Depression with PHN?

Good For you Judy

Try adult coloring books  I find that it  keeps my

mine occupied at night when Mr Pain arrives.

Paul

Great news, Judy!  Keep up with the helpful stuff.  It inspires the rest of us.

Hi Barbara. I have had PHN now since early July.  The first 4 months were horrible.  I tried pain meds, gabapentin and Lyrica.  I didn't feel any of them were much help.  The Lyrica was outrageously expensive.  I went back to 100 mg of gabapentin for very minimal relief.  The only thing that has helped is the lidocaine 4% cream.  I had tried the 5% prescription patches (which are also expensive) and helped a little but found them messy and they fell off.  Also with repeated use they burned.  The cream is sold over the counter without a prescription.  I can finally tolerate a bra that I found at target in a very soft stretchy smooth fabric that I bought several sizes too big and used a extender so it wasn't tight around my ribs.  Better than nothing.  Can wear it 3 or 4 hours only.  At home I am topless!  I live alone at age 83.  I find distraction is the best medicine.  Yes, exercise, hobbies, socializing.  Anything that takes your mind away from the pain.  Showers are painful so they are quick affairs followed by the pain cream and Tylenol pm plus a 15mg of temazapan and I get a great nites sleep.  I find laying perfectly still at nite with a little pillow under my armpit (which for me is a really sore spot) helps.  I feel this is either getting slowly better or I am more used to it and managing it better.  I can not travel or be away from home much which is tough and truly this is life changing but thankfully I am not depressed   Hope any of these ideas work for you.  Let me know.  Ruth

Barbara,

Like you and Ruth [whose response is below] I find that distraction is probably the very best medicine.  When you are using your mind in a task that requires concentration, you may even be totally unaware of the pain. 

This site, especially the thread that I think is called "Things that work," is a good resource for pain management.  For me, Aspercreme or any topical that contains salicylate is the best.  Others find that lidocaine gels are best for them.  I decided long ago that oral meds of any kind are not what I wanted, due to side effects.  But, for some people they help, and maybe the side effects are tolerable. 

Practicing meditation or deep relaxation has helped me.  Also, practicing cognitive behavior therapy [CBT] has been extremely helpful for tolerating pain and avoiding depression and negative thinking. 

As Ruth says below, PHN does improve with time, but it is very slow.  I notice lessening in years, not days, weeks, or months.  So it's important to learn to manage it while it is slowly improving. 

Hi Ruth,

Thanks for your advise. I am going to try lidocaine on my brow. I have been very much keeping this problem to myself and just putting up with it. Perhaps I don't have it as bad some people . But like you showers have become something of an ordeal and washing my hair is quite painful so I tend not to wash it nearly as often as I did previously. I do forget about the pain for periods of time; walking the dog, socialising, gardening etc. However it is always there in the background and sometimes right up in the foreground especially in my eye and eyebrow, (although this has not affected my vision). I have never felt depressed perhaps because I have always thought that it would lessen or even go away in time.  I tried a few sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber but didn't have the opportunity to complete the course so I don't know how effective it would be.  My own feeling is that if you try and make your diet as healthy as possible and keep as fit as you are able this will go some way to relieving the symptoms. I have practised meditation for many years and perhaps this has helped me keep a fairly positive attitude but I can really understand how this condition can get you down. I try to live each day as it comes without thinking too much about the length of time I have had this problem or what the future prospect of recovery is. In reality the past has vanished and the future doesn't exist. That's been my method of coping but if there is anything else that helps I would like to try, apart from the drugs. I have nothing against medication per se its just that  I have experienced a severe allergic reaction to a particular antibiotic and am very wary of taking anything unless it was absolutely necessary.  This site has been a bit of an eye opener for me. Thank you again for responding to my post.  Barbara   

Hi Charlie ,

I have a bit naive and didn't realise that my communication to you would be made public. Obviously I would not have written my surname. I would feel more comfortable if this was removed. I do appreciate your advise and think the forum is a really positive idea. thank you again

Barbara,

I'm just a patient like you, so I do not have the ability to remove your surname.  Sorry. 

Yes, your area of PHN sounds the same as mine.  Eye, eyebrow, forehead, and a bit of the scalp.  Washing hair is painful, but I just bear it.  Try the lidocaine, and also the Aspercreme.  I find Aspercreme to work better for me. 

Ruth;

I have the PHN from the chest to the back. I was taking the gabapentin 100 and it did not help. My doctor bumped it up to bigger doses less frequently and that helps. It does not really reduce the sensitivity of my skin, but it keeps the muscles under the skin from firing and causing pain that way. I now take gabapentin 600, 3x a day, spaced 6 hours apart.

glad it's working for you. I tried Lyrica and then Gabapentin. Both stopped after a period of time. I too had shingles from navel to spine, that was August of 2008. I find creams with 4% Lidocaine work best for me.

That's a lot of gabapentin. Do you have side effects??  I currently am taking 100 mg 3x a day.  Doesn't help, no side effects yet.  Only help so far is the 4% lidocaine.

Hi Barbara

I have PHN on the right side of the head that causes me constant headache. It's felt as if it was inside the head. Now in my second year. I haven't tried any of the creams or patches I've heard about in this site because I can't see how to apply the creams because of hair. Ho do you apply it, rub it in to the scalp with finger tips? Is that enough? I mean if I had PHN in the chest and side I can see how the cream and patches would work, but not in the scalp. I see also you tried the hyperbaric chamber. I did that actually before I had the PHN and was wondering if that had somehow caused the herpes zoster to arise - the chamber is very intense in the way it affects the body. I was wondering if anybody here had had hyperbaric chamber treatment before the PHN appeared. So I take Gabapentin and it helps a bit, the pain is still there but I feel better about it. Sometimes I feel it's very effective because I'm aware of the pain in one part of the head but it's sort of sealed off from the rest of the head and I don't feel it. I'm saying this because you may want to know how others feel about it and as a last resort you could try it. I also do meditation and study Theravadin Buddhism, have been doing that for a number of years. It helps in the sense that you know better how to rationalise the situation of constant pain. I felt I recognised that quality that in something you said.

No side effects for me. I had been taking the same total dose using the 100's. Something is different about the 600's I can't explain, but the relief was noticable.

Ruth, this may sound weird, but shower with a light soft bra on, like a Jockey sporties racerback crop bra. It will help protect some of those sensitive areas and you might enjoy a more normal shower. Then apply the cream after the shower. Hope this helps.

Thanks, I'll try that.  I found a really soft bra at Target made by Hanes with a super stretchy soft band that I can tolerate for short excursions and I will try that in the shower.

that sounds like a good idea. Unfortunately my affected area is well below where a bra is. it's closer to my waist and under my ribs

you might try a shapeware tank top. That would cover that area.