Hi Linda,
It's good to hear from you, but I'm sorry to hear about your diagnosis of shingles. Shingles are more likely to occur in people with autoimmune diseases and allergies than other people. It may be due to therapy that slows down the immune system but some researchers think it's because of our increased reaction (hypervigilance) to foreign organisms.
Studies also show that being around children recently vaccinated for chicken pox can trigger reactivation of latent virus and cause shingles.
The herb lemon balm, which reduces symptoms in Graves' disease, is also reported to be an effective treatment in shingles. See:
http://www.elaine-moore.com/MyArticles/GravesDisease/LemonBalm/tabid/180/Default.aspx
Best, Elaine