having some health issues... =(

[buffbabeca]

Ok PMers... i need some thoughts and prayers (if you pray). I am having some health issues at the moment. I woke up saturday morning with a few small blisters on the tip of my right middle finger.. and get your minds out of the gutter as to where that finger has been.... lol


I know you would think so what.. its a blister.. but let me tell you.. IT FUCKING hurts... i have lots of jont and nerve pain all the way up my right arm. My whole right hand is swollen and tender. I actually had the same thing happen back in February and one of the blisters ruptured and cause a staph infection. Talk about pain.. OMG!!!

I have been to the doc 2x in the last 2 days and they have me on 2 meds and vicodin for the pain. The vicodin is taking the edge off but thats all.. just dont want to get anything stronger. i dont like taking pain meds.

They arent quite sure what it is , but they suspsect it might be shingles. I guess I am open to get it since i had chicken pox when I was little. I am going to go for some blood work tomorrow since this is the 2nd time its happened. Wish me luck.. Im in a lot of pain right now

 

[AWN2004]

I was gonna guess it was shingles. That stuff is super painful and the blisters tend to follow the nerve pathways for some reason. I know stress can help bring on the condition. If they narrow it down to that, Zovirax will help big time and control the blistering. They also have a cream now for that too. Hope everything heals up soon....gotta get well for the O!!!

 

[buffbabeca]

I was gonna guess it was shingles. That stuff is super painful and the blisters tend to follow the nerve pathways for some reason. I know stress can help bring on the condition. If they narrow it down to that, Zovirax will help big time and control the blistering. They also have a cream now for that too. Hope everything heals up soon....gotta get well for the O!!!

thanks.. im hurting right now.... =( my whole arm was swollen yesterday.. and this vicodin is making me sleepy... this sucks and is VERY painful.. i wish this upon no one

 

[Got Juice]

good luck on a speedy recovery.. its always scary when something out of the norm happens to your body, but im sure you will be aight.. hang in there!

 

[lucian]

...

sorry to hear bout your health problems.
stay strong and get well soon.
lucian

 

[Uluwatu]

Hey Buffbabeca...My brother occasionally suffers from shingles and you are not kidding they are painful. They will pass, so stay strong.

 

[violentmessiah]

yep

shingles follow a dermatomal pattern because the virus stays in the dorsal root ganglia waiting for the immune system to decrease so they can do their nasty shit to you. I know I'm gonna sound a little crazy to some on here, but I'd recommend three things. The first are anti-viral supplements (olive leaf extract, sambucol) and something like beta-glucans are really helpful, there are other good ones out there as well. Secondly I'd recommend going to a chiropractor because MY belief is that the body can more easily heal itself and fight infections if there is no impedance to the central nervous system because the central nervous system governs the entire body. Thirdly, I'd recommend going to an accupuncturist who knows what they're doing, go to someone who's been practicing for a while (I'm taking classes and could do something, but it's better if they're well practiced).
I remember my dad having shingles and he couldn't be touched so no chiropractor for him, and he didn't have any of the supplements, he's a chiropractor and an acupuncturist and he instructed my mom on how to help him with accupunture. It helped him a lot. I helped him with this too.
Be as proactive as possible, I'll be praying for you. Any type of neuralgia is just pure raging nastiness, and you don't want postherpetic neuralgia.
Don't irritate that arm with warmth (bathing).
Keep the fluid from the blisters away from people who haven't had chicken pox or who's immune system may be decreased.
If you suspect an infection starting use some hydrogen peroxide.
Polysporin or erythromycin topically can be helpful with the blisters, other antibiotics can sensitize the skin which means more pain.

Look up dermatomal patterns (lots of variations around, but most are close enough) and look up "anatomical position". If you can tell you have a dermatomal pattern, you've probably got shingles. If you're not sure, look at the anatomical position again and tell us anatomically where the pain is (I can tell from what your description is if it follow a dermatome or not).

