anyone ever have shingles? [not a medical query]

condra

[
mods etc- I am currently on medication for this condition and am not seeking medical advice.
If my condition worsens I will dart to my GP. I simply want to discuss experience with illness if I may.
]

Hi.

Well basically I have shingles and Im just wondering how other people got on with it if they ever had it.

Ive got it on the side of my neck, between my chin and colar bone. It is NASTY!
It was about 4 days before I could get to my doc, so the "ideal" 72 hour early interception period was well breached.
She prescribed Famvir, which I will be taking for 1 week in total.

Ive been doin a bit of research but its proving difficult to find personal accounts of having shingles.

Im 26, so its very odd, appearantly, for me to get shingles.
I dont have HIV, nor am I getting chemotherapy. I do have a condition called M.E. [cfs] and I suspect my crap immune system may have something to do with it. I have also been pretty run down for the last month.

What worrys me greatly is the supposed chronic pain which often comes with shingles, or follows shingles.
Ive read seemingly conflicting details on shingles.
Some places say there is pain before shingles, some during, and some say after, some also say after, and prolonged.

Its Friday morning now, and the Shingles first appeared last Sunday. It has been itchy, stinging, and uncomfortable, but not particulary painful.
I would feel greatly reassurred if this is a sign that Im less likely to suffer from ongoing pain, neuralgia or encephalitis, after it has cleared.

If you have ever had shingles or might have any insight into how I will likely fare with it, I would be greatful for any thoughts you may have.

Many thanks in advance.

caff

Havent had it myself but my granny did, she was pumped full of morphine for a week for the pain... not sure if thats something you want to hear though. But for a 26 year old maybe it wont be as bad?

Black Swan

We had a middle aged new student start at our taekwondo dojang a few weeks ago. His GP thought that he needed to do something physical to help reduce the stress he was feeling in his occupation. He had shingles on his lower legs and his GP thought they were stress related. Before starting TKD, he claimed that all he did was work at his desk job. He has since worked out with us (very stenuous exercise), changed his diet per his GP, started taking vitamins, gets more sleep at night (cause he is tired from workouts), and his shingles have gone away. Not sure this would apply to your case, but it would seem that it helped him.

condra

Thanks both of you.

Im still curious about the pain thing, I dont want to get my hopes up but the more I read the more I suspect I might get a lucky run of it. Fingers crossed.

LegacyUser

I had shingles at 25 and know a couple of others who've had it in their mid 20's too. I've never been properly sick in my adult life before that or since. It was about 4-5 days in when I finally visited a doctor, went on the famvir for a week. By the 3rd day of medication the improvements were massive. The scars took a while to go but the pain and discomfort were minimal from then on.

My own experience was in contrast to my Fathers who was obviously much older and also didn't catch it for weeks, and as a result suffered severely for months.

Incidentally my shingles were mainly confined to my arm and shoulder which is apparently much better than having them on your back or neck.

FranchisePlayer

I had shingles when i was about 12.Sometimes they are connected to immune systym conditions.

blue banana

I had shingles a couple of months ago, but it was only a tiny patch on my back which was a little itchy. I didn't go to the doctor until I noticed numbnes in my underarm. I was a little taken aback when the doctor told me I had shingles, but I guess I was one of the lucky ones as I didn't have any pain and he told me there was no need for him to prescribe anything. It just went away of it's own accord.

Pompey Magnus

I had shingles about 3 months ago whilst doing my thesis at University (I was pretty stressed at the time), the left hand side of my face from my eye, down the left hand side of my nose, to my lip went red and swollen. The doctor prescribed Famvir and it work a charm, within 4 days it was more or less cleared, I have two small little crater-esque scars under my nose which are there to stay but apart from that there was no pain or other repercussions (so far). I believe if you get shingles once you are more likely to get it again. Good luck with it anyways, it isn't fun.

Nevyn

OMG you have the pox !

Honestly you do , shingles is the adult form of chickenpox.

http://www.medinfo.co.uk/conditions/shingles.html

Shingles (otherwise known as Herpes Zoster) is a painful, blistering rash caused by the chickenpox (varicella) virus, which affects only a limited area of skin, and makes you feel surprisingly tired, run down, and even depressed.

