I'm so sorry you are going through this! How DREADFUL! Hope you feel better soon ~ and that your time away from work allows you and your family to heal.

You have my sympathy!! I don't have a shingles story, but I'm always afraid I will someday. I, too, have a wacky immune system (diagnosed with lupus 20 years ago, and I don't mention it much either), and herpes cold sores perpetually ready to strike. I don't dare get the shingles vaccine because I have a history of reacting badly to so many things.

I hope you feel better VERY soon!!

Susan

I'm sending you get well thoughts - and do you have 'Aveeno' products in your pharmacy? They make oatmeal baths for this sort of thing - you can ask your drugstore about this - has no fragrance, just soothing. Used for shingles, rashes, skin irritations to soothe. If you have a blender or food processor you put a cup of oats and blend until flour like, put a cup in an old nylon (you can also add powdered milk) and put in a bath - oatmeal soothes the skin.

As for shingles - I had them on my back when I was SEVEN years old. Shingles are in the viral family of chicken pox. Anyone who has ever had chicken pox can break out with shingles from emotional or physical stress. In my case at 7 we had just moved to Edmonton. My father's health could not tolerate the extreme cold temperatures so the military posted him to Ottawa after one winter. We only had a TWO WEEK notice to move at the end of school. I was extremely upset to leave my new school and friends. The stress of the situation triggered shingles. That is what the doctor told my mother. I don't remember the pain, just lots of oatmeal baths. Probably had meds to but I don't recall.

And yes, everyone is different.

LOL to you and your family.

DH got them in 2001- looked like someone had used a blow torch on about a 4" swath nearly all the way around his mid-section. After all this time he still has one spot about the size of 2 half dollars that breaks open and bleeds thru softed T's I can find...it gets all over sheet on his side of the bed.
(BTW, best thing I've found to remove blood stains is Washing Soda; soak for 1/2 hour or so in cool water before washing.)

He's had 14 big time surgeries-kidney removal, hip replacements, cardiac by-pass (twice) then heart transplant, shattered femur etc. He says none of them caused such pain.

Hopefully yours will do much better!!!

Suzi

I'm so very sorry Anna, what an awful thing to have.

Don't be stressed about missing work, just relax and take it easy. Send the children to a relative for a couple of days if you can.

Gayle

I am lucky with the kids. They can go to their normal day care arrangements (daycare or with our parents). DH has had a flexible enough schedule this week to take them. Plus, he spoke to the attending physician, and he's getting extensions on some of his assignments! I miss the kids though. They leave at 7am, and since DH is trying to keep them occupied, they come home around 7pm. I put Tyler to bed at 7:30, so I feel like I'm not with them at all. Although I hate it, it's good right now because Jacob would jump all over me, and that would be very painful.

The pain. I told DH, it's not quite as bad a natural child birth. It's on the same scale, but lower. The worst part is that labor ends. This has been going on for almost a week now.

I am relaxing at home. I log in to work every once in a while just to keep momentum going on my projects. Then I log off and nap.

I showered this morning. Try keeping your hip out of the stream of water - from your belly button to your spine. It was tricky, and I was even able to shave my legs. I put on real clothes because I'm tired of wearing pajamas (soft and gentle on the lesions). I've tucked in a very soft t shirt into my pants, and that helps. Getting showered and dressed has helped my mood immensely. I may even have to eat something :)

Thanks for all your kind words.

Age has nothing to do with it! I had a big breakout on my left side at 32, and it was incredibly painful. I think stress was involved, I was going thru a really bad divorce. I hope you feel better soon! Kathy

No shingle stories from me either, but lots of good wishes sent your way.

go and read my renew post, and try to take it seriously.

Moni

Here is a link that might be useful: renew

How awful for you! Hope you feel better very soon. When I need to relax, I lie in a warm bath with soothing music and a good book.

