it do not hamper with muscular or skeletal function of the limb-so no muscle wasting.. It is only troublesome due to pain part. Your systemic problem of COPD is nothing to do with this illness. For the same you consult a physician who can reassure best regarding the problem. Hope these informations are helpful. Wish you good health Dr Sanjay Kumar Kanodia MD (Dermatology & STDs)