Shingles 3 times this year Dr says not shingles.

Dear Hoxo,

First, my deep condolences to you on the loss of your father. I appreciate the enormous stress and difficult time you have been experiencing.

Shingles causes agonizing pain that you have felt three times, now.

As the physicians have marginalized you and shown their abysmal ignorance regarding the disease, I would find another, better Physician.

I am proof that Shingles reoccurs, as I have had Shingles in my right ear every three to five weeks for the past twenty one years and twice in my right eye. My antibodies for Herpes Zoster-Shingles and Herpes Simplex were tested. The IgG past (infection) and IgM ( recent infection) were positive for Herpes Zoster-Shingles, and negative for Herpes Simplex.

Only if you have an infection with fluid can a physician scrape the vesicle-blisters and send for a PCR. This is the most accurate test to delineate between Zoster and Simplex.

The antibody test is trickier as most people,> 90 % , have Herpes Simples Type I, (cold sores), and thus is not as sensitive. Timing is also crucial as the acute phase IgM antibody is difficult to time just right due to its short duration.

An astute clinician should be able to make the diagnosis based on the symptoms; lancinating pain, vesicle-blisters type rash, usually unilateral, and the accompanying symptoms. These symptoms precede the pain and rash, then can continue with the pain and rash. The accompanying symptoms include headache, photophobia, lymph node enlargement, aches and pains, chills and sweating, fatigue and exhaustion.

Please Google the high Lysine low Arginine diet. Please stop eating nuts and legumes! I was eating cashews, walnuts, pistachios, etc, for cardiac health, not realizing they were contributing to the frequency and severity of pain with my shingles episodes. When I stopped the nuts and legumes, the episodes have slowly diminished and pain has decreased enormously.

I hope you have strong analgesics so that you do not get Post Herpetic Neuropathy PHN.

You didn't mention your age, or other pre-existing conditions.

Depending on your age, other medical conditions ie, IBS, Psoriasis,ITP, Sjogrens, SLE, RA, Corticosteroid medications, immunotherapy, cancer, DM, you are more prone to Shingles. Also, the nuts and legumes, plus extraordinary stress you are experiencing is a huge factor.I would cease and desist with the nuts, for four months, and see what happens.

Please find an excellent physician you can trust.

I hope I have helped you.

I am a Nurse Practitioner in the States.

My heart goes out to you.

Best Wishes

Merry Juliana

Thank you Juliana for your very comprehensive and kind reply. I am a 49 year old female in UK with a long history of autoimmune thyroid disease (Graves then acquired hypothyroidism) B12 deficiency and chronic fatigue. I have found better health since taking matters into my own hands regarding my thyroid medications and dosage and treatment for B12 deficiency. I am sure this recent health setback is stress ( and maybe nut!) related. The pain from the last shingles outbreak is reducing gradually - the pain is worse at night and when I wake up and seems better througout the day - but I still feel very tired and fluey. I have all those symptoms you list except this time no rash.  I know I need to try and take care of myself better in order to care for my husband. I will definitely stay off the nuts. I was eating a good handful each day for last few months to try and increase my intake of good fats. This is a great tip which I will try. Thank you so much for replying.