DH got a case on the right side of his forehead and in his right eye in 1999. It was very dangerous and painful for him. Thank God he has had no repeat episode.

as a reply to your question about how long the pain can last, unfortunately it can be months or years. google post herpetic neuralgia to learn more. many of my hiv positive clients have suffered with shingles due to their depressed immune system.

anette

I hope your shingles have peaked and you'll start feeling better soon. I do have a shingles story, as a lesson to all of us to try not to let ourselves become too stressed out. When my son was 12, he complained of an earache one day. I took him to the doctor who was baffled because he couldn't see any signs of an infection in his ear, sinus or upper respiratory tract. So the doctor couldn't give any medication because he saw nothing to treat. He thought maybe DS picked up a weird virus that starts off with ear pain, but antibiotics don't work for a virus, so we were told it would just run its course.

For 2 days my son continued to complain of pain in his ear, but when I looked in with a small flashlight, his inner ear was not even pink. On the third day he started vomiting and complaining of terrible dizziness. The dizziness became so bad that DS could only lay absolutely still or he would vomit. He could not even read a book or watch t.v., as the motion to just move his eyes from side to side made him vomit from the dizziness.

All the while he complained of severe pain in his ear. On the fourth day his ear broke out in terrible blisters, on the inner part of your ear that you would clean with a facecloth. I took him back to the doctor (with a pail in tow because of the dizziness) and the doctor said he had no clue what was wrong. Keep in mind that my son was a healthy 13 year old with no auto immune disease, and there were no blisters on the side of his face at all, which is a common place for shingles to appear. But now the doctor could see blisters deep inside his inner ear starting from the eardrum.

After being examined by 3 doctors there, he was sent to the hospital because they felt it looked like flesh eating disease, which usually starts off as inflamed blisters. The hospital doctors agreed, and he was admitted and started on an IV of really powerful drugs, (the one they use to treat typhoid fever and Anthrax inhalation) and I was told that hopefully it would kick in before things got worse. His other arm had an IV for dehydration, because of the non stop vomiting.

The hospital called in a special disease expert who took one look at my son and diagnosed shingles! He said the other doctors would have missed it because he had never seen shingles in the inner ear before, and rarely seen shingles in a child, particularly a healthy one. DS was taken off the drugs for flesh eating disease and given antiviral drugs for shingles. The specialist said the severe dizziness was because the shingles started in his inner ear where your equalibrium is controlled. So DS was given stuff they use to treat severe sea sickness for the duration of his shingles. They were very puzzled as to why a healthy boy with no compromised immune system got such a severe case of shingles.

Then we remembered that my son had been extremely stressed on the day prior to getting the ear pain. He has OCD and was trying to draw a picture for a school project that was due. DS is very artistic, but his OCD kept making him feel that the sketch wasn't quite right, and he'd rip it up and start another one, trying to get it perfect. He was getting very stressed out and I kept telling him his sketch was really good, but he could not be convinced, and drew for hours, repeatedly ripping up the one he'd just drawn and starting a new one. The next morning he woke up with the ear pain.

So this long saga is just to alert everyone that stress is a huge factor in bringing out shingles, even if you're young and very healthy. Since I'm middle aged, I TRY not to overly stress out about anything, always keeping in mind what happened to my son. By the way, after recovering from his shingles, DS began taking meds for his OCD, which does help him somewhat to not stress out about things so much. We had been hoping he could reach 18 before needing to start medication, but the shingles outbreak changed his doctor's mind. So moral of the story...let's all watch our stress levels : )

I had shingles in my early 20's finially determined to be from exposure to a child with chickenpox. I had had chickenpox but at a very young age which contributed to it. My shingles were (fortunately) confined to a large patch behind my knee but I had terrific right lower quandrant abd. pain. Now I'm surprised that they didn't do an appendectomy. I don't remember how long they lasted but the pain went away fairly quickly after they started me on medication.

I'm sorry you are having a rough time of it right now! My heart goes out to you.

I had shingles on my face - a large one in the center of my right cheek and several smaller ones on my face. I know it is stress related. Had company for a week, politics was discussed and being the perfect host and hostess, we never argued. The minute we put them on the plane I broke out in shingles. Yes, I got medical help just in time to get the meds and pain med. It was though going for a while. I never want to repeat it.

