How long, hoiw painful, what makes it better, how do you reduce pain, how to reduce duration, what works, what doesn’t.

Cheers

really wierd to ride on………….

brother had it when I was a kid, doctor gave him some medicine, poor sod hallucinated spiders for two days!

sister had it when she was a kid, cried a lot for ages.

all in all not a pleasant experience, calamine lotion?

wiki linki?

For the itchy bubbles/rash you need prescription stuff from your GP. It cleared it up in less than 48hrs for me. For the general pain standard pain killers should help.

wife had it after my dad died and my mum stayed with us briefly, **** horrible, she felt like crap for a few weeks. Brought on by stress I think. If you’ve got it you have my sympathies.

Remember to keep it covered to prevent contamination. Especially don’t let anyone else touch it. Wash your hands lots. Hard lines, my wife gets recurring bouts. Did you know it’s actually Herpes?

Thought it was a derivation of Chicken Pox, and maybe a myth, but i thought you couldnt get it if you hadnt had C. Pox?

My mum had it last year, get to the docs quick if you haven’t gone already as apparently the treatment is a lot more effective in the early stages.

I understood it’s the same bug as chicken pox, but can be caught if you’d had the chicken pox – I know it can be very unpleasant from friends who have had it.

I’d have thought wiki/google would be a better bet for reliable info – OK, maybe not wiki for reliable….

I had it about 12 years ago.

I was working in the Lakes, leading some staff training round them there mountains, and spent a few days basically telling myself to MTFU. I noticed on the last nights camp and on the way home a pain across shoulders/chest/one arm, and an itch (but no rash).

By the next morning I could not bear sunlight, was in a lot of general pain across shoulders/neck/back and one arm, and had a couple of lumpy/bubbly rash bits.

Docs diagnosed it immediately.

I spent a week in a darkened room, stuggling and wiped, in some low level pain. Rash went very quickly.
It took over a month to get back to ‘normal’ – I was just wiped, no stamina or strength (not helpful when canoeing/mtb/walking etc all day every day for a living). It was damn hard work that autumn….
Not a pleasant illness.

you have been to the docs, yeah ?

Paracetamol & anti-inflammatories tend to be offered 1st but in early (before the rash) or severe pain, weirder stuff like “antidepressants” or “antiepileptics” should be considered as long-term outcome is improved. Age is best predictor of prolonged pain, followed by severity of pain & “big” rash. If you’re lucky it only hurts for a week or 2

antiviral drugs do reduce pain and its duration – particularly post-herpetic pain that can persist long after the rash goes. They don’t always get offered unless you’re over 50 or the rash is in an “interesting” area (not on trunk, pretty much). They also need starting early for best results.

yeh, varicella zoster (chickenpox)
Most people have been exposed to it, whether or not they had full-on chickenpox

Had it on the side of my head over to my eyelid about 3 years ago.

Sore head for about a week, then got worse and eventually felt like someone was crushing my head in a vice for about a week. Was on antiviral drugs for a couple of weeks plus 2 types of painkillers. Also eye drops to stop spread onto eyeball which can cause blindness.

I still get pain in that side of my head now and again, apparently this is quite common and can last for years.

I was told it’s only infectious for people who have not had Chickenpox as it is the same virus. If you’ve had chickenpox you should be OK. The Doctor said they don’t really know why people get shingles, which inspired confidence.

Q – correct (while you’re blistery, you can give chickenpox to people who’ve never been exposed or have kack immune systems (or both)). You can’t “give” someone shingles – that’s old virus that’s been living in your spinal nerves since you had ch’pox

They sort of know why – and definitely what it is & where it comes from, but can’t often definitely say “why now?”

I had it a while ago – chickenpox virus, can be brought on by lowered immune system (eg. stress).
I had to fly out on holiday with it – all down my sides, so painful to have any clothing touching it.
Don’t think it lasted more than a few days.

Had Shingles in my teen around the waist and the pain was unbearable to the point of not able to sleep nor put on my trousers properly. The entire body hurt like hell and a slight touch to the body would make me feel like being hammered and burnt.

Q … Shingles on the head can be very dangerous and must be treated carefully. I suggest you go for a scan or something to double check with doctor from time to time. If not treated or cured the problem will persist for a long time and may evolve into something really nasty. i.e. cancer of the head etc. Sorry but it is better to let you know at the early stage if that is the case.

I did not take any medication except traditional cure but I don’t recommend this unless you trust it.

This traditional cure is only meant for Shingles that has grown in a group of three or a variation of spots that run along the body like pox. (The Chinese called them “snake”) NOT suitable for shingles grown on the head.

