Worst. Pain. Ever. Shingles

Don't fit into the categories I've seen listed on shingles websites, I'm under 50, no immune problems, etc..

I did have chicken pox in the 70's, though, and apparently that alone makes one have an increased chance of getting it.

On my head, no less. Nothing like an unending headache. It's actually less painful than yesterday but it is still there on and off today.
Already been to the doc, got Valtrex and pain med...now just playing the waiting game for rash to get better/dried up and pain to go away so I can get back to work.

I don't know how people with long term chronic pain do it everyday. All I wanna do is sleep cuz there is no pain then. No appetite in two days.

A family member ran into a friend who came down with shingles a few days ago (after getting the shingles vaccine!), his doc told him that he was seeing an increased number of patients coming in with shingles of late.

So ready for this to be gone!

I hear that they work really well if you start them right away. And you are not the only person I know who is under 50 and got them. I know of four people who have had them---three were under 50. I don't think they know what parameters to look for.

Good luck. :hug:

I went to the doc and started the med within 48 hours of seeing a patch on my forehead/eyebrow. So far just a couple more popped up on my temple and scalp hairline but other then that, no more outbreaks. The area around my forehead and above the eye are swollen but the pain is NOTHING like it was the first day.
From what I read, if you start meds within 48 to 72 hours it's a big step in preventing worse outbreaks and post-shingles pain. So I have crossed fingers/toes :) that this is the case with me!

after getting the vaccine!

Hope you feel better soon, rainbow 4321!

:hug:

Stress brought that on, evidently; I have no immune issues whatsoever. The only upside was that my doctor quarantined me - with supporting documentation - so I spent a week away from the hellhole workplace that stressed me out so much I came down with shingles.

I hope you feel better soon. :hi:

:hug:
A long time ago when I was a nursing student we took care of a woman who had shingles across her face including her eye, which we had to soak with gauze pads dipped in normal saline solution to unstick her eyelids. :(
I hope yours clears up a.s.a.p.!

but for some people with depressed immunity it can be a life saver. I suspect you got it by being exposed to active virus again (that is someone had chicken pox without you knowing it likely). IIRC, thats the most common route for healthy adults to get it...its a re-expsosure to the VZV virus. FYI, people who get the chicken pox vaccine are highly unlikely to ever get shingles as adults because it conferrs immunity without the virus invading the tissues..shingles occurs when the virus remerges and gets into the nerve cells. THIS IS WHY THE VACCINE IS VERY IMPORTANT.

it was awful
they brought out the heavy duty painkiller for that.

after they went away and until she died, she would say that the shingles were the worst part of the whole process.


my heart goes out to you.

My brother suffered through shingles recently and said the cider vinegar helped.
Apply to affected areas.
Some folks swear by soaking strips of brown paper grocery bags in cider vinegar and sticking them on the affected areas. Some say it's important to buy organic apple cider vinegar that contains the brown goo called "mother of vinegar".

Hope you feel better.

just to add to the stress that caused the problem in the first place.
She has since moved to a less stressful job in a less stressful environment (Minneapolis).
She was miserable.

The pain? I compare it to being dragged through broken glass, then doused in gasoline and set afire.
What was weird was that my nervous system relived every trauma I ever suffered one accident at a time.

When I was at the doc, I told him that over the counter meds were NOT touching the pain. He hmm'ed and haw'd for a minute til I said, look, JUST give me enough of something for the first few days. So he gave me a rx for 30 Vicodin, one every 4 to 6 hours, which took the edge off of it. Of course, that involved sleeping alot but I was OK with that if it meant no pain!
I only had to take one yesterday so I've come a long way from taking one every 4 hours the first day.
But, yeah, it's pretty odd to have THAT much pain knowing that you have not recently slammed your affected body part against a Mack truck!

When it's really necessary, narcotic pain meds are there for you; that's what they're there for. Really--ask your doc. You shouldn't have to go through the kind of pain that I know you're going through.