Talk to me about Shingles

[Anonymous]

At what age were you DX?

What do you do for the outbreak and pain?

What helped the most? Did you do physical therapy? And did the pain went away?

Thank you,

[Anonymous]

My husband had it a few months ago at 32. He caught it pretty quickly and started some medication that really helped decrease the severity and duration. It took about a month to totally clear up, but he was only really miserable for about a week.

[Anonymous]

I got it when I was 22. I had no idea what it was and let it go so long. Once I was diagnosed and on antivirals it was really no problem, but I think I was also on the tail end of it. I think I was on percocet for 24 hours. But, it was really bad by this point. Luckily I have had no ill-effects from it. Just horrible, horrible scarring. It is on my back and side so not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

I got it when I was 38. My oldest was just under a year old and hadn't gotten the chicken pox vaccine yet. The pediatrician gave it to him as soon as I called to let them know I had shingles but he still got a mild case of chicken pox about 10 days after I was diagnosed. I started on an anti-viral right away but I still had excruciating pain (right above where my butt joins my back and then down my right hip. The rash went away after about 2 weeks but the pain lasted for about 3 months.

[Anonymous]

My dad got it in his late 60s - he had the traditional breakout around his browline/eye. Brought on by a very stressful situation at work. He caught it quickly and started medication, but it was still very painful and took a long time to get over (most likely due to his age, and that he was already on medication for something else). Every so often he still gets a bit of pain in the spot where it originated (now several years later). And he's very careful about controlling stress now.

[Anonymous]

Got it at age 30, just a couple days after having my 4th child. Apparently, it can be brought on by stress, and I was going through a lot of stress at the time (husband was deployed to Iraq, MIL died, and we were in the process of selling our house--all this plus the baby being born happened in less than 6 weeks! STRESS!)

The weird thing is, my parents swore I never had the chicken pox as a child--and I never had the vaccine either! But apparently my blood tested positive for the titer (sp?)--so I guess I must have had an extremely mild case that was never detected? Weird.

Mine was concentrated right on my face--the right side- from my nostril up to my eye. It was crusty, gross, and extremely painful. They had given me percocet to deal with the pain from the C-section, but really I was taking the medication more to deal with the pain from the shingles. I was freaked out that I might pass it along to my 3 day old baby, but I didn't.

The good news was I healed relatively quickly--within about 1.5 weeks all signs of it were gone! Also, apparently when it is in/near the eye like mine--there can be a lot of complications including permanent vision loss, which I luckily did not experience.

[Anonymous]

Had it at age 34. Started as bone pain in one arm and extreme fatigue. Barely got rash. Diagnosed after a week and went on anitvirals. Better in about 2 weeks. DH got at at age 38, but i guessed right away since i saw the rash and knew what it was. Went on meds and better in a month or so. Both of us had CP as children. Horrible disease and weird that so many non-elderly people now get it. I wonder if this has to do with the CP vaccine, which was 5 years after DH and i were eligible.

[Anonymous]

Got it at 50. Got antiviral meds right away (someone on dcum actually diagnosed me on the health board). Excrutiating headaches because it affects nerves and was on my forehead. Then it went into my eye, causing pain and blurred vision. That was 18 months ago and I still have flareups of the eye problem and will be on steroidv eye drops for life. It also caused high eye pressure and I must take daily drops to avoid glaucoma. Sucks big time

[Anonymous]

My grad school roommate had it (stress over his first big conference presentation). He just had a rash on his chest and a fever, with few complications.

I, on the other hand, had never had chicken pox, and this was in 1990, so no vaccine existed yet. Although we were platonic roommates, I somehow caught chicken pox. My big concern was that I didn't display symptoms until November 1st, so I had unknowingly exposed all the kids who came to our door for candy on Halloween.

[Anonymous]

Op here, thank you all for sharing your experiences and stories. Guess I am not alone, going through it now and I am 42. Mine is right betweem my chest area so I thought I was having heart attack and with left arm in pain and all...glad it is only shingles

[Anonymous]

I hear you OP. When I had shingles I though for sure it was something internal and the rash was secondary. It felt like my insides had been microwaved (my hip area.) I went in for a pelvic exam before a doctor diagnosed my shingles.

[Anonymous]

DS had them from his vented chest all the way down his left arm to the tips of his fingers. I noticed the spots on his chest first and thought it was a reaction to a detergent. I took him the next day to the Dr and the didn't know what it was. A trip to the ER gave us a hint at what it might be. By the time he had a firm diagnosis. He was 3

[Anonymous]

I had a mild case this spring (I'm 47) brought on by severe stress. It was a mild rash on my back and under my arm. I immediately went on antivirals, but ended up hospitalized with viral encephalitis and meningitis, which is a rare occurrence. (The virus attacks your brain, rather than staying localized at one or several neural pathways). I nearly died, and am still recovering all of my cognitive and neurological functioning 5 months later. So even though I acted quickly, I ended up being very very sick.

[Anonymous]

I got it at age 35. On my back, a very mild case. It was brought on by severe emotional distress. I went on anti-virals and I think that helped. I mostly felt sick. I had fever and chills and I ached all over. Like the flu. The pain was never too severe. It felt like a burning/tingling sensation that would come and go. It has never completely gone away, I feel the tingling almost daily.

[Anonymous]

I am ditto 16 12. I am 41.