William Pawley

[Lauren Johnson]

Looks like suicide and shingles do go together:

The most common complication is postherpetic neuralgia, which is persistent neuropathic pain after the eruption is healed and usually occurs in about 3 to 4 weeks. Most clinicians, by definition, label postherpetic neuralgia as persistent pain at six weeks beyond the acute phase of the disease. The percentage of patients who will develop postherpetic neuralgia increases with the age of the patient and one study quoted 50% at age 50, 60% at age 60 and 70% at age 70, etc. The duration of postherpetic neuralgia may be months to years and the pain may be mild to excruciating to the point of placing patients at risk for suicide. Postherpetic neuralgia is the most common cause of suicide in patients with chronic pain over the age of 70 in the United States and Western Europe. As I mentioned, it is most common in the thoracic and ophthalmic distribution but can occur in any dermatome.