O/T - I have shingles

[littlefoot]

WTF? I do work in a hospital but have almost no patient contact. I had a mild case of chickenpox as a child. I'm 26 years old.

I thought it was bacne from some MP torem I was taking but nope...shingles.

Anybody here ever have that? Recovery time, any thoughts on it? What a bitch.

 

[Pitbullmike007]

They suck azz.. They can come back through out ur lifetime.. Usually brought on by stress.. I've only had one bout with them few years ago jus couple bumps round the shoulder blade,, itched n felt like a knife stabbing me.. Since bein treated ,It itches from time to time..

 

[steelburgers]

I had them at 26 as well. Doc said a week immune system along with stress is what triggered it. Had one of the worst cases he had seen. Almost lost my eye in my case I was out of work for 6 weeks and it took a few months for the pain to go away. If its bad enough u won't be able to be around anyone do to being able to spread it. Giving it to an adult that hasn't had chicken pocs could be deadly so they say.

 

[pimpman]

I got it once when I was getting ready for a show.i guess the diet and stress.it was just on my right arm and rib cage right side.went away in like a week to ten days

 

[Superbeast668]

:yeahthat:

few years back got hit with it. doc said exact same things. took me about a week to get rid of it as well. it wasnt a bad case. hopefully yours isnt either. i've heard it can suck. did the dr at least hook it up with some valtrex or something to help?

 

[G.I.Bro]

Friend if mine got it after a month long summer binge drinking party marathon. Hard living. He was only 24. Doc told him it should not happen and he needed to slow down. His cleared up super quick though.

If you're under 60 and get shingles, check yourself and your immune system, because something is thrashing it.

 

[Ashop]

WTF? I do work in a hospital but have almost no patient contact. I had a mild case of chickenpox as a child. I'm 26 years old.

I thought it was bacne from some MP torem I was taking but nope...shingles.

Anybody here ever have that? Recovery time, any thoughts on it? What a bitch.

I'm not real familiar with it but here its more common these days,,,but usually older adults. Keep us posted on how you do .

 

[mookie9920]

If you had chickenpox then the shingles virus already lives inside of you.

 

[thestingray]

I also had them at 26, right after a divorce. At the time I didn't know that it was chicken pox related or a form of herpes. So, when the doctor says "herpes..." I flip out ready to kill my ex wife until he explained to me what it was.

Hopefully the anti-virals are better to you, they made me sicker than the shingles did.

 

[Dado5]

I had them last year . lasted about 6 weeks for me and still have post shingle pain.
Dr said pain will be present from time to time as i had nerve damage from it.
Sucks

 

[buckns]

I had them a few years ago .. A nerve band starting along my left lat and ending over my left nipple . It was hell and one of the worst pains I've ever experienced . I would randomly get nerve attacks along that band .Picture a piece of barbed wired heated red hot and dragged across your body . I had a really bad case of them . It lasted almost a month .I couldn't wear a shirt or even step outside as the wind even hurt my skin . I did survive it but there was some nerve damage so once in a while I get a tingle in my lat . Seriously bros I would not wish that on my worst enemy (ok ..maybe a few people i know ) .. There is a vaccination out there that can prevent a flare up it's expensive but worth it .

 

[littlefoot]

Holy shit, I didn't realize it was so common.

Yeah, I posted about it but my gf of many many years broke up with me a little over a month ago. It's probably stress, coupled with 12 hour shifts that's hurting my immune system.

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess I'll just use some lidocaine spray and wait for it to pass.

 

[DOGGCRAPP]

Ive been in car accidents and in other detrimental things but shingles was by far the most painful thing Ive ever been thru in my life.

got it about 8-9 years ago I think and it went down my shoulder and down my right arm. It felt like someone took an auger drill into my shoulder socket 24/7 for 3 days or so. I couldn't eat with that arm....any even 1/4 inch of movement of my shoulder was excruciating. Sleeping? forget it.