Hope you are feeling better real soon.
Gwen

ps - I'm voting for Snoopy this year - he's pain free!

I am sorry you are going through this. My father who is 86 is going through this right now. He has had it before and always tells me how painful it is. I need to get out and get immunization shot for it.

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

I had shingles in '06 and yes, it is very painful! The deep pain is because it inflames the nerve path on whatever place you have them and it has to do with your immune system. (At least, that's my understanding from Googling "Shingles".) The lesions itch and the nerve hurts badly.

I was given prescription SSD ointment for the lesions and oral Valtrex because it's a Herpes virus. They really worked for me. I think I took the Valtex 3 times a day and had 4 or 5 refills. As long as I had even a few lesions, the doctor wanted me to stay on the treatment. I got relief from the pain fairly quickly and the itching subsided with the ointment, but it took a few weeks for the Shingles to go away completely.

I hope you find relief soon and have no more breakouts.

Leslie/KS

I have heard it's extremely painful. There's a new vaccine out but they recommend it for people at 60 y.o. I would like to get it before I get shingles. It does cost $250.00 but would worth it to avoid that condition.

I have asked about the children's chicken pox vaccine, if it would prevent shingles in adults, they don't know. I wonder if it's the same thing.

I wish you luck. I know it's miserable.

Oh, shoot, Audrey. I'm so sorry you're hurting. I have no advice or stories, but am sending some sympathy! It must be nice to have 2(almost) doctors in the family, though. Yay for that.

Feel better soon, OK? (((((Audrey))))) Those are extra-gentle hugs!

I feel for you dear girl and I have never had it. My DSIL Steve had it. I suppose it was all the cancer drugs he was taking. He had trouble with it to the day he passed away.
My Uncle in the nursing home had it this spring, they caught it very fast and just had a few blisters and I don't think its flared up again. Thank goodness, his body is pretty frail.

Sending lots of warm healing thoughts and hugs for you!

I'm so sorry you're going through this. Is there a cream you could apply to the lesions to soothe them a bit? I hope you feel better soon :)

Aloe....

People think I'm nuts...but try it...

Get the plant. Cut off part of the leaf and squeeze out the gel inside the leaf and put it on the rash.

My grandson got it this past summer. It was on just his right side. My daughter bought a plant at WalMart and put some on him. The next day it was all dried up.

If it works for you ....great...if it doesn't ...well it can't hurt anything and it is cheap.

patti

Hope your pain gets better soon.
I'm thinking about getting the shingles vaccine.

anna I am so sorry ((((((gentle hugs))))))
praying that you will heal quickly

I had shingles about 15 years ago....on my breast. But I really, fortunately, didn't have pain. Just terrible itching. I was diagnosed too late to take the anti-viral meds and had to stay off work for two weeks. I was a nurse in a medical clinic and was considered a threat to patients with compromised immune systems. Loved the time off but hated the itching.
I hope you start feeling better soon.

I'm sorry you're having so much pain and hope it subsides soon.

I'm sorry you have this!! My sister had it earlier this year on her face,in her eye and head.She had to go to the dr every day for a few weeks for eye treatment so she didn't lose her sight.

Last month they though i may be getting it as well.Out of the clear blue i got this excrutiating pain in my left side and around to my back.It came on in the afternoon,but all morning i had been fine.As the day progressed it got worse and worse and so i took some Vicodin,may have well have eaten M&m's.It did nothing for me.I went to go to bed that night and i literally could not get in the bed the pain was sooooooo bad.Every time i moved any part of my body it felt like someone had a big butcher knife in my side and when i moved it felt like it was being twisted in further,and sent thei searing pain surging thru me.I couldn't take it any longer,so called for an ambulance to take me to er.

The EMT'S as well as the hospital thought i had maybe muscular /skeletal problems like pinched nerves and or muscle spasm,and also thought i may have the start of Shingles.They did ekgs,cat scans.checked my aorta,and all sorts of blood work.They also had to give me a shot of morphine just so they would be able to calm me down to do all those tests,then another shot of morphine later.

