discomfort with shingles
Posted , 5 users are following.
Good morning everyone just a question is it possible after 2 weeks of Having shingles with no rash to continuously itch and have the burning sensation I've been on 3 different meds to calm the burning, pain and antiviral medicine not sure if it's really working because the itching from left front rib to back rib cage left side however it's just frustrating because the pain hits you from out of nowhere the burning sensation is there throughout the day in the itching is constant speak to me someone.
0 likes, 20 replies
yvonne34003 timmeka_09561
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timmeka_09561 yvonne34003
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Have been taking Tramadol to ease the pain which relaxes me for a few hours however I go back to work Monday so I have to figure out what I can take because I'm a bus driver however my question is does these Sensations last as long as I am experiencing
Merry19451 timmeka_09561
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If you have no allergies to medication, kidney, or liver problems, take Motrin alternating with Tylenol.
Where is the pain located? If the pain is still a problem, and you work all day, can you get additional sick time. The best thing for Herpes Zoster-Shingles is rest.. .
Merry Juliana
timmeka_09561 Merry19451
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Its an irritated itchy and burning feeling left side rib cage front and back, and yes I do work throughout the day bus driver however I don't want to be on any meds if my job decide to send me on a random and a whole bunch of explaining have to go on about my life history in my business to unfamiliar people
Merry19451 timmeka_09561
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I certainly understand that...your health is private and privileged information....just take care of yourself....this disease can have a mind of its own...
Best regards
Merry Juliana
Jericho58 timmeka_09561
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I am not that familiar with cases of shingles where people don't have the rash but know it is very painful and also that many people go for long periods of time without being diagnosed correctly. It sounds like you were diagnosed very early on which helped because you were able to start your medications. Most of what I know, I learned on the Internet. People will tell you not to believe everything you read but you can learn a lot and it seems that doctors are pretty stumped and don't comprehend the pain and feeling of anxiety that accompanies the shingles. I went to a dermatologist when I was first diagnosed. I trust her and she was very understanding and knowledgeable about this disease. Who diagnosed your case?
It is very normal to have pain and itching for over two weeks. I still have occasional pain and weird sensations, like something is crawling on my arm, and it's been six weeks since I was diagnosed. Have you tried taking 4 Advil or Tylenol for the pain? That helped me and didn't cause the problems with pain pills and constipation.
I felt like I was going crazy for the first couple of weeks. I basically sat in a chair and cried. I was very sensitive to heat and we live in Texas so that's a big problem in July and August. I wish I had something more encouraging to share except to promise you that "this too shall pass." I will pray for you to have a quick and complete healing. Sometimes it just helps to know that someone cares??
Merry19451 Jericho58
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Jericho,
I'm sorry that you went through that experience. I agree that many health care providers, but not all, can't comprehend the agonizing pain of Herpes Zoster-Shingles.
Some of us have more empathy and use our imagination until we have suffered in life as we well.
Now that I have had Herpes Zoster-Shingles in my right ear every three to five weeks for the past twenty years, and twice in my right eye, I did not underestimate my compassion.
I don't think I remember you on this forum, but I apologize if I missed you, as I try to respond to everyone.
The Sun has ris
The Sun has set
And we ain't out of Texas yet...🌞
Best wishes
Merry Juliana
Nurse Practitioner
timmeka_09561 Jericho58
Posted
Good morning and you're absolutely right and I sure appreciate your wisdom and kind information they put me on Valtrex which is a antiviral medication and tramadol for pain. I am very blessed to not be ashamed and scared too let my doctors know what's going on with my body and to have people with the same symptoms understand where I'm coming from with these uncomfortable feelings
timmeka_09561 Merry19451
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Good evening I joined this forum within the last two weeks once I was diagnosed with the same symptoms however I'm happy I did I'm getting more information day by day on how it works symptoms diagnosis medications and trying to see what works best I need to know do it go away on its own do it have its own course it take or is it more medication or different medication I should be taking
Merry19451 timmeka_09561
Posted
Dear Timmeka,
Unfortunately, these different sensations can go on for months. The better it is controlled the first month, the less likely it will continue into a chronic state known as Post Herpetic Neuralgia PHN. That is why you need to be assertive with your physician if the burning searing pain doesn't start to improve after three weeks and a half or so. You are still in the very acute stage, rash or no rash. I am just glad they diagnosed you without the rash. Oftentimes, the physician fails to make the diagnosis.
I hope this helps.