Oh, lysine helps. Some say DMSO helps (I remember seeing a study or something on it before), but it irritates the skin....if I were to try this, I'd mix the DMSO with some licorice extract and apply to an area of the body that IS NOT affected. Monolaurin is a good anti-viral....

I know that looked like a lot of gibberish, but I'm just throwing anything out there that I've seen or heard about helping somebody with shingles.

Sincerely,
Violentmessiah

 

[buffbabeca]

ok none of that made any sense to me... lol sorry

 

[violentmessiah]

well

not my fault, I just provided information. Now it's your job to ask questions or look for an answer. I did the best I could!

 

[buffbabeca]

thank you for all the info... im not sure what any of that stuff means.. i am going back to the internal med doc tomorrow to get some blood work done... i wanna determine where this stems from....

 

[Tyrone]

Sorry triple B(E.) I don't have any experience with it.
I do wish you the best recovery from what ever it is though. I know one of our respected members must have an answer though. Hope the Dr. helps you though FEEL BETTER SOON!!!

 

[maldorf]

I had a very bad case of chicken pox about 6 years ago and it developed into shingles later. It felt like my skin was on fire, being burned alive. I can relate to the pain you have. Do you have any fever? Perhaps my fever was the chickenpox part of it. Took me about 1 month or more to get over it. They had me on an antiviral that seemed to help a lot, pain killers make it bearable huh.

 

[overman]

Simple enough

Get a prescription for Valtrex, 1 gram. Your doctor will prescribe the accurate dose. Works like a charm!

 

[oldfella]

Shit Buff this is no good. Pain is never fun. I hope they/you can get to the bottom of it very soon. All the best for a quick recovery!

 

[buffbabeca]

Get a prescription for Valtrex, 1 gram. Your doctor will prescribe the accurate dose. Works like a charm!

thanks, yea i am on the valtrex 1g 3x/day for a week.. and also amoxicillian and then vic's for the pain

 

[BrooklynBB]

Feel better Buffbabeca

 

[luckyone]

Thinkin' of you. I know others who have had shingles and got good results from the Valtrex, so there is hope. I'll keep you in my prayers.

your brother in Christ,

Lucky

 

[rmtt]

Hope that you get to feeling better, and that this all goes away quickly.

 

[hotttsauce]

Get well soon! Never know when your gonna need a good middle finger!

 

[unclevername]

Buff,

My wife had those exact symptoms with one additional which are her fingers and toes would turn purple when she was cold or stressed. It turns out that the turning purple was something called Raynaud’s phenomenon and it caused her to get a auto immune disease that attacks connective tissue called Scleroderma. Scleroderma was causing her to get blisters like you have described on her fingers. The two conditions often go together but can also exist independent of each other as well.

Scleroderma can be (not always) a very serious disease and often goes undiagnosed because it is somewhat rare. If you read about scleroderma do not get too upset because they focus on the extreme cases and there are many people who get a limited case and live very long, normal and full lives. Thank God my wife was one of those cases. She has been in complete remission for 10 years.

Like I said it is an uncommon disease which means two things 1) the odds are in your favor that you do not have it and 2) doctors do not see it often so it is hard for them to diagnose. Make sure they rule it out. Initially they thought my wife had shingles because the symptoms are similar and it is more common.

Because it is a connective tissue disease it is most closely resembles authritis and is most often treated by a rheumatologist. Rheumatologists are the best doctors to make the diagnosis. My wife went undiagnosed (and sometimes misdiagnosed) for three years until she was finally sent to a rheumatologist.


Here is a good article that explains what the disorder is in an understandable way:

**broken link removed**

Here is a site with some pictures of what the blisters look like.

http://www.sclero.org/medical/symptoms/photos/a-to-z.html

Like I said though, these are extreme cases most people never has anything that looks that bad.

They list many symptoms for the disease but most people have only a couple of the symptoms except the sores. The sores are common to almost all cases.

I hope that I haven't scared you, but I want to make sure that you rule it out.

Keep us informed.

Good Luck and you are in my prayers.