Do you have any experience with shingles? (NOT the roofing kind)!

[BWVDenise]

I thought I was dealing with an allergic reaction to medication, but after some research, I think it might be shingles. If you have had experience with shingles, could you share details such as how long until you recovered, what type of pain and/or itching, etc. Feel free to PM me if you don't care to share publicly!

 

[goofy4tink]

About two years ago, right around the holidays, my back starting to bother me. Then it went out, complete spasms. The doctors told me it was the stress of the holidays, yadda, yadda. Well, about 3 days after the spasms stopped I started getting this funny tingling feeling running from my waist to my groin area. Straight line in fact. Then the itching started!!! And the whole surrounding area was incredibly sensitive...almost hurt if I touched the surrounding skin. Called the doctor and they said to come in but it really sounded like shingles!! They looked at it and confirmed. By that time the whole lower quarter of my stomach was red, inflamed and really itchy. They gave me some pills to take to shorten the duration and some salve for the itchies. It took about 2 weeks but it did finally away. But my skin was incredibly sensitive in that area for about 1 year after. Seems that the shingles followed a nerve right down my side.

 

[cati]

xx

 

[Chris2597]

I have had them and they are painful.....I get them on my front shoulder. Your dr. can prescribe some meds to lesson the pain and duration, which I highly recommend.....
Have you been ill lately, tired or overly stressed....these things can bring them on in adults. I sort of felt fluish and achy when i had them.....
Also, if it is shingles....you can pass on chicken pox to those that have not had it.

 

[minniecarousel]

The older you are, the longer the pain stays with you. My Mom was 83 (4 years ago) when she got them. She still suffers from post-herpatic neuralgia which is the residiual pain that affects her nerve-endings. Very unpleasant. She is on several daily pain meds for it.

On the other hand, 2 of my sisters-in-law have had them, and they just ran their course, and they have had no further trouble from them.

 

[jrydberg]

I had them awhile back when my daughter had chicken pox. For several days I kept thinking, "man, what the heck did I do to my back?!?" And I had just figured the rash was some sort of poison ivy since I had been out working in the yard recently. The rash eventually sort of "blistered up"... It didn't itch a whole lot, but hurt quite a bit. One other note, it only appeared on the right side of my body. The doctor said something about it usually only appearing on one side or the other due to the way it travels through the nervous system? Something like that anyway. Don't remember how long it lasted... maybe a few weeks? Hope this helps.

 

[ilovepcot]

Yes, they do follow a nerve path. DH had a VERY SEVERE case a year ago.....on his FACE! He had to be under the care of a dermatologist and an opthalmologist (can lead to blindness if eyes become involved) and he was out of work 3 weeks. He now has a few scars on his face and still experiences a "tingling" sensation where the leisions once were. NASTY and very painful! His employer made it a policy that even if an employee feels "okay" to return to work that they not do so for the protection of pregnant employees. Dermatologist says it "could" be spread if secretions from leisions came into contact with another employee.

 

[mrsmom]

I had them 18 years ago. on one side of my back I was three months pregnant( Baby was fine)and it itched like posion ivy, and pains shot up my back on that side, I covered my back with gauze, so i wouldn't itch them, i wasn't able to take meds because i was pregnant. it took about three weeks to go away , I still have brown marks on my back where they were..
I never want that again. But the dr said i could get it again.
Kim

 

[ilovepcot]

BWVDenise, I forgot to add.....if shingles are caught and diagnosed within 72 hours of onset, an antiviral medication can be administered that will knock it down considerably. Thing is, most people assume they've been bitten by an insect (as in DH's case) or assume they're having an alergic reaction to something. Because of this, many people can't take advantage of this drug but have to resort to meds to lessen the pain and itching. Good luck to you!

