Who's had Shingles?

I had it about 10 years ago. It started out as a sharp pain in my back, the right side around the upper hip area. About 2 days later I broke out in a rash at the waistline in the right hand front area.
My husband tried to hug me and I backed up before he could. And since he had no idea how much it hurt, he got mad at me for not wanting him to hug me. (He has since apologized for that!)
I had to wear my pants pushed down like the old 60s hip huggers and I couldn't let a shirt touch it. Even a slight breeze caused intense pain. My doctor prescribed something (gabapentin, I think) but I couldn't take the side effects.

I put up with it for a couple weeks until I finally got the nerve to try some neosporin on the rash, touching very very gently, but it dried up the rash pretty well. At least it wasn't a raw burning spot on my skin anymore.

I think it took over a month for my skin to basically get back to normal or at least I didn't think about it anymore, but I still have a light scar in the area.
 
I have some sort of skin rash currently, and have had it for
a couple years, doc gave me a cream way back when, it is
basically ok if I 'member to slather the cream on...but very
troublesome at times...think I'll ask the new doc about it, next
time I go in.....
 

win231 said:
There are several attorney practices that are handling cases of people who got Shingles from the Shingles vaccine.
One of the reasons I'm not getting it. But (like the Covid vaccine) to each his own.
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I think the older type of shingles vaccine used live virus, but the newer Shingrix vaccine uses non-living pieces of the virus, so people won't get Shingles from the newer vaccine.

I wish they would make a Yellow Fever vaccine with non-living pieces.
 
I had shingles when I was about 40. I started feeling kind of bad, the boss said go home, and while driving home, it really hit me suddenly, and I thought I was having a heart attack. I managed to drive to the hospital, and they, too, thought it might be my heart. After a couple of hours of tests, and getting injected with some; drug to break up blood clots, etc., they figured out that it was shingles. By then, my wife had arrived, and we were relieved to find out what was wrong. They gave me a shot, and a prescription, and I was able to drive a couple miles back to the house.
Then, the next morning, the fun began. my upper body was ravaged by red blisters which itched badly, and I was pretty much relegated to the bed for 3 or 4 days. It was over a week before I felt good enough to go back to work.
 
I had it for my 60th birthday..there is an old thread if you can find it...from 2017!

i had a terrible rash ,that blistered,on my upper torso that extended from my sternum all the way to my spine on my right side.
it started with a terrible itch and was quite painful but I carried on normally (I went to see the Proclaimers) and didn’t cause a major outbreak of shingles in South Wales.
i was put on an anti-viral and anti-depressant( apparently normal) but chose not to take the latter.
i used an aloe Vera gel on the rash.
i think I got off lightly because SF members warned of dire consequences!
 
Furryanimal said:
I had it for my 60th birthday..there is an old thread if you can find it...from 2017!

i had a terrible rash ,that blistered,on my upper torso that extended from my sternum all the way to my spine on my right side.
it started with a terrible itch and was quite painful but I carried on normally (I went to see the Proclaimers) and didn’t cause a major outbreak of shingles in South Wales.
i was put on an anti-viral and anti-depressant( apparently normal) but chose not to take the latter.
i used an aloe Vera gel on the rash.
i think I got off lightly because SF members warned of dire consequences!
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It doesn't sound like you got off too lightly. That was a pretty extensive rash!
 
I, unfortunately, have had shingles 3 times. The first time was the absolute worst. I woke up about 2 am with excruciating burning, and pain on my left side just above my waist. Nothing took that pain away. I went to the doctor in the morning and described my pain as sore, burning skin.
I was in tears from the pain. I was prescribed Valtrex and Dilaudid for the pain. I then had post herpetic neuralgia for close to a year. I used lidoderm patches for that.

I received the first shingles vaccine. I had 2 milder bouts of shingles, the last presenting as an earache
in 2019 while taking care of my sister before she died. By time I reached the doctor the rash was on one side of my head and inside my ear. Aleve took care of that pain.

I would not wish the pain of my first experience on anyone.
 
Gary O' said:
Y'know, it wasn't so much the severity (I've experienced some pretty rugged pain) as much as the constant, nagging, continual misery. Weeks of it.
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@Gary O' This! Not just the wretched pain, but the fact that it's unrelenting. I'm pushing two weeks so far, and it's pretty miserable.

I have a really high pain threshold. 5 kids, natural childbirth at home, no meds/drugs, no drama, trust me when I say it's high!;) This crap has brought me to my knees.

I went back to the doc yesterday and got gabapentin, which is a nerve blocker, because the OTC stuff wasn't doing much. I can deal with the pain during the day, it's the nights that do me in. And not sleeping and being exhausted makes it that much harder to deal with the pain, plus exhaustion and not sleeping slows the healing. So it's a vicious cycle.

The gabapentin helped more than the OTC stuff did. I slept several hours without waking.

I don't have an extensive rash. Five different areas of lesions wrapping around my back to my front, below my waist. Nowhere near as bad as some pics I've seen. It still shocks me that such small areas could produce such severe pain. But it's not what's on the surface, it's what's happening beneath the skin, what's happening with the nerves and nerve pathways. That's where the pain comes from.

I have pain where there are no lesions. Deep pain. It's wild.
 
Ronni said:
I can deal with the pain during the day, it's the nights that do me in. And not sleeping and being exhausted makes it that much harder to deal with the pain, plus exhaustion and not sleeping slows the healing. So it's a vicious cycle.
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Yup

Have you considered CBD oil?
It was quite the relief for me
 
Although I am now recovered, I still have a lot of fatigue and some recurring rash on my back. I have received my two doses of shingrix so that I never get it again. I hope everyone does get the vaccine to avoid this: it is very debilitating for a long time. A friend of mine got it in his eye, and he had terrible pain and vision problems thereafter.
 
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