My advice is get into a doctor as soon as humanly possible (I did)....even then I got nerve damage from it like some of these other guys.....various problems with that arm over the years and lost some muscle mass near the elbow of my tricep and also my rear delt and side delt atrophied slightly. 99% of people wouldn't notice but I know my body well and know what was there before shingles and what was there after.

Sucks royally......also happened at an extremely stressful time in my business life and 4 months later my business partner got shingles (again stress is brutal)

 

[nothuman]

I had it at the end of April/beginning of May. Lasted about a week and a half to two weeks. I just had a bumpy rash under my left pec. I was at the doctor 3 days after getting it and started the prescription they gave me that day. It was gone fast and the shingles didn't hurt one bit.

The worst part about it was I had flu symptoms for two weeks, and was absolutely miserable. But the shingles rash itself didn't hurt at all.

Basically, you need to go to the doctor immediately if anyone ever gets it. I am 27 btw

 

[OuchThatHurts]

Call your doctor and ask about shingles vaccine (herpes zoster). Ask him if they have a therapeutic (NOT a prophylactic) vaccine.

I believe they do.

Yes. I just checked, it's called Zostavax. It reduces recurrences and the post neuralgic pain by 50 and almost 70 percent respectively. That's pretty damn good.

edit: Vaccines: VPD-VAC/Shingles/Shingles (Herpes zoster) Vaccination: What You Need to Know

p.s. forget the 60 and over crap - so will your doctor.

 

[eros62d]

Shingles are hell. I've had them twice before I discovered the remedy. L-Lysine @ 1000mgs every 2 hours till the they subside,usually takes a few days. Then take 1000mgs once a day to prevent them from coming back.Best at bedtime.aso promotes GH release while you sleep. Worked great for me! L-Lysine is a free form amino acid,usually comes in 1000mg. tablets or capsules. I get mine @ Wal-Mart. $4 for a bottle of 100

 

[nothuman]

Shingles are hell. I've had them twice before I discovered the remedy. L-Lysine @ 1000mgs every 2 hours till the they subside,usually takes a few days. Then take 1000mgs once a day to prevent them from coming back.Best at bedtime.aso promotes GH release while you sleep. Worked great for me! L-Lysine is a free form amino acid,usually comes in 1000mg. tablets or capsules. I get mine @ Wal-Mart. $4 for a bottle of 100

Lysine helps but you need to take the prescription they give you. I took Valacyclovir. Lysine isn't enough and not using what they prescribe you means the shingles will likely last much longer than they should.

 

[maldorf]

. Giving it to an adult that hasn't had chicken pocs could be deadly so they say.

That happened to me when I first started teaching! I had never had chicken pox, and at the age of about 29 I came down with chicken pox and felt like I was going to die. I missed 3 weeks of work and after about 1 week I developed shingles on top of the chicken pox! I had both conditions at the same time. I went to a dermatologist for help and she gave me a strong and very expensive antiviral oral med. She said it was the worse case she had ever seen. It was so bad that she snuck me in through the back door of her office so that none of the other patients would see me!! That bad.

When I had the pox my fever was about 102-104 for 7-8 days straight and then it finally started to come down. I was wearing: a leather coat with liner, a sweatshirt, sweatpants, and a knit cap inside our home and I was still freezing cold (felt like it) but my body temp was over 102.

I thought back to the school and I remember our computer teacher looking like he had shingles on his face. The week or so before I came down with it I had been in his lab. I think it is highly contagious.

 

[littlefoot]

I haven't been to the doctor's. Unfortunately, because I've had shingles for > week, anti-virals would be barely effective. Just have to keep the area clean and manage pain.

 

[360]

Stress brings out the virus and causes the eruption.

26 years old is very young to have shingles. Either you are really stressing your body through dieting, workouts, work, etc or your immune system is very weak.

Antivirals will not help once the rash has appeared. They have only been shown to decrease the duration of symptoms if taken right before the rash appears (the prodromal period).