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Any success with exercise or stretching?

Posted , 4 users are following.

jana02303
jana02303

I have PHN right through my armpit, sometimes with pain extending down the inside of my upper arm and down into my side/breast area.  I have more or less given up hoping that it will ever go away, and am trying to just be grateful that capsaicin cream and hot packs (NOT at the same time!) bring good relief.  It seems to have plateaued into something that's annoying but tolerable as long as I don't do anything to flare it up.  I suspect that part of my problem is that the muscles have gotten weak after 5 months of avoiding any unnecessary movement in the area, including the upper body exercise machines I used to do at the gym. I think that strengthening those muscles again would be really helpful.  Exercising actually feels pretty good at the time, but then I seem to pay for it later with awakened nerve pain. Has anyone successfully gotten back to any kind of exercise and/or stretching routine? I feel like I just need to learn to live with this and exercise in spite of the pain, because I just can't spend the rest of my life sitting quietly with my arm held tightly against my side.  

4 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • ramesh1936
    ramesh1936 jana02303

    Posted

    Good luck. I have the pain on my lip and

    tip of the tongue for four years.

    Nothing is helping me.

    • jukym
      jukym ramesh1936

      Posted

      You need a balanced healthy diet with a regime of exercise with some supplement. Learn to de stress and calming down any form of anxiety.

       

  • catherine67370
    catherine67370 jana02303

    Edited

    Hi Jana,

    So good to read from someone who is or has been a regular exerciser.

    I have always exercised and am very fit. However, since my PHN, which has now been 16 months, I was unable to work out or train for ab ouit 3 months.

    Am now back at the gym, but it does affect how I train now.

    If I do a condtioning/weight training class I sometimes have to stop as the itch is so bad. Nonetheless I just refuse to stop exercising as it's the one thing that keeps me going mentally. 

    • jana02303
      jana02303 catherine67370

      Posted

      Thanks, Catherine. I tried gently working out earlier this week, but it was too much too soon, and I am still paying for it. It is crazy what hurts and what doesn't.  I can take brisk walks as long as I don't swing my arms, and I've shoveled snow and raked leaves without pain, but those upper body machines are going to have to be off limits for a while.
    • catherine67370
      catherine67370 jana02303

      Edited

      Hi there jana,

      Well the positive side for you is that you can do lots of brisk walks!!!

      I am learning and coming to grips with my continued shingles while excerising and training, but have to stop sometimes as the itch is soooooooooo bad..

      Good luck

  • catherine67370
    catherine67370 jana02303

    Edited

    This is for jukym,

    I totally disagree with your responded comments to ramesh1936.

    I have a very healthy and balanced diet. My exercise regime is 4 to 5 times a week at the gym, plus walking my dogs. I also take lots of supplements and having said all of that, after 16 months I am still suffering with shingles to left eyebrow, forehead and scalp, the itch is unbearable plus the sensitivity and soreness around left side of forehead and temple, again unbearable.

    So for me nothing works, although I do get an hour's relief once a week when I have traditional Chinese acupuncture.

    • jukym
      jukym catherine67370

      Posted

      Hi Catherine

      I am saddened that it did not work on you but my case is slightly improvement. It is getting less re activation on it but the level PHN is triggered most time.

      Took the anti shingles jab and it did not work on me too.

      I have tried accupunture too but it relieve too,

      Hopefully a new drug for all of us going thru this madness of it.

      Thanks Catherine.

    • jana02303
      jana02303 jukym

      Edited

      Thanks, both of you. It seems that one of the diabolical things about this condition is that what works well for one sufferer might have absolutely no effect on another.  I’ve been making a big effort to clean up my diet, but it’s hard to tell if it makes any difference, and I have to be really careful with exercise.  
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