Anyone had Shingles on their face/head?
Posted , 79 users are following.
I was diagnosed as having Shingles on Friday at the doctors. I started itching on my forehead Tues night and by the next day my forehead had all red marks on it? I didn't realise you can get shingles on your face?
I have had horrible pain on/off since, swelling on my eyebrow and jawline near my ears?
Anyone else had this? How long will it last? Also should I be off work with it?
Appeciate any advice please
8 likes, 309 replies
clive63734 Schumacher13
Posted
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I've had shingles on my face and at the back of my eye since November 2016 and I am still in pain with no sign of abating.My other problem is I suffer very restless arms ,so bad that I can't sleep at night,and I would like to know if anybody else has had this problem
Merry19451 clive63734
Posted
I am so sorry you are still suffering with this.
While I do not have your specific disorder, Restless Leg Syndrome increases with those patients having Herpes Zoster-Shingles in the Sacrum. It makes sense for you to experience the same in your arms.
As you still are having pain in your eye and restless arms that interfere with your sleep, have you seen a neurologist? There are specific medications to deal with Post Herpetic Neuralgia PHN and the limb movement disorder.
I have recurrent Herpes Zoster-Shingles every three to five weeks in my right ear and twice in my right eye for the past twenty years.
I am a Nurse Practitioner in the US.
There might be an excellent neurologist attached to a University able to help find the correct medications tapered to the right dose for the restless arms and PHN.
Best wishes
Merry Juliana
Jane1618 clive63734
Posted
clive63734 Jane1618
Posted
Mine started in November last year and the itch around my eye drives me crazy ,the only remedy is either E45 Anti itch cream which I rub on my eyelid and around my eyebrow ,but please be careful you don't get it in your eye.The other remedy is would you belife a little bit of spit gently rubbed again round your eye.I hope this is helpful
Jane1618 clive63734
Posted
clemence70453 Schumacher13
Posted
I had Shingles outbreak 3 weeks ago and it was on the left side of my face and forehead. The first 2 days, you ll start seeing tiny bumps that look like fluid filled sacs. Your skin will also start to burn and a rash will gradually appear. The pain is pretty intense and the number of lesions will multiply. If you take anti virals medication early, the virus will not multiply and infect other areas.
Unfortunately for me, I started medication on the this day and it was a little late. My entire face broke out in lesions and the pain was excruciating. I ve finished one week s course of anti viral med and the shingles has subsided. However, I am experiencing numbness and itch on the left side. i wonder if any of you out there get this too! It s driving me crazy and there s no medication to provide relief.
Am 29 and was really puzzled that I got such a severe outbreak of shingles. It really is the sh*ttiest thing ever that has happened to me!
Merry19451 clemence70453
Posted
Hi Clemence,
I am sorry you are going through this too. Many of us were not "elderly" when we started with Herpes Zoster-Shingles. I was 45 years old and am now 65 years and have had it in my right ear every three to five weeks for the past twenty years.
My suggestion for the itching is to purchase OTC LIDOCAINE or BENZOCAINE Cream, the highest percentage, and apply topically to the lesions once they have completed scabbed over or closed. This will help numb the itching. The numb feeling should resolve, but that will involve tincture of time. It depends on how severe the inflammation was on the layers of skin was.
Some people have tried antihistamines such as Benadryl and claim that they do not relieve the itching. Also, you cannot drive, or function when taking the sedating antihistamines.
You can try cold compresses on your face to reduce the itching.
If this is a persistent problem, I would seek the advice of a Physician.
Are you having any pain, now, or has that resolved? Did the Herpes Zoster-Shingles affect your vision? Are you having any symptoms of fatigue, exhaustion, malaise, or headache? Sometimes, these symptoms can persist long after the rash is gone.
Please let me know if I can help you.
I am a Nurse Practitioner in the US.
Best regards
Merry Juliana
DeathByPrilosec Schumacher13
Posted
I was stressed to the point of having a breakdown, finally out of a very abusive relationship. Went to work, a few hours later I was knocked to the floor from an excruciating electro-convulsive pain that felt like all of the teeth on my lower right side were being drilled w/o Novocain... almost like the cluster migraines I used to get behind one eye, except the pain was several times over worse and coming from each of 6 teeth. Having no reference to anything like this, in my panicked insane from pain brain I concluded it had to be some type of cancer, which added terror to the turmoil. Had to be taken home, and was temp. staying with my parents at the time. They were very old school, my father a former marine so taking meds were considered a "weakness", so their medicine cabinet was well stocked with opioid pain meds that were never taken. Went through several bottles of oxycontin, percs, etc. they made the pain just bearable enough to keep me from screaming out loud. All that was left was gabapentin, which didn't help the pain but was amusing when I notice I was able to interact with my "other-self" I was seeing on the tv screen...This was less than a two day period...
Finally went to hospital when the meds ran out and the whole right side of my face had swollen up looking like an over-inflated football (american) about to burst. They did an MRI, admitted they had no clue, admitted me and stated they were sending for a specialist (their advertising claimed having them on call 24/7, took him 5 days to show up...) started administering massive doses of anti-biotics, and even on the frequent heavy doses of demerol I was screaming out in pain whether conscious or not. By the next day the blisters became visible, and my face literally split wide open from the corner of my mouth up to the lower portion of my ear. By the nest morning the top of my ear where it attaches to my head had separated a good 1/2 inch and fluids were oozing from every opening.
The night of day 4 after a good size injection of demerol, I was able to form a sentence, sort of, telling the "Dr" that the pain almost reminded me of how it felt when I had previously had "shingles" around my waist, like every sore someone was burning me with lit cigars and cigarettes, radiating as though it was electrified. (Of course I mentioned the shingles thing when first admitted, and was told, "Well, you only get shingles once!"
