Shingles??? General help needed 😊

Posted , 3 users are following.

Hiya people 

Brief outline 

Help please ?? from April 2017 I knew that I gained weight decided to do follow healthy diet stuck to it a well named diet too no silly ways or anything  got to August 2017 my job involved lots of walking but also May to August I decided to do Zumba and boxercise as a enjoyment not for weight loss. September 2017 came well I just went ill as tired can’t be bothered just generally run down achy legs , appiete was funny aswell nausea aswell perhaps the food I didn’t eat enough fair play naughty me I love me food anyway since the beginning of sept I have been off work feeling awful with the above feelings blood test came back vitamin D down ok tablets all good apart from that seem to be working now  feel good  also been asked 5 time seeing doctors am I pregnant no 3 tests negative so no on that last Friday I noticed a ache in my left breast was painful went to our walk in centre explained all they said viral leading up to Friday 6th October so now a week ago I had terrible ache in my chest aswell as my breast went to my right breast abit  couldn’t sleep a few nights now I have a hot burn in my left top of my back like a hot fire feeling and achy and armpits glands are up more to the left but occasionally the right one I have bottom back ache at times the pains go away not the fire pain on the bottom of the back Just ache tho don’t think doctors believes this pain got told am stressed why am I stressed but my skins like dry occasionally staby pains in my sides and i had the flu jab reaction maybe ? and cause I been off i haven’t done much just achy muscles maybe  I Just wondered any idea people sooo sorry it’s long xx

1 like, 14 replies

14 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi loulou.

    It sounds very much like shingles to me. I started with shingles in June 2016. It began with an ache in my side - as though I'd pulled a muscle. 24/48 hours later I developed awful flu-like symptoms. It was t until 4/5 days later that I felt a rash on my side whilst having my shower and suspected I'd got shingles. I got an emergency appointment with my GP straight away and they confirmed shingles and put me on antivirals immediately.

    I suggest that you go back to your doctor urgently and tell him or her that you suspect you've got shingles. Doctors quite often don't pick shingles up because the symptoms are often atypical. Also, if you've never had nerve pain, you have no point of reference to understand what it's like.

    If you have shingles, you need to be on a 7 day course of antivirals IMMEDIATELY. The virus needs to be knocked on the head as quickly as possible in order to avoid post-herpetic neuralgia, which can be excruciating. 

    Hope you you manage to get it sorted quickly.

    Best wishes,

    David

     

    • Posted

      Hi David 

      Thankyou very much for your reply 😊I am back at my doctors today I keep getting fobbed off saying it nothing I am not a great fan of being unwell like most people aren’t but nobody will listen to me 🙄

  • Posted

    Dear Loulou,

    What you are describing sounds like "Zoster Sine Herpete" or Shingles without the Rash.

    If you have been having malaise, aches and pains, headache, then a hot burning ring going around one half your torso, that is Shingles without the Rash.

    Go to a different Physician, and tell them what you suspect. Demand Antivirals for 7 days.

    Ask for Valcyclovir or Famciclovir.

    Physicians can be abysmally ignorant in diagnosing Zoster Sine Herpete. Some don't believe it exists... It does. The sooner it is treated, the better, as the Antivirals stops the virus from replicating.

    Please let us know what is going on.

    I am a Nurse Practitioner in the States and have had Herpes Zoster-Shingles in my right ear every three to five weeks for the past twenty one years and twice in my right eye.

    Best Wishes

    Merry Juliana

    • Posted

      Hiya Merry

      I went back to the doctors yesterday and he didn’t believe anything he said there no such thing  you don’t look at the Internet he said  (I had a look for myself as I know I am right ) you should trust  doctors 9 times I have been between doctors and our walk in centre am in the stage where I have had the flu symptoms the burning back on fire left side it was with like a pulled muscle feeling and it’s now over the front of my tummy and up my back burning it is and my glands ache  at the side he couldn’t find any lumps or bumps on my glands thought I was stupid or I lost my mind  I have trouble wearing my bra cuz it’s hurts on the side.

      Thanks.

      Lou.

