Posted on 07/01/2013 5:54:42 PM PDT by West Texas Chuck
When I got it I thought I was having a Heart Attack.
Shingles only affects one side of the body, I had the rash from the center of my Chest to the center of my Back.
Having Leukemia, I’ve been through Chemo Regimens twice in the past eight years, and pain from Shingles was a whole lot worse.
If you can get the Vaccine, get it right now.
I had shingles and only washed the infected area with virgin coconut oil and ingested a tablespoon a day for the duration of the breakout. I was lucky because I didn't have any after pain. I got on Valtrex right away and did mega doses of Vitamin C.
A friend had the pain you are suffering from and used acupuncture. It helped him.
Hope that does the trick, as the OP writes, what I hear is not much fun.
I have had cold sores and used this and thought it helped, but don’t know about shingles. Cheap, worth a try, no side affects. Lemon balm is easy to grow. Makes a nice winter time tea. Relaxing. Good luck!
http://voices.yahoo.com/fight-herpes-cold-sores-shingles-lemon-balm-2346476.html
“... I have seen client after client complain of constant misery caused by herpes-family viruses, including herpes simplex 1 (cold sores), herpes simplex 2 (genital herpes), and herpes zoster (shingles).
In all of these cases, my clients said that they felt dramatic improvement in all of these herpes-related symptoms within a matter of minutes or hours after using lemon balm internally or topically...”
Worth a try.
Cost for vaccine around here is between $185 - $220
Yes, Shingles really suck. It made me realize that I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but it sucked the life out of me.
I honestly believe that one reason it took about 4 months for me to get over the neuralga might be because I didn’t actually take any time off of work to recover. It was incredibly painful and I needed hydrocodone to get to sleep.
Since I had it, I heard that they’re now using anti-depressants to treat the nerve pain. I’ve also heard that capcacin cream can help too.
It’s not something that I’d wish on an enemy. Best wishes, I hope you recover quickly.
Mark
I’ve had patients with Shingles since I started working in Health Care...in 1989
I hope that was “Chicken Pox” and NOT “Small Pox!”
Mark
Ha!!
There is the vaccine which needs to be given w/in 72 hours of the start, and it will reduce symptoms. Also there are oral agents, like Retrovir and Acyclovir which can seriously help.
If you try to gut it out, it will take a month or more to recover fully.
You get the pain as the virus spreads through an area of the body known as a dermatome.... the section of the torso, for instance that is supplied nerves from the spine, where the little virus has been sitting dormant since chickenpox.
So, get the pills and take em. The nerve endings on the skin surface are killed off and in doing that there are blisters that form,filled with water. You need calamine lotion/benadryl to stop the damn itching of that. Have found that a combination of Capsaiscin cream (for joint/muscle pain and supplies a chemical “heat” sensation) with an Aspercreme, with aspririn in it—will help. Key ingredient is Menthol Salicylate, and it needs to be a good 1%. Wally world has the tubes for like 88 cents each on sale. Combine the two cremes having taken a warm (not hot) tub bath, and leaving your skin damp. Stuff will heat up and you’ll love the absence of itching for a while. The pain meds help too, but will wig you out.
Once the blisters break then everything scabs up, and leaves little scars— not real noticeable. The sensation of the deadened nerve endings remains, a numbness you have to get used to. Depending on where the dermatome is (check this out on wikipedia) this can be very troublesome (like if under your armpit or in your crotch).
I had it on my right side on the abdomen from the belly button to my back bone in 2007. It sucked. HC and jack got me through it. Had to shave after the blisters went away because any little hair movement caused pain or bad itching. I wore tight clean cotton t shirts to stop movement of the skin. Bad ju-ju. I would lay in bed and not move.
Took about a year before things were back to normal. Don’t scratch the blisters...feel for ya...but you’re a Texan!...they are tough.
thanks!
72 hour window, but it can be given later. It can make a difference as can the anti-viral pills (these are prescribed for herpes simplex virus also but are indicated for shingles).
Little kids who have not had chicken pox can get chicken pox from an adult with shingles.
Suggest the wikipedia article on shingles. Pretty helpful.
calamine, menthol muscle ache creme combined with capsicum (pepper) creme people use for joint pain— warms the skin and takes away the itch for a while. Pain first with wet blisters, then blisters burst (calamine soaks this up) and then they scab up, and itch like hell.
Peace.
Oops
The problem with Shingles is that once you've recovered from Chicken Pox, the herpes virus that causes it goes dormant in the fibers surrounding the nerves. When you get shingles, the virus "wakes up" and causes inflammation of the fibers surrounding the nerves. It most often presents as a "belt" going around the lower back, but it present anywhere. The worst presentation is if it presents in the optic nerve, which besides being painful, can cause permanent blindness.
It's incredibly painful, and people have committed suicide from long term pain.
Mark
Hey there buddy. Yes it can be very painful. I got my dose of it during the 2000 election, they say bad stress can bring it on. I had mine on the side of my face and in my scalp. Also, some people get it worse than other. A mild outbreak compared to a full blown one. Mine was full blown. I don’t do hydrocodone but made up for it with my favorite 80 proof, basicly stayed passed out for about ten days before I could endure the pain.
I have found that topical witch hazel dabbed on the healing blistes will help a lot with the itching if the other mentioned treatments fail..
I have a long history with kidney stones. The last time lasted 11 days off and on. When I finally passed the last one, I was so drained by the pain that it took close to a month to totally get over it.
I remember thinking that if I had to bear that pain permanently, I simply would not do so.
ooops BLISTERS... dern floppy keyboard got me again..
thanks!
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