After saying that the expression on his face was like a light went off, "hm-mm, you might be on to something there..."
Next thing I knew the anti-biotics were switched out with Valcyclovir...
Morning of day 5 the "specialist" showed up, took one look and agree with "my" diagnosis, which the "Dr." tried to take credit for, and I made sure he didn't get it!
Day six, it had reached the outer corner of my rt eye before the spread finally stopped. I was "lucky" I didn't lose my right eye...
They sent me home after that, even though I was at my worst, guess my insurance had reached it's limit. Went in for them to check on things two days later, telling them something was wrong with my ear (besides the face it had become detached from my scalp) couldn't hear much and sounded like it was full of spiderwebs. Finally after complaining about it for over a week, and his only response was that it looked "unusually white" inside, they referred me to an ENT, he took one look and exclaimed it was full of fungus (yeast infection) from all the unnecessary anti-biotics.
The next morning my eardrum had ruptured, every time I breathed my ear screeched like a coaches whistle, spewing out fluid everywhere. It was another week or more before any healing began. After they scabbed over for a day or two I woke up and was unable to move the entire right side of my face... Thought it must be a stroke, but was "Bells Palsy", couldn't speak clearly, eat or drink w/o stuff falling out of my mouth. This went on for almost a month, then woke up one day and it was "unfrozen", which apparently is not typical and that I was a very lucky man...
The following year was spent having 6 reconstructive surgeries at the cost of $10,000, fighting the insurance co. about it not being "cosmetic" (I was only 34 at the time) and to this day, I will have an occasional tremor of pain run through my face, but almost constantly feel a sensation like bugs running up and down the side of my face...
Little did I know at the time my medical problems were far from over, thanks to having been on 40mg a day of the "purple pill" in the first several years of 2000...
Merry19451 DeathByPrilosec
Posted
Dear Death by Prilosec,
I am sorry you went this...You did not have Bell's Palsy, BTW. You had Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which is Herpes Zoster-Shingles Oticus (Ear, ) . It causes the paralysis of your facial nerve. I understand more than you know, the excruciating pain, ear drum rupture, no diagnosis.. for weeks etc.... I literally wanted to cut out my inner ear and brain a la Vincent Van Gogh. I get recurrent Herpes Zoster-Shingles every three to five weeks in my right ear for the past twenty years and twice in my right eye.
Best wishes
Merry Juliana
DeathByPrilosec Merry19451
Posted
There are three variants of Ramsay Hunt, mine was a pretty rare case that started it the nerves of the lower teeth, the inferior alveolar nerve, a branch of the mandibular nerve, which is itself the third branch of the trigeminal nerve. All my lower right teeth felt like they were being drilled simultaneously without novacain non-stop for almost 5 days before the blistering appeared and spread to the ear and eye area. The pain was so severe even on iv Demerol my screams of pain were neverending. I was in hospital for almost two weeks, the Dr.'s believe I also had viral encephalitis from it as well. And another odd note was that the facial paralysis didn't occur until a month later after healing had began, which is pretty much the reverse of most cases. Actually the "Bells Palsy" term is used for several variations of having facial paralysis, and if you do a search many clinics consider "Ramsay Hunt" to be the Herpes Zoster induced variant of the palsy. You are a stronger soul than myself, not sure I could go 20 years with recurrent shingles of any type! I did have small patches of it three times prior on other areas of the body, and twice I am almost positive I was having a new outbreak in the neck and chin area, and believe it or not whatever it was I managed to stop it at just one or two blisters after applying "new skin liquid bandage" on it. And if you think the shingles pain is bad, when that stuff hit it the jolt of pain almost knocked me to the floor and I was dancing around screaming for a few minutes afterward! People often doubt it was shingles again and that this worked, but when you know that pain it is kind of unique and you don't soon forget it, almost like being burned with a cigar and feeling severe sharp electric like jolts of continous pain shooting through you. Maybe the new skin pain was like ten fold over and short circuited those nerves! Even after all the reconstructive surgery I have some scarring but no paralysis, although fairly regularly that whole side of my face has a sensation like bugs crawling all over the areas affected. An interesting note is my Mother told me my case of chicken pox was so mild there were only like 3 spots, I guess all the rest were in hiding waiting to get more bang for their buck! My eardrum rupture occured almost 2 months after, it was most likely due to the needless IV I was on of anti-biotics, my body as overrun with fungal/yeast infections from being on it. And my female friends found it comforting to realize men can get yeast infections also!
mike53575 Schumacher13
Posted
Jane1618 mike53575
Posted
Merry19451 mike53575
Posted
Please see a Physician today and get diagnosed and treated. Herpes Zoster-Shingles can occur on both sides of the body.
As you have deep nerve pain, I doubt it is anything. The sooner you go, the sooner you start the Antivirals. Also ask for an Opioid for pain relief.
Please let me know how you make out.
I am a Nurse Practitioner in the US and have had Herpes Zoster-Shingles every three to five weeks in my right ear for the past twenty years and twice in my right eye.
Best wishes
Merry Juliana
Merry19451
Posted
The sentence should have read: I doubt it is anything else.
Now go see a doctor now!
Please!
Merry Juliana
DeathByPrilosec Jane1618
Posted
Most often it's only one side, but it can be on both, usually in those with a weakened immune system or other underlieing condition Just as most people will only get it once but there are exceptions especially if the immune system is involved.
samir1978 Merry19451
Posted
Hi Merry,
I read many of your replies to the forum members and some of these had your own suffering from shingles and I'm realy sorry for all you had to go through.
I just got shingles this week and badly need expert advice , my doctor seema trust worthy but I learned that people experiences are just as valuable specially if its a medical professional.
I have posted my questions in a new post , please give me some answrs and many thanks for any help you can give.
Regards
Samir