I have been hospitalized for four days and treated with antibiotics, steroids and morphine. My lastest shingles breakouts have been on my ear with some of my head involved. I was diagnosed in 1972 with shingles, which at the time was treated with massive hydrocortizone (sp) shots. My current family practitioner is very young and although I have reported my syptoms to him, he is in the dark about a diagnosis. What do I do? Symptoms include: fatigue, swollen lymph gland, usually in my upper leg area, near my crotch, intense constant stinging pain, horrible itching, nausea, diarrhea, feeling the condition coming on for at least a week before I break out. I have had this condition since I was 19 and discontinued the hydrocortisone shot treatment when it didn't seem to effect, good or bad, the length of the outbreak or the freaquency of occurrences.