Have you ever had shingles?

[summerrluvv]

I'm pretty young (33 next month) and I have shingles. I didn't know what it was, thought it was a bunch of bug bites near my armpit since it was itchy. I didn't see the doctor until a week later after my arm lost sensation. It's a pretty mild case and doesn't look like a lot of the pictures I've seen online. I do get the stabbing pain though.

Well today I've been getting random pains in other areas. Like a spot on my back, and a spot on my chest. There is nothing there though. Did this happen to you? Also if you got them once, did you get them again? I spoke w/ my grandma last night and she told me a lot of her elderly friends have gotten the vaccine. Everything I've read online says it's for over 60. Has anyone younger gotten the vaccine and not have the shingles come back?

I've always been pretty healthy and now I just feel like I'm falling apart!

 

[quentina]

Yes, everytime I get an X-ray, I get shingles. Not sure why however, when I google it, it shows as a side effect to radiation.

It is painful....mine is always on my lower back right near where my pants hit.

It is a form of chicken pox...good luck!

 

[mrsmom]

I got them when i was 24 years old and three month pregnant and i got them on my back. I couldn't take any meds it was painful but when they went away i have never have gotten them again and iam in my 40's .
Kim

 

[Aisling]

My mother has shingles flareups a few times a year, and it can be very painful. It's a Herpes virus (not the sexual Herpes), and once you have it, you have it forever. Your body never gets totally rid of it. But there are some great meds to treat it when flareups occur. I hope you have a doctor who's very knowledgable about shingles with a good treatment program. It sucks, but you can live just fine with it.

 

[summerrluvv]

My other has shingles flareups a few times a year, and it can be very painful. It's a Herpes virus (not the sexual Herpes), and once you have it, you have it forever. Your body never gets totally rid of it. But there are some great meds to treat it when flareups occur. I hope you have a doctor who's very knowledgable about shingles with a good treatment program. It sucks, but you can live just fine with it.

The doc. mentioned the herpes thing and I was a little taken aback. When he walked out, I said to the nurse...single mom here, haven't been on a date since my 2.5 year old DD was born..lets do the math here LOL.

They did give me an anti-viral, but since I had them for a week already, the pharamcist said the RX really wouldn't help that much, so I opted to not get it filled. I'm on an antibiotic though.

 

[summerrluvv]

I got them when i was 24 years old and three month pregnant and i got them on my back. I couldn't take any meds it was painful but when they went away i have never have gotten them again and iam in my 40's .
Kim

That's encouraging! I hope they stay away!

 

[Mary Anne]

I am 58 and have never had them but my dr. suggested that I receive a vacination against them. I am going to get it within the next 2 months.

 

[Aisling]

They did give me an anti-viral, but since I had them for a week already, the pharamcist said the RX really wouldn't help that much, so I opted to not get it filled. I'm on an antibiotic though.

Ask your doctor about this, because antibiotics do nothing against viruses.

Also, I'm sure there are Shingles message boards where you can talk to others going through the same thing as you are. There must be a wealth of info, experience and support on those message forums.

 

[rumrunnergirl]

.

 

[summerrluvv]

Ask your doctor about this, because antibiotics do nothing against viruses.

Also, I'm sure there are Shingles message boards where you can talk to others going through the same thing as you are. There must be a wealth of info, experience and support on those message forums.

The antibiotic is so they don't get infected from what he told me.

I'm sure there are, but I'd rather post here instead of joining another forum

 

[Bonnie40]

My son actually contracted chicken pox when he was 4 weeks old and then shingles when he was two! He's now 17 and actually got shingles in his eye this past summer - doctor said if we had let it go much longer it would have permanently damaged his vision! Never would have thought it was shingles or anything that serious but he complained that the stabbing pain was nasty so I called the doctor. I didn't know you could get them in your eyes!

Someone mentioned that people who don't get a good enough dose of chicken pox (which he didn't) are more likely to contract shingles.

 

[HugsForEeyore]

I had shingles at age 17 as a senior in high school. I had no clue what the heck it was - I only figured it out years later. I got a huge red raised rash on my left side and it was pretty icky to look at. My parents already stopped bringing me to doctors a few years before (stopped at age 14), so I had no medical professional who coud look at me, or any adult to help me. I certainly didn't have money to pay for medical care, and it an 8 mile walk to the nearest immediate medical care center. I debated telling the school nurse, but I was afraid of her. So I just bought the biggest bandaids I could, and covered up the rash, and hoped it would heal. I seem to remember it took a week to see any improvement, but it eventually started healing and went away, and I was thrilled! Took months for the rash to really go away.

