OHH OUCH! Even though shingles isn't fatal, it can still be unbearably painful especially if its ignored even for a short time.
Same (now ex/deceased) husband had 2 bouts with shingles only they were around his waistline especially around the front. We were told it can be a sudden development which usually affected people who had chicken pox as a child. They prescribed some pretty strong pain meds as well as the anti-viral used for herpes. From what I'm remembering we were told chicken pox itself is a form of one of the herpes viruses (not the same herpes which causes genital outbreaks) and shingles can appear years later. He had to give up clothing which touched the area of his waist line because that kept it raw. I know there were times when he was in so much pain it hurt to watch him.
Hope the meds clear it up quickly and I'm glad it wasn't MSRA.
The swollen lymph nodes bug me, though. Why would a viral nerve inflammation cause that? There’s infection somewhere, and a pretty good sized one, judging from the size and tenderness of the nodes in front of my left ear, below my left ear and adjacent to the jaw.
Did your husband have this with his case of shingles?