Understanding Recurring Shingles: Causes, Risk Factors & Management

Question
I am a 52 year old male with no history of serious medical problems.  I teach 12 Yoga classes weekly and am otherwise very physically active and healthy.  When I was 7 I had a particularly bad case of Chicken Pox.  At 20, I had a small outbreak of Shingles at the right side of the nape of my neck.  It occurred in August, and for the next 4 Augusts I had an increasingly smaller and smaller outbreaks at the same site.  This was verified each time by cultures by my dermatologist.  The next year I had a tiny spot on the upper arm on the same side, presumably out of the same nerve.  In succeeding years, I had, on occasion, all the signs and symptoms of an outbreak (presumably) but with out actually forming a rash.  I know this is unheard of, but I had the same sort of burning pain and itching on one side (mostly in my back at differing sites), lethargy and general malaise.  Then nothing for many years until 2 years ago in August.  I felt sick and achy in my mid-back on the left for 2 weeks followed by the largest outbreak I've had, though not very large at all, again verified by a culture and treated with Valtrex.  Since then I've not felt totally well, and have had odd ailments which I don't have space here to describe.  Now, after 2 years (it's August!) I have another outbreak on the right lower back and all the lethargy, etc.  These last two episodes have not been particularly painful.  My question is, what sort of path should I follow to find answers to this unusual case?  I know this many outbreaks is extremely rare.

Answer
recurrent episodes of chickenpox are incredibly rare... I would think it is more likely a herpes simplex recurrence.... there is a lot of crossover on appearance.  I would question whether the test was truly a chicken pox culture... and it would be reasonable to take low dose prophylactic Valtrex (or famvir or acyclovir) to prevent it....