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new to site, new to phn

Posted , 3 users are following.

imsak
imsak

hello and thank you for having me here.  as a point of reference i am 52 years old.  i had shingles of my right eye about a month ago.  thankfully my family dr. referred me to an opthalmologist when i visited him for eye pain as he suspected shingles.  i am fortunate that i have not had any vision loss and it has not affected my eye.  once the blisters were gone i started to experience a lot of itchiness and a sensation on the affected areas that is hard to describe to people.  i don't necessarily have any pain except right above my eye socket and sometimes in my eye.  at my last opthalmic visit i explained to my dr. what i was experiencing.  he recommended i speak to my family dr.  i was diagnosed with phn and his plan was to start me on prednisone (40 mg to start and then wean over 2 weeks) and then revisit to see how i felt.  he mentioned possibly putting me on gabapentin or lyrica.  i am on day 4 of the pred and there have been a couple of days where i did not experience the sensations as often but today was not one of them.  i have definitely have had a hard time sleeping as it keeps me awake.  i feel like something is constantly touching my face or there is something crawling on it.  the right side of my face is sensitive to touch.  i sometimes hold the back of my hand on my eye (which drives my co workers crazy lol) but in a strange way it helps alleviate some of the sensations.  i also use an ice pack on my face as it helps.  

i have been reading a lot of the discussions and appreciate any information everyone is providing.  

thanks again SO very much for "listening" because it feels good to know that other people can truly relate to what i am experiencing.

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Jane1618
    Jane1618 imsak

    Posted

    I definitely know what you are going through, as i had shingles in my eye, on my head and forehead and have PHN. I have had it for almost a year as I got shingles last March!! I have no pain except now and again my head feels a bit more tender on the right side, but it's the itching that is bad every day, mostly in the eye socket, but at night I get irritation if i lie on that side in bed, and my forehead starts ti itch! If i rub my eye a lot it then feels sore, I use eyedrops that I have on prescription, no preservatives in those, I also have gel in a tube that I put in my eye at night but apart from that I use nothing eles as my Dr said there is nothing to gain from pills now that the shingles is over ( I just wish the itching and discomfort was!!) I hope you have better luck than I have, although of course I am so grateful that I have not lost vision despite a small scar on the cornea, luckily it is at the bottom of the eye and not in the middle. As you say, it is good to know we are not alone in this, and people do understand, I wish you well!

  • michael5678
    michael5678 imsak

    Posted

    Glad to know you imsak. You sound like you are doing better than most. Let me tell you about my delema if you are willing to endure the dull relentless miandering of my situation, that I know has some feeling more fortunate, while leaving others with a sense of less then pity, because my problem is nothing compared to their situation. First of all, I would not want the shingles anywhere close to my face, let alone my eye. I am sorry you had to endure that at all. Me well, I am a male. I have a desire as always to live a life full of plesure within certain values.  I want to be happy on earth before I die. I was diagnosed with MS when I was forty. Living with this MS of a progressve nature.  On 50th bday, I got the shingles. Now four years later at 54 years old,I have this contant nagging pain on the left side of my wist spine to naval. Add the PHN for four years, plus MS since 2002. Now I can barley walk. My story is a marrige for 33 years a daughter, four dogs, getting to be seniors along with me. I have moved all my life. Everybody wants to keep moving... my dad now dead, my mother approaching 90 bless her heart, my wife that puts up with her husband who is quick to fall off the denial of disability. I use be a runner, drinker, a smoker. Not in that order of course but nevertheless I have lived envolved, entrenched in lifes moments of sheer horror to peaceful moments of bliss. Why am I tellinng you all of this? I want you to know that you are loved, as I am. I am in pain with no scientific solution to a cure. I have MS, which is more of the same. 
    • Jane1618
      Jane1618 michael5678

      Posted

      So sorry to hear about your suffering and for so long, A good family and friends are everything, I too am lucky in that way,
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