Well crap..... Shingles

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I have a week off from work and planned a 3-4 day ride starting tomorrow. Kathy and I are both teachers and I'm finished with the semester and she still has classes until the first week of June so it was a perfect time to take a solo jaunt up to Palo Duro Canyon. The weather's not too hot and since kids are still in school it wouldn't have been crowded.

However, last week my left shoulder/chest started hurting and tingling. Nothing really bad, but worrysom. I went to the doctor and he said it was either a pinched nerve or shingles, but since I didn't have a rash he treated me for the pinched nerve and put me on steroids. They didn't seem to have any effect and the pain got worse. Yesterday the rash showed up so I guess its shingles--I have call into the anwering service this morning. I'll have to cancel the trip and call into the office and change my vacation time to sick leave.
 

TXRoadRash

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Re: Well crap.....

Over the last three years I've had two family members, one friend, and two staff members who have endured shingles (I had them as a child and bear the scars from my experience). A member of my leadership team shared a treatment that helps tremendously (linky). I hope that you'll find it helpful.

In addition, be sure your physician is aware that treatment with the antiviral drug acyclovir, preferably within 72 hours of the first sign of a rash, will shorten the course of the disease and prevent more severe symptoms. Anti-viral drugs, if taken early, can reduce the severity of subsequent post-herpetic neuralgia, but starting anti-virals after PHN develops is of no help.
 

sbond22

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Re: Well crap.....

I've had the vaccine but I think it's a 50/50 chance as to whether it's effective or not.
 
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bmcdonau
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Re: Well crap.....

Over the last three years I've had two family members, one friend, and two staff members who have endured shingles (I had them as a child and bear the scars from my experience). A member of my leadership team shared a treatment that helps tremendously (linky). I hope that you'll find it helpful.

In addition, be sure your physician is aware that treatment with the antiviral drug acyclovir, preferably within 72 hours of the first sign of a rash, will shorten the course of the disease and prevent more severe symptoms. Anti-viral drugs, if taken early, can reduce the severity of subsequent post-herpetic neuralgia, but starting anti-virals after PHN develops is of no help.
I got on antiviral drugs within 24 hours of the rash showing up. I hope this is a one time thing, the doctor said I'm young to have shingles.
 
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bmcdonau
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Re: Well crap.....

I've had the vaccine but I think it's a 50/50 chance as to whether it's effective or not.

That's what the doctor said--its 50/50 whether it'll work for you. I'm not sure the of the benefit of taking a vaccine for something you've already had though.
 
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Re: Well crap.....

I dunno, Dennis. I got over mine pretty quick. Why cancel a vacation? If you can get in to your doctor and get seen, you might get fixed up quicker than you think!
 
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I've had the vaccine shot, as reccommended from the Doc... $275.00 for the vaccine. Mayo Clinic (were I am treated) highly reccomends getting the vaccine. Dave B. Denver
 

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Re: Well crap.....

That's what the doctor said--its 50/50 whether it'll work for you. I'm not sure the of the benefit of taking a vaccine for something you've already had though.
It would alleviate the severity if you were to have another episode.

I've had the vaccine but I think it's a 50/50 chance as to whether it's effective or not.
True it is a 50/50 chance of getting it, but if you were to get it after having the vaccine, most likely you would be lessening the severity of the outbreak and decreasing the duration time as well as how many episodes you may get. Shingles is from the Herpes family. These day people are getting them younger sometimes due to stress levels.

In addition, be sure your physician is aware that treatment with the antiviral drug acyclovir, preferably within 72 hours of the first sign of a rash, will shorten the course of the disease and prevent more severe symptoms. Anti-viral drugs, if taken early, can reduce the severity of subsequent post-herpetic neuralgia, but starting anti-virals after PHN develops is of no help.
Yeah what he said, and the steriods is an anti-imflammatory...helped to decrease any inflammation you have in that shoulder of your, to decrease pressure on your nerves.
 

amorley

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I had a bad case of Shingles last year, probably brought on over the stress of when my Dad died. Incredible chest pains at first so I thought I was suufering from some type of heart failure. Then the rash appeared and was so bad they actually burst and I started bleeding. When I finally got back to the USA and saw my doctor it took him two seconds to diagnoze the problem. Heavy dose of Vicodin for the pain and some "experimental" drug. Took about four weeks to clear. No fun!
 
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Digging up this old thread cause I've got the dreaded shingles too. Didn't know what the hell was wrong with me for a while till the rash appeared, very mild rash but the symptoms of feeling unwell/ fever and having no energy would put me off doing any kind of heavier physical work and I won't be going very far from home on the bikes till it's cleared.
I am young to have it as well but there you go, we take health for granted a lot, I got on the antiviral Famvir 500mg 3 times/day within 24 hours of the rash appearing so hope that helps,
it will be a week tomorrow since the rash appeared, still not feeling well, and the weather has been great lately, typical:(
 

T_C

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I had it a few months back, for me it was mostly pain in the arm, muscle spasm like getting an electric shock. Kept me awake at night. Confused me since I never had Chicken pox.. or so I thought. My mother would have sworn up and down I never had chicken pox. But blood test showed otherwise. Only rash was a few little dots on my right shoulder. Drugs and some pain-killer got me through the next two weeks and it was mostly gone. Still had lingering pain and occasionally itch, still get an itch.
 
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Thank God it's starting to go now, feeling a bit better energy wise, I had lots of mixed symptoms with it, I have never really been sick apart from the odd cold or flu so it will make me appreciate my health more now. probably going to be a few weeks before I'm back in top gear though.
 
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I had my two shingles shots late last year. My mom couldn't remember whether or not I had chicken pox as a kid, so I figured why not just have the shots? Zero cost due to ACA. My understanding is that the vaccine is 95%+ effective, so I consider my chances of ever getting shingles pretty much zero.
 
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I never got the vaccine, contracted shingles a few months ago. Went to urgent care immediately when I realized what it was, they gave me a prescription of something to fight it off, and it went away after a week or so. From what I read there is a lot of variation in severity of symptoms, so either I was lucky and didn't have severe symptoms, or the drug took care of everything, because it never got any worse than a minor itch. I had a fairly large rash, so it was easy to diagnose when I got it.

Its possible that the drug doesn't always work as well as it did for me, but I'd ask for a few medical opinions on that before being vaccinated.
 

Beeflips

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Something on my "to do" list. you just jogged my memory. Probably should go get that done. I've heard it's the worst!! So Thanks Joe!
 
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