Having An Attack Of Shingles…

[OzPiper]

@krizzose
Ask your doctor for a prescription of anti-virals (if you have not already done so). Effective if started within 3 days of the rash eruption.

Wishing you a speedy recovery

 

[captpat]

Best wishes for a quick recovery. I had chickenpox growing up, and got the vaccine a year ago. It's pretty expensive if I got it at the Dr's office I would pay full freight (~$300 IIRC), however at a pharmacy it was free -- pays to check these things out.

 

[MRW]

… is not something I am finding enjoyable, especially on my goddamned face. Oddly enough, caffeine and nicotine both seem to take the edge off the pain, so that’s another reason for a bowl.

I know that vaccines are a touchy subject these days, and I do not presume to tell anyone what to do. That being said, my 50th birthday [in the US, you have to be at least 50 to get the shingles vaccine] will involve an appointment with a needle. You do not want this shit.

Shingles suck! I speak from experience.

 

[mso489]

Before we were married, living in different states, my wife came down with shingles. We're the same age. So when I had a rash, I went to my primary care doc. She made a different diagnosis and gave me something for it, but later the same year, I came down with a different rash, bright purple on one side of my body, and i went back and my doc said, "You've done it now."

The vaccine to prevent it is an excellent idea, if you do vaccines, which having been through Navy boot camp, I did and do. The next best thing is to go in early in the illness and get the drugs that remediate it, so it doesn't develop and torment you for months. Tend it immediately or prevent it altogether.

 

[Reggie]

Speedy recovery! Shingles can make for a miserable existence !

 

[krizzose]

If it's above and below your eye it's dangerous because it can develop in your eye and cause vision loss. Your doctor probably warned you about that. Luckily I dodged that bullet when I had shingles. Also, having shingles doesn't make you immune from getting another attack. My doctor said to get the vaccine to prevent another occurrence. Best of luck.

Around the top of my eye and eyelid. I’ve already seen the eye doctor, and all is well at the moment. I follow up next week.

 

[krizzose]

I'm from the age when chicken pox was a right of passage. Doesn't mean you'll get shingles. My brothers and sisters all had chicken pox too. None of us had shingles yet. The thing that freaks me out the most is Lyme disease from woodticks

That’s true. Having had chicken pox is a precondition for shingles, but it doesn’t mean shingles is inevitable

 

[krizzose]

Try the Calamine lotion. Sure it's cheap and low tech but it really helps with some things.

I will if the topical skin pain/irritation gets worse, but that pain is (so far ) tolerable. The nerve pain was crazy though, and thankfully that has fallen off considerably

 

[krizzose]

@krizzose
Ask your doctor for a prescription of anti-virals (if you have not already done so). Effective if started within 3 days of the rash eruption.

Wishing you a speedy recovery

I did so, and got a Valtrex Rx. The same thing for people with herpes. That was an awkward pharmacy trip

 

[Sobrbiker]

I did so, and got a Valtrex Rx. The same thing for people with herpes. That was an awkward pharmacy trip

I just told the pharmacist I picked it up “on the set”

May it pass quickly, it’s one of those things that just sucks til it doesn’t.

 

[troutface]

Around the top of my eye and eyelid. I’ve already seen the eye doctor, and all is well at the moment. I follow up next week.

That's good news about your eye. The antivirals don't help much, but any port in a storm.

 

[renfield]

Everyone I know who’s had shingles or have family members who did all say the same thing, get vaccinated. Getting shingles sucks.

Get better soon.

 

[Hillcrest]

The thing that freaks me out the most is Lyme disease from woodticks

Avon Skin So Soft sprayed on your pants cuffs and shoes will repel ticks ... its one of the 1000 uses like WD-40 !! Also you can spray your lawn with cedar oil or get hens to eat them.

 

[Hillcrest]

The old wives tale that if you get the belt of shingles around your waste from spine to front ... if it meets in front its lethal ... is simply not true. Thats what I had years ago in the summer and my Doctor gleefully told me that. Funny guy. Great Doctor though. They didn't have anti-virals then ... only calamine lotion and bed rest.

 

[loneredtree]

Yes get the shot. Got it from my left lip to under the Left eye.
Two after effects. The nerves are semi numb. And, the beard that
was grey turned salt and pepper.
It was more then painful. I have never felt so sick.

 

[JOHN72]

I had my first shingles on my arm, a few years ago. Damn, it's painful, ugly, horrible bug, those yellowish wrinkles so nasty. I wish you a speedy recovery. Friend.

 

[huntertrw]

My late father went through an attack of shingles when he was in his early 70s, and I would not wish how he suffered upon anyone. Accordingly, I have taken both the old and new shingles vaccine. It will not prevent the disease but will lessen its effects, and I'm all for that.

 

[pepperandjack]

krizzose, so sorry that you are ill!

 

[giacomo]

I hope you feel better soon. Yes, shingles is nasty, but it will go away. The real problem, as I see it, it the pain syndrome some people get after the rash resolves (post-herpetic neuralgia). This does not go away. It can be very difficult to treat. For this reason alone, I would get the vaccine (I have, and I had shingles a decade or so ago--thankfully, I didn't get PHN).

 

[Kobold]

I got shingles on my back when I was a kid years after I had chickenpox. I remember coming down with a really bad case of chickenpox too. I had it around my eyes and some other unmentionable places.