Merry Juliana
timmeka_09561 Merry19451
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Great information thanks very much I sure appreciate it because I was starting to worry that this could be something different because there's no rash
Hone timmeka_09561
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Hi --the rule seems to be the older you are the longer it takes and goes on. 50-60 and usually 3 months, 60-70 and you can be looking at 6-12 months. As the nerves are subcutaneous (ie below skin) topical applications can assist healing only deal with symptoms. For itching it is trial and error: try patches, anti-allergy pills, prednisone, aloevera gell (can be useful for about 2 hours) etc etc. PHN symptoms are not a 'new' phenom once shingles rash goes --PHN starts the minute the virus hits the nerve route. The docs tell you take anti-viral within 72 hours etc but the medical research says actually no real benefit of anti-virals on shingles progression or development of PHN. It is random and variable. The itching waxes and wanes duing the day usually bad 6-8pm and 11-1pm I have found...just got to put up with it and 'do your time' as they say. No rash is very good so check your age bracket and expect the worse.
timmeka_09561 Hone
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Great information I do not have rash however I am 38 and that's what worries me the most as much as we want to accept things for what the doctor say they are it's hard to accept when at one moment you can be completely healthy and the next thing you know minor peeps come out and it can sometimes worry you mentally
Hone timmeka_09561
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timmeka_09561 Hone
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Merry19451 Hone
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While it is true that some younger individuals do not have as much pain, it certainly is not true for everyone. What is true is many clinicians/physicians are far more ignorant re the disease than many of the patients.
I hope you are feeling better. I wish more research was devoted to helping individuals with this disease. I know the new vaccine Shingrex for Herpes Zoster-Shingles should be hopefully approved by the FDA this year. Whether it can contain this virus that is already recurring in many us far too often remains to be seen.
Best wishes
Merry Juliana
Hone Merry19451
Posted
No no you are wrong. What you say is what the doctors spout but they do not know. The paper and others show conclusively that taking anti-virals is no more effective than taking a placebo. One cannot stop herpes virus or PHN from developing. They 'think' by taking antivirals it helps not prevent but shorten pain duration and PHN duration BUT THEY DO NOT KNOW because they have yet to undertand is nerve damage is inflammation or scarring or over activation or what. To test for all this they would need to keep the trial survey factors stable for age, gender, infection and underlying conditions which they can't do as too difficult. Because the viral impacts in terms of pain intensity and duration are so variable for each person they just lump in what they think is going on in terms of trends: ie the older you are the longer it takes and past 75+ you likely won't recover for years with PHN.
You can asses this yourself but in order to know if antivirals were effective you would need to take same person and duplicate the conditions both at Time T1 - ie first time they get it and without pills and Time T2 - with pills second time. Problem is people do not always get two occurrences of shingles - some do and some don not.
Ask your doctor if he has read study below and others!!
6th Feb 2014 published - authors were Chen, Yang and ZHOU --look online it is free. Here is their results:
Key results and quality of the evidence
Aciclovir, which is an antiviral medicine, was used in five trials (900 participants) and was not better than a placebo (dummy pill) in preventing PHN. In the other trial (419 participants), famciclovir, which is another antiviral drug, was no better than placebo in preventing pain following healing of the shingles rash. The number of side effects with aciclovir and famciclovir was not very different from the number with placebo. The trials did not have any major problems of design or conduct that put the results in doubt, although most of the reports did not provide enough information to fully assess every aspect. We conclude that according to high quality evidence, oral aciclovir was ineffective in reducing the incidence of PHN and there is not enough evidence on other antiviral treatments. There need to be further well-designed trials of famciclovir or other new antiviral agents with a greater number of participants. Future trials should pay more attention to the severity of pain and quality of life of participants, and should include different groups of people, such as those who have lowered immunity.
timmeka_09561 Merry19451
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Hone timmeka_09561
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Merry19451 Hone
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This was a meta-analyses of research papers that were done for other reasons.
It was not a double blind, random controlled, research involving a huge population. What I am saying is it is not original research that has been replicated.
Hone Merry19451
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ok but so the collated evidence is??? The point is there is opinion out there doubteful the anti-virals do anything and I agree. I took antivirals within 24hours and whilst a swab showed up negative for shingles - how earlier could one get? Well I got the rash in 72 hours and now at 19 weeks I have the PHN still - age 66 - so my personal narrative is saying 'so much for the anti-virals, lyrica etc etc' - we can control pain to an extent (not even lyrica obliterates it) but we can't stop the virus or its damage. PHN is just the term they use for pain after 8-12 weeks post rash but anyone who has had shingles will tell you it is 'same pain I got when it started' - so that's just playing with termnology. The virus attacks nerve from day 1 and that is why you get pain. No way to stop it with anti-virals.