Causes

You can only get shingles (Herpes Zoster) if you have previously had chickenpox. After having chickenpox the virus lies dormant in the nerves, and shingles occurs when it is revitalised in one particular nerve to the skin, thus explaining the way it affects a clearly demarcated band of skin only.

Usually the cause is a decrease in your body's natural resistance, which may come through other infections, stress, being generally run down, or occasionally, when the body's immune defences are affected by certain drugs or other immune deficiencies.

Basically you need to rest up and try and boost your imune system and don't pick or pull at the scabs.

It is a poxy way to send the holidays but you would be best off to take the time to recover you dont' wnat ti happening again.

The_Conductor

Had it when I was 24.
It was quite itchy and annoying- the pain wasn't bad in all honesty though. I thought it lasted for a long time while I had it, but in all honesty it cleared up after about 10 days. It was on my side just about where my trousers met my hip- which agrevated it quite a bit. I did take a couple of days off work- and it cleared up rapidly thereafter.

I think its stress related.

Pet

What worrys me greatly is the supposed chronic pain which often comes with shingles, or follows shingles.
Ive read seemingly conflicting details on shingles.
Some places say there is pain before shingles, some during, and some say after, some also say after, and prolonged.

The chronic pain (post-herpetic neuralgia) that follows shingles can be pretty bad. It's caused by damage to the nerves. But if you haven't suffered blinding pain by now, then I doubt you will.

condra

Thanks for the replies.

Its fascinating that so many young people have had it. Makes me feel less of an exception to the rule.

Today its really intensly itchy, similar to extreme eczema, but I can live with that.

My sister rang me today.
Her daughter, my neice Mia (3), has been ill lately with Kidney problems, and has been on steroids.
The doctor said they are not allowed be around me for a couple of weeks
..So my pregnant sister, her hubby [who has never had chicken pox] and my lovely neice [who is immune suppressed] arent coming over to the folks house for christmas. Such a feckin bummer.

I guess it cant be helped.

tbh

womoma - you might find the long term illness forum useful - check out my sig.

LegacyUser

I had shingles, due to chemo, 30 years ago, had to get morphine for the pain, was left with reduced sensitivity on my half of my chest. They were weeping horrible smelling ouze for weeks, had to change dressings twice a day, and have still have scar tissue from them. So they can be bad.

condra

Wow kool. Thanks for the link tbh.

bombidol

had it before. it wasnt that bad. Gout was a killer though. I seem to get all the old person afflictions.

Kazooie

My old lad had it (still not gone completely actually) recently. The eejit didn't see the doctor for ages (typical manly afraid of showing weakness crap), but the pain got so bad that he went to gp, got that Famvir stuff and it's greatly improved. Hope it gets better for ya cause i could see how much pain and discomforrt it causes.:D

CharLit

Had it when I was 21, around one eye. Am otherwise healthy, didn't get diagnosed & medicated until after 4 or 5 days, it was gone after about 10, haven't heard from it since...

Hope you feel better soon!

condra

thanks for the replies.

charlit youre lucky it didnt get in your eye mate. you could have gone blind.

old boy

had it twice, dunno the cause of it some say stress, both times in my 40s, took the whit tabs, irecon what also helped was a good comedy dvd plus a bottle of jimmy while watching,(not taking the proverbial), both times inon my face scalp, damaged 1 of my eyes, that thingy is not funny

condra

sorry to hear it damaged your eye. thats rough.

condra

some of the scars have become loose and some have fallen off, leaving deep red blotches behind.

bit worried about scarring now.