I stayed over night,and came home still not knowing exactly what i had,but was told to watch for the blisters.I never got them.They put me on Norco5/325 for the pain,and some medicine for my stomach(delicate stomach. Then i went to my own dr the first part of the week and he agreed with the hospital diagnosis,and he put me on steroids,and prilosec for a week.After about 4 moore days i felt better,and never did break out with shingles.Thank goodness.
Kathi

Oh, I am sorry you are experiencing this. I hope you are feeling better soon.

I had shingles on my scalp, neck and face last year. Luckily, it cleared up with no lasting neural effects, but I still have a scar on my neck where a huge lesion was located.

I took antiviral medication plus something for the intense itching and something to help me sleep, because the pain and itching were keeping me awake.

Oh you poor thing!
My DH had shingles last year and he couldn't believe how painful it was. He got almost instant relief when I tried a Neem gel on the rash. My sisters company used to make it and we'd tried all sorts of other things before my sister suggested we try the Neem. We'd lather the gel on and he'd take two strong painkillers and head off to work for the day.
Try a health shop for a Neem ointment or gel - worth a shot.
Hope you're feeling better soon.

FWIW, try taking some large doses of L-lysine. It helps against the herpes virus. I found out about it when my kitten had feline herpes virus. The vet suggested l-lysine. It worked. Kitty was coughing, sneezing up huge blobs of mucus and generally feeling poorly. Started giving 500 mg of l-lysine per day and within a couple of days her symptoms were pretty much gone. Did some research and found out it is helpful for humans with shingles or fever blisters. Gave it to DD when she had a fever blister and it seemed to make it heal faster. Wouldn't replace the anti-virals with it but it can't hurt.

I'm so sorry to hear this...shingles are the pits. I was hoping you were going to say you had them on the roof of your house instead.

I feel so sorry for you. I remember when my elderly mother had shingles. I got the vaccine a few months ago.

I haven't read all the posts on here so someone may have already mentioned this. My mother had shingles a few years ago and someone told her to put some of her own urine on the blisters. She did and now swears by that treatment. She said it helped a lot. After that my nephew, who was about 11 at the time, got shingles and used Mom's remedy and also said it worked. Years before this my husband had shingles and all the treatment he got was rubbing vitamin E oil on the lesions. He didn't even get pain pills.
Pat

((((Anna))))

Yes, young people get shingles, too. I had a bad outbreak at age 42 (not really young, but younger than some people thought I should be to have them). I worked at a jail at the time and they made me stay home for 30 days after the lesions appeared in order to not be around any pregnant women.

I'm sending you get-well thoughts and hugs!

My son got them in 8th grade...I took him to the dr on a Monday and he diagnosed chicken pox...even though he had them at age 2...two days later we were back in the dr's office cause he was in so much pain and then he diagnosed shingles...he did the antiviral stuff for a week and a whole bunch of aveeno baths...hasn't had them since...

Send you gentle hugs Anna...from watching my little guy I can only imagine how miserable you must feel...hope it's gone soon!!

((Audrey)) I can't believe how many young people here have had shingles. My friends brother had them and I remember he said they were so painful. I can't remember if he had chicken pox or not, but I know it's in that family. A different friend takes L-Lysine because she gets cold sores all the time.

I had a BAD reaction to strep throat around Easter and broke out in a rash literally from head to toe! It was horrible, and they only itched real bad (and made me feel like a Leper). My immune system has definitely declined since I've stayed home with my DD. Now I'm too scared to get really stressed!

Do you remember David Letterman had them a few years back and had to have friends guest host for a few weeks?

I hope you are feeling better ASAP!!

Well if David Letterman stayed home for two weeks, I don't see why I shouldn't either.

DH wants me to stay home next week too, or just go part time. Today I wanted to go back, but by tonight they hurt too badly again. So, looks like we'll be making the call on Sunday as to whether or not I go back.

Looks like the rest of my Christmas shopping will be done online!

Sorry your not feeling better Indy Anna. I heard that shingles were bad but I'm hearing here they are even worse than bad. I sure hope yours go away sooner than later. Not the best time to be hurting for so long.