1) Light up a big incense or something like wood charcoal.

2) Slice few paper thin ginger slices.

3) place the ginger slice on where the Shingles first started, then another slice on the middle part of the Shingles and the end part of the Shingles.

Imagine this is a “snake” and must be burn in the head (where shingles first noticed), middle part of the snake body (mid-point of the shingles group) and the tail (last shingles spot) to ensure it is absolutely dead.

3) Then apply the burning incense/wood charcoal as close as possible to the ginger slice “head first” then “tail” then “middle”, almost burning your skin but not really burning it. Try to endure as long as possible then stop and move to the next spot. Repeat few times.

4) After that you MUST NOT touch or drink water for 2 hours.

Oh ya … avoid eating eggs, shell fish and crab until you are well.

After a few sessions the shingles, once cured, should dry off.

There are 99 variations of Shingles according to my late grand uncle. He was an expert in curing Shingles but knowledge was not passed on because his children were bunch of snobs looking down on ancient traditional cures. According to him Shingles on head is extremely dangerous.

Western anti viral medication can works too but may take a while.

Mine was similar to the person having shingles on the waist like those in the pics.

Shingles pics

😯

By the way please consult expert on Shingles as the method I mentioned above was the treatment I had at that time and the same for the people I saw.

😕

Had it a few years ago – started as a pain on the left side of my chest which I went to the doc about as it was getting severe. Doc had a look and there was nothing apparent, then later that evening mrs p spotted the first blister on my back. Went straight to the locum service where i was prescribed a bunch of antivirals and painkillers, then spent the next week living by the clock of my painkiller doses, feeling completely bombed and had great difficulty wearing anything more than a light shirt. The rash cleared up relatively quickly but I had bouts of residual pain for months after and still get the odd niggle in the place where the rash was worst. My biggest mistake was telling the doc I’d be OK on the lower dosage of codeine…

From what I understand of shingles (I have had it and this is based on what I was told by the docs). It is not at all air-borne infectious, but direct contact can pass on the virus to someoen who hasn’t had CP. I had a very mild case around my waist and it still hurt like hell and even now, some 8 years later, I can still ‘feel’ the spot they were at their worst deep down into my kidneys. I was given some cream to rub over the spots too reduce the irritation and to make them scab over, but just had to put up with them.

The docs said I could even go to work if I felt up to it and like some idiot I actually went in!

I remember them, had them in 91 when I was 19.
2 weeks off work, staying with the olds. When I felt better, I went out & bought a mountainbike.

Strongest painkiller you can find and calamine lotion. Only thing that had any effect for me.

most people have mentioned my experiences of it. No one has mentioned calamine lotion, though. This was great at soothing when gently dabbed on the affected areas (in addition to the prescribed medicine).

DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EYES AT ANY COST!

It is caused by a weakened immune system which can be brought on through exhaustion and stress. It travels along the nerve line in your body and therefore stays on one side (unless you get it really bad).

I spoke to many people about it at the time, and although I went the pharma route, I am quite intrigued by chewkw‘s antidote. Although I would advise going to a herbalist if you’re going to go down that route.

…and if the images on the yewleong website are anything to go by those recovery times are impressive.

I had it about 8 years ago, mainly on my back and neck, it lasted about two weeks (unfortunately two weeks that I had already booked as annual leave :cry:)

I can’t really take pain killers, so survived on camomile cream – but was very miserable for most of it.

The missus had shingles three years ago. She was rushed into hospital. The doctors said that if she had been admitted 48 hours later there would have been the chance that she would have died as the she also has a condition called Lupus which means that she has to take immunosuppressive drugs which means that the shingles is made all the more worse.

The shingles spread from head to toe, the nurses at the Southampton General would not even go near her. She even heard them arguing over who was going to bring food into her room. And even when I went to visit I heard something like “I’ve got kids, you haven’t, you can take her blood pressure”. This was on the general ward, after a week in that cesspit she was then transferred to the high intensive ward for two weeks. Where the care and treatment was superb. Really amazing how in one dept she got third world level health care and in the other ward the care was faultless.

Moral to the story is that shingles can be very serious especially if there are other complications. Getting shingles treated early is the key. If it is left too late the drugs are no where near effective.

Thanks for this.

It is not me, we have been to the doctors and got antiviral and pain killers. It was probably bought on by stress. Looks like she should WTFU.

I’ll go tell her now. 😉

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Shingles/Pages/Introduction.aspx?url=Pages/what-is-it.aspx

Hope your wife gets well soon.