Ali Fedotowsky began feeling a tingling sensation in her forehead, which she thought at first was a reaction to a Botox injection. But it was shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox.
A "Bachelor Nation" fan favorite is sharing her experience of being diagnosed with shingles in the hopes that it helps others.
Ali Fedotowsky began feeling a tingling sensation in her forehead, which she thought at first was a reaction to a Botox injection.
“It was awful, it was really awful,” she said.
It wasn’t the Botox; it was shingles, which is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Fedotowsky ended up with a painful rash.
“I just had like two little, they looked like tiny little pimples, pop up right here and then as the days went by, they started blistering out and then it started coming down here,” she explained to Inside Edition.
Then she started experiencing extreme nerve pain, a common shingles complication.
“It felt like lightning bolts pulsing through my brain,” she said, becoming emotional.
Fedotowsky came into the public eye when she starred in Season 6 of “The Bachelorette.” She picked Roberto Martinez as her fiancé, but the relationship didn’t last. She’s now married to TV and radio host Kevin Manno. Together they have two children.
“I didn't think I was gonna get emotional talking about this, but the pain was so bad that there was times that I would wake up in the middle of the night just screaming, just begging my husband to make the pain stop,” she said of her experience with shingles. “I would compare it to childbirth.”
Fedotowsky was shocked to learn shew was suffering from the virus typically associated with older people.
“'I’m only 37 years old. how could this possibly be happening,” she said. “I always thought it happened to people in their 60s.”
Shingles occurs most frequently in people over 50, but Fedotowsky’s dermatologist, Dr. Jennifer Lee, said it is on the rise among younger people.
Now, Fedotowsky hopes her story will help others who may be suffering from shingles.
“Even though I caught it early, it was still so intense, so I just want to spread awareness so other people can catch it right away, because that's key,” she said.
