Share your Shingles Experience

My fetid mind | September 28th, 2020 | Mariner

[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.

[Vendome]

I wish I had kidney stones...

[Vendome]

I have some small bumps on the left side of my forehead...

[Baldwin77]

I’m in the same situation. Don’t remember having chicken pox. I’ve always wondered if there was a blood test to tell you if you’ve had it, if not, should you take the vaccination anyway?

[UnwashedPeasant]

”Olive leaf extract is good for shingles.”

Also the Dr. Zelenko coronavirus protocol might work against shingles virus. It is zinc plus any of the following: hydroxychloroquine; egcg; or quercetin & vitamin C. There have been other FR threads on the details.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

I had the Shingrix vaccine last year. After the first shot, a red lump the size of a baseball appeared on my punctured arm. It itched like crazy and lasted about a week.

After the second shot, I had a terrible headache and chills like I’d never experienced before in my life. I lay under two blankets and still couldn’t get warm. That lasted for two days.

I guess it was still better than getting the shingles.

[wintertime]

Very bad experience! Thankfully,I fully recovered.

[missnry]

I contracted shingles in the days following 9/11. I had to travel to Japan to work. I had it show up on my torso. The doctor prescribed Acylclovir. This is a case of the medicine being worse than the cure. I had the most miserable head splitting headache after taking the medicine. It was my mother who told me about FRESH pineapple. I was ready to have the shingles last months. Fortunately mine subsided within the week. Here is what I found online:

Enzyme rich Fruit
... eat three daily portions of either pineapple or mango, both of which contain proteolytic enzymes that can strip away the protective outer layers and heads of viruses. A German study found proteolytic enzymes to be as effective as some standard antiviral medications at relieving the pain from shingles and healing the rash.

It worked for me!

[Gene Eric]

Where did you have the breakout?

I had it on my right side. Totally sucked. Still won’t get the shots though...

[TheCipher]

I know of guys who have had the gout and the shingles. They said the gout is WAY worse

One standard treatment for gout is a medication that makes you constantly puke. I much better treatment is just to eat cherries. Clears it up quickly.

[LilFarmer]

I was fortunate to have a mild case but started taking elderberry right away, I *think* it helped. I got the other meds from the doctor but didn’t need it. The worst for me was the discomfort keeping me up. It was on my chest and wrapped around to my back. I could had to prop pillows around so I wouldn’t roll over to the bad side.

[Bonemaker]

"And let me be the first to say, it's an experience nobody should have." Nay, nay..there are millions of democrats who should experience it!😎

[LilFarmer]

*had to

[Bonemaker]

Had it in 1967 in lower back and buttocks. Felt like multiple wasp stings 24/7. Got treatment in Germany (was stationed there). Multiple B12 shots which knocked it out.

[TXnMA]

I expect everyone's physical reactions and experiences are different.

My shingles was confined to the right half of my front torso, and it lasted about four weeks. The pain was bad, but minor compared to a kidney stone I'd had removed not long before. That one plugged up the entrance of my right ureter into my bladder -- and the back-pressure was the worst pain I've ever experienced!

My gout went thru three bad attacks un-diagnosed -- before my daughter (a PA & Army EFMB Captain) diagnosed it over the phone from 1500 miles away. That last attack -- before medication & diet modification -- kept me on crutches for nearly two years. Couldn't stand a bedsheet on my feet!

I've often wondered if my "minor" shingles was due to the fact that I had brutal chicken pox as an adult (in the USAF). Kept me quarantined for four weeks!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I wasn't dismissing your shingles problem -- just truthfully answering that "which was worse" (for me) question...

Prayers lifted for you and FR's other shingles (and gout) sufferers -- from the deep Piney Woods boondocks of northeastern Texas!

FRegards, TXnMA   
  

[Bonemaker]

Wife procrastinated on getting vaccine. I badgered her for years to no avail. She got it above right eye two years ago. Very lucky to come out of it with no residual damage. I have the original vaccine but need to get the newer shingrix,

[Hot Tabasco]

Well, it all started when I joined EHarmony.com thinking I could find a woman with interests similar to mine........

[finnsheep]

The sooner you get Valtrex the better the result. I started having pain in my left hip which was strange because that one is usually okay. Then felt some bumps in my skin to the left of my tailbone and thought at first it might be frost bite due to putting ice on that hip. Looked at it, no redness - - yet. Put two and two together = shingles. I got the Valtrex before the blisters even formed, but by then there were bumps in my skin down the back of my leg. The pain went down the back of my leg, under my foot. I was lucky that it was gone in about five weeks.

[BobL]

“...and local insurance regs state to keep the home insurable the roof must be replaced by the time the shingles are 19 years old.”

I hadn’t heard of that, but I did notice that roofs are now pro-rated in my policy, so I may not have any coverage of the roof after that many years, but that the rest of the house would still be covered. I guess I better check on that more carefully.

[Greenpees]

Had shingles almost two years ago. It was painful, but not debilitating. It was on my chest and back. Took the meds the doc gave me, and it cleared up within about two weeks. But that isn’t the whole story.

It’s still with me. While I have no outward signs of it, the tingling, even in places I never had sores, like the back of my arms, shoulders, calves, etc. goes on. It’s not painful. My doc explains it as nerve damage.

I’m a person who never gets sick, and am in good shape at 54.

[cuz1961]

I had it at 14 or 15 , can’t remember exactly.

Doc said at the time I was the youngest to ever get it.

( Ever ?, Or just that he had seen , I don’t know which )

It itched bad , was given some kind of medical cream , went away in about a week.