Only years later when I was flipping through a medical book did I recognize the rash for what it was. I had chicken pox at age 5. I never had shingles again, thank goodness.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Shingles results from the Herpes Zoster virus. It's a different form than Herpex Simplex 1 which causes fever blisters and canker sores and Herpes Simplex 2 which is an STD. Basically, when you get chicken pox, the virus stays in your body and lives on either side of your spine. The virus can reappear as Herpes Zoster causing blisters and extreme pain. Most people get it on one side of their body- whichever side their virus lives on. I got shingles when I was 26. I had just started a very stressful job and wasn't getting enough sleep. I got a patch of blisters on my lower back, right at my waistband. My mom was a nurse and my grandma had shingles so she recognized mine right away. I went to the doctor and they said to put Calamine lotion on them to help dry them up.

One thing to be careful about - since shingles are related to chicken pox, people who have not had chicken pox can get it from someone who has shingles. My husband had not had chicken pox when I had shingles so we asked the doctor about it. He said my husband could get it only if he came in contact with the fluid in the blisters. It's not an airborne thing. He didn't get chicken pox and has since had the vaccine. Shingles sure are painful!

 

[PaulaSue]

That is what the doc said I had today at my 4th visit in 3 week. Still not sure she is right because of not a lot of pain (knock on wood) but something is def wrong with my underarm. It all started witha cyst that got HUGE and then finally went almost away and not i have a 7-8 tiny painful ones surrounding it.

 

[DVCisME]

I had shingles last year, at 26. I have had the chicken pox twice. Once as an infant and the second time as a teen. I has shingles on my back but also experienced pain in my neck-with no bumbs. I don't know if the ones on my back were somehow connected to the nerve endings in my neck or what.
Hopefully you start to feel better soon. Can you get the vaccine or do you have to be a certain age?

 

[summerrluvv]

That is what the doc said I had today at my 4th visit in 3 week. Still not sure she is right because of not a lot of pain (knock on wood) but something is def wrong with my underarm. It all started witha cyst that got HUGE and then finally went almost away and not i have a 7-8 tiny painful ones surrounding it.

That's sort of how mine is, and the NP wasn't really sure it was shingles and brought the doctor in and he said it was. I thought they were some kind of bug bite since they were large and really itchy first and looked like mosquito bites and never had that crusty looking appearance you see online. Now they have shrunk down to basically nothing but marks, and maybe 3 have a scab on them now. I was getting ready to blame my job because of all the bugs in our office LOL. My pain is not that bad, not as bad as many folks have it I hear. I hope you are completely healed soon!

 

[stacy347]

My son actually contracted chicken pox when he was 4 weeks old and then shingles when he was two! He's now 17 and actually got shingles in his eye this past summer - doctor said if we had let it go much longer it would have permanently damaged his vision! Never would have thought it was shingles or anything that serious but he complained that the stabbing pain was nasty so I called the doctor. I didn't know you could get them in your eyes!

Someone mentioned that people who don't get a good enough dose of chicken pox (which he didn't) are more likely to contract shingles.

This happened to my youngest DD as well. All 4 of my girls had chicken pox Christmas 1998 and the youngest was only 2 months old. She didn't build up a good enough immunity to it and later on when she came in contact with a child who had chicken pox, she got shingles. I felt so bad for her ~ it was all over her shoulders and she still has scars from it. The doc said it will likely happen again.

summerrluvv ~ hope you feel better quickly!!

 

[Mouseteacher]

I don't mean to be an alarmist but there is a form of breast cancer that appears as a rash and not a lump. My cousin had a rash close to her underarm and she too thought it was either shingles or a rash from clothing or something she picked up on a trip to Florida. She went to 2 MDs who agreed it was just a rash or shingles. However, after 2 months it wasn't getting any better so she went to a dermatologist who took a sample of the area for further study and called her within 24 hours to tell her she had breast cancer.

Please just be sure that there is a firm diagnosis of shingles and that a rash anywhere near the breast is not anything else.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Wow summer, I am so sorry to hear that you have the shingles. I have been through it was ds 19, he got them I think because of his compromised immune system with all the asthma drugs plus alot of stress. His were only little dots around his trunk. We went to the dr. a week later and he got valtrex too. We took it but they said it woulld not bee too effective. He offered to give him something to sleep at night if the pain was too bad. Of course you know not to be by anyone else who is pregnant and if there is no crust on any of the spots than you are supposedly contagious etc. I hope you have a speedy recovery. (ps - on a little side note I just spent a few days at stony brook again for surgery #7 this year, at east it wasnt for the cancer this time ptl). Take care and blessings to you. Did Emma and Nicholas have the chicken pox shots??

 

[JerseyJanice]

My husband got it about two years. His rash was on the right side of his face and in his eye. He was put on Valtrex and seen several times by an eye doctor to make sure it didn't get into his optic nerve. The right side of his nose is scarred from it.

We were told it usually affects the trunk of the body, and it was unfortunate to get it where he did on his face. It took a long time to completely heal. His rash was there for months and he had pain for nearly a year. He still gets a certain type of headache from it.

I'm sorry you're going through this, and I hope you recover soon. I felt so bad for my husband when he was suffering with it. He is normally a very healthy guy and is not used to being laid up. The whole experience was terrible for him.