Had 10 days of shingles on my face, followed by years of post-herpetic neuralgia. The worst pain ever for weeks, screaming while being tortured for 5 minutes every few hours as PHN waves would reappear, until my neurologist prescribed gabapentin and amitriptyline. I took those for a few months until the waves went away.
Still feel the effects 9 years later, even as I’m sitting here writing this. Took the Shingrix shot later, happily.
Hubby woke up with what looked to be shingles one morning.
Got him to the doc. Doc gave him a recommended antiviral.
It worked very well because he got in within 24 hours of onset.
He hasn’t had another flare.
And according to the doc, some folks who get shingles are once and done.
Just some food for thought.
I’m not minimizing shingles, BTW. A couple of other loved ones had terrible, repeated flares.
But that was before the oral antivirals were available.