LegacyUser

'I got it in college. Really painful and odly i can still feel it now, ten years later when its really cold. Nothing painful but just a tingling. Mine was brought on by stress.
I was told there is nothing really that can be done except sit it out, which i did but it took about a week for the pain to subside a bit. Where I'm from there is an old remedy called Cahill's blood. The blood of certain Cahill's when spread over the effected area is supposed to cure it. Not every Cahill has the gift but some old fella near my mothers old house used to make a living from it.'

condra

yeah appearantly all the men on my mothers side of the family can cure/help shingles by putting some of their blood on it. They are Keoghs.
The shingles is clearing up nicely though, so Im not gonna bother with that.
When I yawn Im getting pain down the nerve into my shoulder, ahh well.

CharLit

Glad you're feeling better womoma!

I know damage to your eyes is a possible complication - as old boy unfortunately found out from personal experience - but statistically speaking, I'm luckier every time I cross a road that I don't get hit by a car than that it didn't affect my eye... I tend not to worry about possible problems before they actually manifest (on medical issues that is... can drive myself crazy with what-ifs about other things )

lilrayosunshine

Get yourself a bottle of bio oil.. when all itchiness is gone and your scars are left on new skin (not the scabs) rub it in.. this will reduce the appearence of the scars!!

Vyse

Got shingles, when I was about 15, on my eye (not around the eye actually on the eye ball). It can cause blindness when you get it there. Was wrongly diagnosed originally so it was about 1-2 weeks before I got the medication. I was luckly as I'm sure that the treatment was fairly new (up to that point you would just go blind in that eye). My eye was extremely sore and I would get sharp pains at the back of my eyeball.

ONce you have it you are prone to relapses if you are run down. Got a bad dose of herpes in the eye there in September (treated with the eye ointment version of zovirax). In and out of the eye and ear hospital (what a horrible place). I'm sure I can look forward to plenty more of them in my lifetime:(

condra

The scabs are almost completely gone now and Ive got a bottle of bio oil.

I went out and had a few drinks last night (stephens night) which was great apart from having to explain what had happened my face to so many regulars in the pub.

Gonna shave off this hideous beard now! yaay!

Anti

Never had it myself, And i hope i never do get it.

My brother in law got it about 10 years ago when i was in my early teens. All i can remember is it really messed him up for quite a while. I remember he was off work for at least a year. He was never a big guy, but after this i remember seeing pictures there at xmas, And he lost alot of weight and looked gaunt.

Hope this clears up for you OP. As it sounds nasty.

condra

Cheers Anti.

Its clearing up very well so far, so fingers crossed.

LilyCullen

I have shingles also,

No idea how I got it, possibly because I was working too many hours and very run down. It felt like the right side of me was sunburnt for about four-6 days and then eventually a very small rash appeared along my hip jsut near where my trousers meet my waist. There are only one or two small blisters on this. When I googles 'feels sunburnt but no rash' shinges was the first thing to come up, so I knew it was coming. I know a fair few people who've gotten it around my age (23).
I keep hearing conflicting reports about it aswell though. I'm not in a massive amount of pain at all. It's uncomfortable and irritating but I wouldn't say it was very painfull. Maybe it varies form person to person. I've heard the rash can last weeks-months so it's all a bit confusing. I guy I kno was put on morphine the pain was so bad.
I'm taking the valtrax at the moment and a few nerofen plus, and it seems to be doing the job.
I'm a bit freaked out by it though! I really don't want it to come back!

Pompey Magnus

LilyCullen wrote: »

.
I'm a bit freaked out by it though! I really don't want it to come back!

This is a blast from the past . I had posted on the first page not long after having shingles, its now over 3 years later and I haven't had any more signs of it. Don't worry about it and get well soon.

LilyCullen

How long did it take for it to go away for you? and did you get that post-herpic pain?!
...Im just sort of sitting and waiting for it to go

Pompey Magnus

LilyCullen wrote: »

How long did it take for it to go away for you? and did you get that post-herpic pain?!
...Im just sort of sitting and waiting for it to go

I had the symptoms for a few days before going to the doctor but I'm pretty sure it was gone after a week of taking the medication. I can't be exact though because it was years ago and I was in the middle of doing my dissertation which gave me a distraction :P

LilyCullen

ha yeah I'm suprised I didn't get it during my dissertation, i was way more rundown then. Well thanks for the advice, guess i'll wait it out!