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.
Acyclovir.
From experience: It will defeat shingles.
If you go this route get back to me for dosage.
Laying awake, thinking. The pain doesn’t sleep. Something touching the area, nothing touching the area. Just still air makes it hurt.
I’m on it now...Valtrex.
1 gram 3x per day.
You’re mostly correct. I post what I want when I want and usually move on. I don’t have the time to monitor the many dozens of possible responses or the total lack thereof to any post I may choose to make.
Blogs such as this may result in many responses or not a single one. Monitoring for all responses is a total waste of time.
Ah, those damn shingles. It’s a long, hard, hot day on that roof nailing them all down. I got sunburn.
I got the shingles while a student at The University of Alabama in 1971.
The clinic Doctor suggested my getting a Small Pox vaccination which I really questioned but saw no risk.
This vaccination CURED it. Since then the medical planners have destroyed that type of Small Pox treatment, unfortunately.
I have had no further problem. The infection is as painful as described on this forum.
But other than that was it a good experience? Freegards
So you don’t realize that you posted your experience with roof shingles when the thread was about the shingles medical condition?
> Why is the pain so much worse at night... <
I’m no doctor. But yes, I noticed the same thing in my case. I think it’s because at night there is nothing else to focus on but the shingles.
Here’s what I did. As I noted before, I kept a cold, wet cloth on the affected area. And I listened to old time radio comedy shows to distract me.
Those shows (Fibber McGee and Molly, Jack Benny, etc.) are all in the public domain. There are apps that let you listen to them for free.
Or you can get them directly from the link below. There are thousands of episodes at this link. All are free.
https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio
I had it when I was heavily immune suppressed in high school. I had it all over my forearms, and it was awful.
When the drugs were reduced, I haven’t had it since. It was awful, but I was a lot younger and able to deal with the pain. I kept my arms wrapped up and slathered in lidocaine cream and antibiotic ointment.
I haven’t had shingles, but my sister recently got it. She said it was very painful.
The fact that shingles is very curable by large doses of vitamin C has been known for over 70 years. As early as 1943, I. Dainow reported success in 14 of 14 cases of shingles with intravenous vitamin C. In 1950 Mohammed Zureick, M.D., reported that 327 cases of shingles were treated with intravenous vitamin C with resolution of all symptoms and signs in three days in all cases. Here’s a 2013 article by Dr Thomas Levy on the subject : https://www.peakenergy.com/articles/nh20131003/Reverse-shingles-with-vitamin-C
My sister decided on taking a moderately low dose of vitamin C (4 grams a day orally), and her shingles slowly got better and are now gone, or so she tells me.
Not at the time. But, I have since been sent a link to the disease to which I had never heard of before by the original poster to whom I apologized.
My grandmother had shingles over her arms and legs for 20 years or so, then she went to the Dr for something else, he gave her antibiotics for two weeks and it got rid of her shingles as well as the other ailment. I wish I could remember what she had or the antibiotic name.
“I had SARS 22 years ago. 28 days in ICU, lost 30 lbs even though intubated, last rites, etc. my immune system was compromised for two years.”
Talk about bad luck. There were fewer than 9,000 known cases of SARS-1 worldwide. And it had a mortality rate of over 8%.
I’ve currently developed a case of phlebitis that makes me want to chew my leg off at the knee. What are your symptoms? Let’s compare notes.
That’s very interesting. I wonder if there’s any literature on a relationship between small pox and chicken pox.
Ben Franklin seemed to believe in the smallpox vaccination as it was known in his time, after his young son died; and common farm people in his day seem to have understood the efficacy of primitive forms of vaccination:
I had shingles around half my waist about 25 years ago. Every breath I took gave exquisite pain. I was prescribed an anti-viral shingles med. Eventually, thank goodness, it went away. I hope you recover very soon, Mariner.
Feel for you FRiend as that stuff is misery city.
Researched it a couple years ago and found it was a varicella zoster virus. Started boosting the immune system with C (about 5000 mg per day), eating a bunch of oatmeal, and various other vitamins and techniques.
When this stuff first hit, I thought had gotten into some poison ivy/oak but noooo. What was weird (seemed that way to me) was a certain area of the skin would start to tingle then begged to be scratched. Once you did, that was all she wrote and BAM; instant rash.
So, I started resisting the urge to scratch and it helped some but the slightest brush against anything that even resembled a scratch and BAM; instant rash. Drove me nuts for a while until either it had run it’s course or my “doctoring” had brought under control. Wouldn’t wish that experience on anybody.
I had ophthalmic shingles, I thought I had pink eye. I immediately went to urgent care and was shocked when the doctor told me I had shingles. I was immediately started on antivirals so the rash never became monstrous. Still, I missed 3 weeks of work. I was at the time a very healthy 59 year old. That was 5 years ago, and I am now a healthy 64 year old. I have had no post-shingles neuropathy pain. I have no scars on my face from the blisters.
The key to minimizing the rash and pain is go to the doctor immediately and start on the antivirals FAST. If you don’t start on antivirals within the first 72 hours, the meds won’t work and the rash will take a much more serious, painful and prolonged course.
I think you’d much rather nail those shingles down for days on end, than suffer what the people here are discussing :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.