       

  • Posted

    Hi merry 

    Meant to add the doctor doesn’t believe me and he gave me a prescription for an anti depressant tablet cuz I think he thinks am crackers and that will settle me down to sleep no one will listen to me and he doesn’t believe cause there no rash 😞 x

    • Posted

      I am so sorry to read this loulou. Are you able to go to a different doctor? 'Depression' is a classic symptom of shingles! The first time I had it my 'mood' was through the floor: I didn't know what had hit me. I felt as though things would never be any different.

      Please seek the advice of another doctor. If necessary, go to your A&E. Insist on antivirals. 

      Also, I believe that there is a blood test for shingles, although I don't know much about it and I believe it can be hit and miss.

      Hope you get some relief soon!

  • Posted

    Hiya David 

    I feel like am wasting there time my moods have been awful crying low snappy my poor partner he has put up with a lot these fast few weeks. I may have to result in going to A&E but it’s sad your doctor won’t listen you have to go to hospital 🙄 x

    • Posted

      If you feel anything like I did the first time I had shingles, you'll be feeling dreadful. Apart from the initial fluy feeling, my shingles themselves were mild. I've had a number of recurrences, but never felt quite like I did the first time. And I was exhausted! I would suddenly feel all my energy just drain away and I just had to stop and sit or lie down.

      The concern, if you've not been prescribed antivirals, is post herpetic neuralgia. But it sounds like you might be experiencing that already. 

      Please consider A&E. And consider making a formal complaint about your doctor. It's well documented that you don't always have a rash with shingles. Goodness! He only needs to use Google!

      Take care.

  • Posted

    Hi David 

    My symptoms were full of energy then I just dropped to nothing click of a finger it was like  then tiredness came on couldn’t  be bothered feeling couldn’t move off the sofa for a week and abit felt sick faint lightheaded hot sweats shakes headache aches and pains no appiete then the burning pains began but I also felt like I pulled a muscle in my back or like my neck  just terrible ordeal.

    • Posted

      ...in other words, all the symptoms of shingles, including post herpetic neuralgia, without the rash!

      I can well imagine that you don't have the energy or the fight at the moment to engage a non-listening medical profession. Would your partner go with you and argue your case? Or is there a friend who would accompany you.

      Maybe write down the medical term - Zoster Sine Herpete - and suggest that the doctor looks it up. The condition is actually on the GP online notebook - gpnotebook.co.uk. I'll try and message you the link as this website won't allow me to put it in the body of a reply.

    • Posted

      I have a reply awaiting moderation because I tried to point you to a partilcuar we site - GP Notebook. You'll find GP Notebook if you google and then search for Zoster Sine Herpete.

      Indeed, if you search Zoster Sine Herpete on this website - patient info - you'll find 716 references - many of them 'professional'.

      You might want to draw your doctor's attention to the body of information that is readily available and tell him that, if he doesn't start responding properly to your medical needs, you will lodge a formal complaint. He has a professional duty of care, which isn't negated by his own ignorance on a particular subject.

      Maybe ask to speak to the Practice Manager in the first instance.

  • Posted

    Ok.

    I will await it to come thought cheers David 👍

  • Posted

    Hey Guys 

    Just to let you know I had abit of a calm day from my aches and pain woohoo on Tuesday then by Tuesday late afternoon I had an ache in my arm and my  nerves were playing up kept thinking what is it then by the night time the top of my right shoulder was itchy and burning like mad and up popped the nasty rash 😞 it burned so bad now am sore on both tops of my shoulders and my back is achy when this rash appeared all was achy back my sides legs and even my ear was even vibrating anyone heard of this or am I going mad ??

    • Posted

      I don't know about the vibrating in the ear, but everything else sounds classic.

      Please ask for an emergency appointment with your doctor and wipe the floor with him! You are now prime target for serious post herpetic neuralgia, which might have been avoided had he treated you seriously in the first place!

      I suspect that, even now, a course of antivirals will help. But you may well need meds for nerve pain. Don't let him fob you off with paracetamol. I have codeine and Amitriptyline. 

      Take care.

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