Talk to me about shingles - if you've had it - not if you've googled it :)

[cymruchris]

Last Tuesday I was sitting at home, and began getting some sharp pains to the right hand side of my rib-cage. Well around from my heart area. First thoughts I had were that maybe I'd pulled a muscle in the garden - but hadn't been that strenuous. I decided to apply some Nurofen gel to the affected area that night, but it didn't seem to help. All through the night the stabbing pains continued, and could hardly sleep. The next day (Wednesday) I tried some different gel - Voltarol - as that had a different active ingredient - and continued taking Nurofen. No real impact on the pain and discomfort, and trouble with sleeping continued through the Wednesday and Thursday nights. I stopped applying the gels but continued taking Nurofen. On Friday morning when showering, I spotted a single blister near my armpit on my chest, and initially thought maybe I'd had a reaction to the Voltarol gel. By Friday evening, there were a few more blisters. Friday night I began getting pains in strange places, my elbow, my neck, my ear-lobe, my waist, again all shooting stabbing pains. Although I didn't sleep well I did manage a couple of hours, but by Saturday morning, the blisters were really apparent, and I could now also see them across my back. They looked to be roughly where I'd applied the creams, and so again thought it was an allergic reaction. (I'm not allergic to anything really).

I called NHS 111 (Wales) - went through their checklist - and they got a nurse to call me back. She ran through a few bits, self-tests, and descriptions and said 'I think it's Shingles - I'll get you an out of hours GP call'. Within the hour a GP was on the line, I asked him what he'd been told so far - he said he'd been told simply it was a rash and had no further info - after answering a few more questions, and doing a few more self tests, and me explaining it might be an allergic reaction - he then also came back with the diagnosis of shingles. I didn't even know what shingles might look like, or what the symptoms were - but he prescribed an anti-viral medication which I picked up on Saturday afternoon, and I'm taking 5 x Aciclovir's a day for the next 8 days. I of course googled it - and it appears as though my symptoms certainly matched, and my blisters/rash were in line with google's suggestions. I was going to wait until Monday and just see the pharmacist - but apparently the quicker you start the anti-viral drugs (best within 72 hours of seeing first visible signs) the more likely you are to get a speedy recovery.

So after all that blurb - my question is - has anyone in the TP community suffered from Shingles at any time? Did you let your blisters burst naturally? Did you put anything on them? How was your recovery? What do you think triggered yours? (As apparently it lies dormant for years) Any words of wisdom that you'd share? Did your shooting pains subside quickly? I'd like to hear from any real-life people rather than relying solely on Google. Just to stress I'm not looking for medical advice - I'm happy to go with the Aciclovir course and keep in touch with the GP - but just how your general recovery went, and what worked for you.

 

[Compuwight]

Had it twice, once in my teens, typical xmas tree rash on chest shooting pains (like being stabbed) and no energy, took months to recover, with just painkillers and rest, Don't remember any bad blisters as such, but do remember bathing in Calamine Lotion !
Then again a few years ago, apparently it lies dormant in your nerve endings and stress, depression or other debilitating illness and its back with a vengeance, Started in my face with shootings pains and incredible headache, quick call to 111 and off to A&E. Initially doctor suspected wisdom tooth, but within hours my face had a rash and my eye was closing. Diagnosis shingles in my eye !
Lots on really strong antibots and eye lotions, spent a week in bed, luckily it was caught in time as there was a risk to my sight. And to top it all its still dormant and could strike again !

 

[tijuana taxi]

Never had Shingles,my missus did though a couple of years ago and felt rotten.
Back to the reason for my post, I suffer from chronic Cluster Headaches and over the years have tried a multitude of drugs.
None are specifically for my condition, but one I took is for Epilepsy and can be used off label for Shingles.
Its called Gabapentin or by its brand name Neurontin, supposedly very effective and might be worth mentioning to your GP

Hope you feel much better very soon Chris

 

[Deleted member 49549]

I had shingles diagnosed very early as I was at the doctor's for a routine appointment and said 'while I'm here can you take a look at this'. Started taking the medication and fortunately never experienced the bad pain others have said they feel probably due to the early diagnosis and treatment. . Cant remember what happened regarding the blisters sorry.

 

[Sky]

I had it a few months ago. Felt like crap for a week or so, then really tender skin (like bad sunburn). The blisters and rash came about ten days later across my right shoulder, back of neck, armpit and the back of my head. It was quite sore for a couple of weeks and about a month after the blisters came up before it showed any improvement. I didn't contact the doctor because I knew what it was and I only take antibiotics if it's something life-threatening.

A lot of people say it's very painful, but I suppose that depends where you get it and how severe it is; I know of someone who had it in their crotch and my brother in law had it in his eyes. Mine was very uncomfortable - especially in bed, but I wouldn't say it was 'painful'. Then again, I'm in acute pain all the time anyway with severe Arachnoiditis, Arthritis and Gout (that has put me in a wheelchair) so it was just a little extra annoyance.

 

[Deleted member 49549]

Note that shingles is a viral infection so you would not have been prescribed antibiotics, more likely you would have been given aciclovir, previously known as Zovirax.

 

[cymruchris]

Thanks all for taking the time to reply. I've picked up a couple of nuggets of useful information. Good to know about Neurontin - although hoping I won't need it. I have been wondering as to what the trigger might be, as I'm generally healthy, reasonable immune system, no regular medication, with my only 'stress' to talk of being my father who's becoming more aged in years, who is refusing to cut down on his drinking (up to a bottle of the hard stuff every single day) meaning that he's falling over a lot, and being in his 70's with blood thinning drugs, he doesn't see that as being a problem.

 

[ancient_mariner]

I've had it twice in the last 15 years: first time it started as soreness, progressing to the point where I felt like I'd been in a motorcycle crash - but with a slight rash on the skin around my middle instead of extensive grazing. Took a few weeks to recover, and I was tired & woozy for a time with lingering soreness for a few months. Second time it was diagnosed quickly, had acyclovir within 48 hours of the first signs - it was over in a couple of weeks & less severe.