Coffee relieves deep shingles pain.

Posted , 7 users are following.

I am recently diagnosed with shingles. After five nearly sleepless nights due to deep constant excruciating pain followed by nearly pain free days, I have a strong suspicion that coffee has been relieving my pain every morning. This morning when my pain went away while drinking my first cup of coffee, I realized that this has been the pattern for the last five days. My pain has begun everyday in mid to late afternoon and gets worse until by bedtime I cannot sleep. Then after I have my coffee in the morning I am able to go to sleep. This morning I even started to fall asleep before I'd finished my coffee. So what is it about coffee that relieves the pain? -- the caffeine, the tannins, or something else.

This afternoon, when the pain begins, I'll try a cup of decaf and if that doesn't keep the pain away I'll try full strength.

Will let y'all know the results.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? I welcome any comments or tales of similar experiences you might have.

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • Posted

    i got over the shingles. it was extremely painful, but, now i have thromopenia

    it is a immune desease that attacks plalets. i think i got this sickness because of shingles. it saids that you can get any sickness because your immune system is low. wow! now i have to worry about my plalets going to low . i hope that coffee works for you and that you are all better soon

    • Posted

      Dear Mary,

      It may be you have an autoimmune disease such as thrombocytopenia that triggered the shingles, not the other way around.

      Also, there are certain medications that cause a low platelet counts.

      Two types of medications that can cause low platelets are ARB-Angiotensin Receptor Blockers and ACE I, both of which are BP medications.

      Best Wishes

      Merry Juliana

  • Posted

    I this is sheer coincidence unless your shingles are in your mouth. Some people get relief from heat or cold. Or you've had a less severe case of shingles and you are starting to get better. But if you think it works, go with that.

    • Posted

      Whatever this update patient.info did, it doesn't work well at all with iPads! i cant change my typo above.it should have said, "I think"....

    • Posted

      This is not coincidence and people need to manage by fact instead of speculating and commenting on something they know nothing about. I currently have shingles (for 2 weeks now) and the top half of my body feels like hell. I have also been waking up in the night with the sheer pain. However, I noticed the same thing as Martha in the sense that every afternoon I always go out for a change of scenery and have a coffee. Prior to the coffee I feel pretty rough but after I feel OK. Every day. That's not a coincidence. The problem is that come night time when the coffee starts wearing off the pains start returning, ready for bed.

      After a bit of googling it turns out the caffeine is responsible for the pain relief. How's that for coincidence?!

  • Posted

    Well, I did drink a cup of decaf at bedtime, but I still got the deep pain during the night around 10 or 11. The pain was not quite as intense as previous nights, though, so I get a little off-and-on sleep. 4 AM I fixed my coffee and by the time I had finished it, my pain was gone. So is it the coffee or is it some exaggerated effects of my circadian rhythm?

    We'll see what happens tonight.

  • Posted

    Well, last night I didn't wait so long to have a cup of coffee. My pain was really bad at 11:30pm, so by midnight I was drinking my coffee. Pain was gone and had fallen asleep before I finished my coffee. So do you still think it's a coincidence? What else should I try to rule out as the cause of my pain being relived when I drink coffee?

    BTW, Babs, my shingles are around the middle part of my rib cage, not in my mouth.

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