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Our ds 14 just had them in april. We too thought he had poison ivy, rash etc. After almost a week he said he couldnt stand the pain anymore etc. The ped. sent him to dermatologist and they gave him that antiviral med but said it would probably not work because of the time involved. He got to swim on our disney vacation because the dr. said the lesion, mostly one spot on front of chest above stomach center was not oozing. He had to put lots of polysporin on it daily, said it was hard to sleep because of the pain, the dr, was willing to prescribe another med for that but ds did not want it. He also commented, do you know how much stress I am under at school etc. He also takes many asthma meds so I think it was harder for him to heal faster and he had to be quarantined at home for a week. We were a little concerned about a girl in his class who had a bone marrow transplant etc. You are only contagious for a certain amount of time etc. I hope you feel better real soon. Hang in there. Don't be afraid to ask for any meds that you will need to help your recovery along etc.

 

[Kitty 34]

I had a disc in my back go out last November and within a month I was also diagnosed with shingles. Very very painful on my right side. I thought I was having an appendix attack. I had this weird rash which were in straight lines on my side and around to the middle of my lower back.

I still often have that terrible pain in my side.

 

[BWVDenise]

After reading all of your replies, I am even more convinced that it is shingles. The comments about feeling that it was poison ivy, the pain that made you suspect appendicitis, the itching, the rash. The rash started July 13th, and the pain started a week ago, so I'm hoping this is almost over! Thanks for sharing your experiences.
One other question I have is did anyone have any swelling/bloating/inflamation in the area of the rash?
Thanks again.

 

[ilovepcot]

Swelling, bloating and inflammation? One side of DH's head looked like it was going to burst! Well, actually one little place did! That's where the worse scar is!

 

[arminnie]

My dad fell on the ice about 3 years ago (he was 80 then). A few days later he developed this rash. He didn't tell me or my sister about it.

I was out of town (it was before I'd moved here) and when I got to LR I immediately made a doctor's appointment for him for the next day - a friday - he wanted to wait until Monday.

He waited way too long for the medicine to be of any help and he suffered for MONTHS. He has some nasty scars also.

So the moral to you all is to go get help immediately if there is any chance it might be shingles.

 

[BWVDenise]

arminnie,
I thought it was an allergic reaction to Prevacid. So did the pharmacist, and apparently, my doctor thought that is what it was also. So he prescribed Prednisone for the itching rash, which I don't think hurt anything and may have even helped, but I still get an itching episode every night and now there is the pain and swelling.... but at least today the pain was less! I would have never even thought of shingles but a friend suggested that it could be that and I think maybe she is right!

 

[floridafam]

Had them a few years ago. Brought on by stress.

Very painful. Had them on my back.

Was told by my Dr. to stay away from my children and anyone else who hadn't had the chicken pox or the chicken pox vaccine.

I still have pain where the lesions were.

I was prescribed Valtrex but had to stop taking it because it blurred my vision.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[slimplaw]

I broke out in shingles 3 years ago while I was at WDW. I had actually started before leaving home but did not realize what was happening. It started out with numbness on the right side of my back and within 2 days I had started out with a few sore sites. Within 4 days I was covered with about 75 sites. I was on an antiviral med for 5 months. The doctor had expected me to take the meds for 11 months, so I was pleased to be off it at 5 months. He also gave me vicodin for the pain, but it disrupted my sleep, so I stopped taking it. I stayed in bed for a week and a half. I had some lingering pain for about 6 months. I will still occasionally get a feeling similar to what I had then on the opposite side of my body and become concerned I might break out again, but so far nothing more has happened. I hope you feel better soon.

 

[arminnie]

BWVDenise
My dad thought he had poison ivy. It really did kind of look like poison ivy at the start but how would he have gotten poison ivy in January during an ice storm!

 

[mtblujeans]

We have an older friend that had them so bad he was hospitalized. We went to visit him in the hospital and took the kids with us....one was a baby at the time. A nurse stopped us outside of his room and told us not to take our baby in there. He said that shingles can come to people who have had chicken pox and it can lay dormant in your body for years and then come out in older years and it can be quite a bad "outbreak". He also said that children exposed to shingles can get chicken pox. We had not heard that one. Other than it being very painful, and sometimes have puss flowing from the sores, I don't know much more than that about them. However, I know people can have very bad cases of hives from stress. They can also be red, swollen, raised up spots on the skin. And you don't have to have had them all of your life to have a bout of hives. They can also appear later in life.

 

[Amberle3]

If I'm not mistaken (and I could be, it has happened before!) I believe that shingles stem from the same virus as chicken pox.