Damnit. Pretty sure I'm getting shingles again for the second time in 6 months.

[NNadir]

32. My good friend, I certainly hope you recover quickly and fully.

It sucks I'm sure. The good thing about stuff that sucks is getting past it.

Not all vaccines are 100% effective, but many do if they fail to prevent a disease or syndrome, do accelerate recovery time.
Varicella-zoster is a DNA virus, and thus doesn't form mutants quite as quickly as do RNA viruses. However, multiple variants are known.

I don't know how "sciency" you are but there's a nice open sourced paper free for the public to read Pichlmair et al. Nature Microbiology 10 2048-2072 (2025).

It says that antiviral drugs are the best treatment. Sometimes, channeling my old man, I think growing old can be painful. But having arrived at old age, and out living that nicotine addict, I often remark to the point of absurdity, that the alternative was dying young.

Despite the pain you're experiencing we're glad you're here. Recover quickly and be well.