Acute pain in ribs

Just to let every know the outcome of this event. We duly saw the Practice Nurse at our Surgery who was not sure what was going on. She said she would ring in the afternoon to see how hubby was, she did just that and asked him if he was still in pain and if so to go immediately to the surgery.The doctor was there this time and he immediately diagnosed Shingles. Now with no spots it was a bit of a puzzle but by Sunday the spots had arrived big time around his trunk of his body. They are really angry now. He has been put on Codeine for the pain and anti-viral tablets for the Shingles which must be administered prior to the 72 hour deadline. He still feels extremely unwell and is now constipated (that is what Codeine does to you) and so the doctor has prescribed a medicine to alleviate this although nothing to date but we live in hope.

So if anyone has extreme pain like this - go to your doctor immediately and get the antiviral tablets and strong pain killers.

End of saga.

Your experience was certainly a saga! I hope your husband has started to recovery from the Shingles and is starting to feel himself again.

Hello again, yes we are starting to turn a corner now. After 14 days of bowels being locked solid because of the Codeine , the powders have now started to work and things in that direction are getting back to normal.Spots are crusting over and the pain has eased. All in all not a very pleasant experience.

Thank you for your support.

Yes, recovering from shingles is a slow healing process. Glad to see your husband has started his road to recovery!

Good to know his pain has eased, as it could have lingered for weeks and shingles pain can be very persistent.

Luckily, a shingles attack is commonly only suffered once. Don't think anyone would want to go through that experience again. Both the suffer and carer.

You have done a great job caring and supporting your man. Wish you both all the best

E

Thank you Esther , unfortunately he is still suffering from pain and now has been prescribed some Amitriptyline 25 mg tablets which did nothing for the pain but knocked him for hours. He is only taking two a day otherwise he would not be awake. They are very strong,

I have been looking into L-Lysine tablets , almost ordered some from Amazon but then backed out as I am afraid of ordering something fake, you do hear of such things. I am hoping to ask on here about these L-Lysine and Shingles.

Thanks for your good wishes. This is a good site for putting peoples minds at rest. My GP recommended it to me.

I thought I would update you all. We are now well into our 4th week and soon will be 5th. Hubby is still in agony and yes still has the odd spot that is weeping but the main rash is there but not so prominent. I went to the local Heath Store to get the L-lysine tablets. These are 1000 mg and he is having one a day. He hasonly started them today so cannot blame the pain on them.He is taking one Amitriptyline 25mg tablet every 12hours, they are as good as useless as far as easing the pain is concerned.I went to Boots the chemist today and spoke to the pharmacist and he said there is a cream that can be prescribed butonly on prescription and it is very expensive. If someone is suffering I dont think money comes into it. When will someone come up with the answer after all this is the 21st Century.

Absolutely come to the end of knowing what to do.

I wish there was more I could do other than just offer you words of support ...

You are doing a great job of taking care of your husband. Stay strong! You may not see it yet, but he will get better and his pain will ease.

thank you Esther de your words mean a great deal.