I've had both. Shingles is a nuisance; the pain from gout can literally drop you to the floor.
TXnMA
Posted on 09/28/2020 9:09:58 PM PDT by Mariner
I've recently been introduced to the shingles experience.
And let me be the first to say, it's an experience nobody should have.
I've been introduced to entirely new universes of pain, universes I could never have imagined before.
Then, the devil his own self stalks you at night.
The pain of shingles is two fold.
There’s the pain of the rash itself, which is miserable in its own right. It’s a cross between tearing and being lit afire.
Then there’s the neuropathic pain of the infected/inflamed nerve cluster. It’s indescribable without sounding hyperbolic.
It’s like slowly being sawed in half. Or having a nail driven into your spine.
Mine reaches from my belly button around to mid back. A classic presentation.
Forget the prescribed dosages. Depending on how the rash responds start with 1.5 grams, then drop a 500 mg every hour and a half or so. Your bod will tell you. If you can couple oral with topical all the better.
As a kid a few different people put the fear of God into me re shingles. I got ‘em at 65. I was waiting for the horrible but it never came. Fortunately, it was not a sever case. But it was no fun! After a couple days I got the idea to try the Acyclovir I had lying around the house, away. I could feel the virus stop advancing.
The next year I got my first flu shot ever. Somehow it triggered a new bout of shingles. WTH? But I recognized it early, hit it hard and it was no issue.
I guess if your rash is advanced the Acyclovir won't be as effective.
If anything in life is true it's that severe, unrelenting pain is Hell. Real Hell. Hope it goes away soon.
I got the shingles vaccine.
But when my daughter was born, my mom broke out with Shingles. And at first the doctor refused to let her visit. It was tense. We didn’t want to put our newborn daughter at risk for chickenpox. Eventually the doctor decided it was okay.
Shingles tends to hit during periods of stress. Which can be the worst times that you could want to get it.
Valtrex worked for me. 44 YO male. Had it twice last 10 yrs, last time 3 yrs ago. Around my torso both times. Valtrex knocked it out cold.
I had SARS before SARS was cool. Sudden Adult Respiratory Syndrome refers to any number of sudden onset severe pneumonias. You don’t realize how sick you are, then you die. This was years before the worldwide Epidemic of a few years ago
I've had both. Shingles is a nuisance; the pain from gout can literally drop you to the floor.
TXnMA
I’ve had both and it’s the opposite for me.
I had shingles on the right side of my face at age 25. That was 40 years ago. I guess there weren’t any antiviral drugs then because all they gave me was Tylenol with codeine. I would take my Tylenol and could sleep for three hours. Then I would wake up in pain, take more and go back to sleep. Fortunately it mostly cleared up after about 10 days.
I was in my early 30’s, enjoying a placid day at work when I noticed an itchy/stinging sensation up my spine. I had large blisters up my spine and around the back of my waist. I knew what I had, so I didn’t go to the doctor at first. Conventional wisdom then was there was no treatment. Soon, I had a huge blister and agonizing pain covering my left hip. Clothing made me want to scream, and even a sheet at night was too much. The pain in the hip lasted a year and I lost sensation across that hip. It is still numb, 40 years later. When I did go to the doctor after a couple weeks, he gave me Zostrix, a topical cream.
Both my Dad and my father-in-law got one enormous shingle diagonally across their face, involving one eye. In each case it occurred just before scheduled surgery for a knee replacement.
Now that I think back, that placid day followed stressful years including moving, having a baby, job change, two years of graduate school in the evening 60 miles away. Baby got the chicken pox the first day of a new job in management.
I was in my early 30’s, enjoying a placid day at work when I noticed an itchy/stinging sensation up my spine. I had large blisters up my spine and around the back of my waist. I knew what I had, so I didn’t go to the doctor at first. Conventional wisdom then was there was no treatment. Soon, I had a huge blister and agonizing pain covering my left hip. Clothing made me want to scream, and even a sheet at night was too much. The pain in the hip lasted a year and I lost sensation across that hip. It is still numb, 40 years later. When I did go to the doctor after a couple weeks, he gave me Zostrix, a topical cream.
Both my Dad and my father-in-law got one enormous shingle diagonally across their face, involving one eye. In each case it occurred just before scheduled surgery for a knee replacement.
Now that I think back, that placid day followed stressful years including moving, having a baby, job change, two years of graduate school in the evening 60 miles away. Baby got the chicken pox the first day of a new job in management.
LOL!
Hate the eye socket thing.
Really hurts some days and I’m expecting some zingers over the next 3 months as I’ve set some lofty goals
I’m just going to remind myself that pain is God’s way of saying “What? You’re still alive...”
A close relative had it.....
....the same day he broke out, he had already been scheduled for a well visit checkup with his physician
They immediately put him on ‘shingles medication’ and he was over it in a week......and no pain.
Thought it would end.
It doesn’t
God’s joke to remind me I’m still alive...
I have been advised to get the shingles vaccine but I am scared to death to.
I have a condition known as Mast Cell Activation Disorder and I react badly to injections and immunizations in general, with an allergic type response very similar to insect stings. I actually react poorly to virtually everything I ingest as well and am on a severely restricted diet. It has not yet gone to the anaphylaxis stage, but I am concerned that it will.
Because of that, I will NOT get a flu shot.
The thing that concerns me about the shingrix vaccine is that it designed to provoke a strong immune response and that the last thing I need. My immune system reacts plenty strongly enough, thankyouverymuch.
I have also heard of people who have had bad experiences with the shot. That they were fine until they got it and it either triggered an outbreak of shingles or they had other complications that they now have to live with.
What are FReeper’s experiences with Shingrix?
I realize that shingles is to be avoided at all costs, but I am not sure the alternative is going to be any better for me. FWIW, I am highly allergic to vitamin C and taking the recommended dose would probably kill me.
Many years ago, I had a MRSA infection and the pain was unbelievable. It was a burning, searing pain that I thought must be what hell feels like.
Ice packs helped tremendously. I could not take anything stronger than ibuprofen because when I went to the ER, my BP was so low they couldn’t risk it. It took days for it to get high enough to have that option. Ice packs saved the day. They are vastly underrated and under utilized for pain management.
I wish I had roof shingles...
LOL
+1!
Maybe I should seek out a therapist freaking hurts somedays ...
I feel exhausted on days I push myself
I don’t tell anyone except doctor friends and they always remark they have patients who have had post hepartic pain for 3o years...
Yeah...
“This one small trick...”
Ughhhh!
I think it is a reminder of what my Mom endured having 6 children and I have less pain than we caused her and we are all good children
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