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Shingles in eye, extreme light sensitivity 26y/o

Posted , 7 users are following.

april66508
april66508

Long story short I just got over my first experience with shingles on my cranial nerve and face and in my eye now my eye is extremely light sensitive and it's been two weeks since I could go outside. has anybody gone through this ? How long did it take you to get over the light sensitivity ? (I've seen some threads on here everybody seems so nice any advice will help.)

Please ignore my grammar I'm using text-to-speech

Now the long story... I was sitting at my nephew's party when a horrible headache came on just a stabbing pain behind my eye every minute on the minute it never went away it just getting more intense an the next night I couldn't take it anymore so I drove myself to the ER and nobody could tell what was wrong with me and took me 4 ER trips in order to be admitted my parents at that time was not going to let me leave without getting admitted. They check me for aneurysms Strokes brain tumors the whole works I was so stressed and terrified and thankful all those tests came back negative they had me scheduled for sinus surgery the next morning because they couldn't fathom where the pain is coming from. Finally by tooth and nail they Dragged In A ophthalmologist who diagnosed me. At that time I was given IV antivirals and Gabapentin for the neuralgia. At the end of this I was released and able to see fine. I ran out of my antivirals for two days and I woke up one morning with extreme light sensitivity and it has been 2 weeks since I have been able to drive I have dropped out of school and I have lost a lot of my Independence due to this condition. I have gone to my opthamologist who prescribed me corticosteroid drops and antivirals as well as antiviral drops. Nothing seems to be getting better in a nutshell well actually not in a nutshell he told me straight up the nerve is fried I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life. Just keep your glasses on and go on with life. Of course I'm 26 I feel like I have the whole rest of my life ahead of me and I just start bawling my eyes out. He was very blunt and rude. Whatever drops he put in my eye allowed my eye to open up one hour after his office visit it only lasted about a half hour to 45 minutes but I was able to see for once in two weeks. Therefore it gives me hope that it will get better in time and it is not permanent. I do not believe I will be going back to his office and I will be going to get a second opinion at another opthamologist. I do archery for sport and I want to finish school to be a teacher I have so much ahead of me I feel so depressed and lost somebody please help me

2 likes, 51 replies

51 Replies

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  • Merry19451
    Merry19451 april66508

    Posted

    Dear April,

    So sorry for the late reply.

    I am delighted the photophobia is finally improving. When a disease affects one of your senses, especially your eyes and ears, it is downright scary.

    I am glad that Valerie has been able to be supportive for you.

    Please keep us posted regarding your progress!

    Best Wishes

    Merry Juliana

    • april66508
      april66508 Merry19451

      Posted

      Thank you and no need to apologize at all you have been so hopefully I don't know what I've done without you. Yes it has gotten better that was a month on the 19th of September. I am practicing going outside in the daytime and just looking around without sunglasses on trying to strengthen my eye muscles so I can see in the daytime without glasses. I still struggle with that pretty bad but the Improvement I have went through since August 19th has been life-changing. I go back to OSU on the 9th of October. I did go to my diabetic opthamologist ( I have prediabetes due to cystic fibrosis) he specializes in diabetic eye damage. So I get my physical every year as he checked me out last week he is insisting and having me stay and acyclovir for a year 400 mg a day and I am happy with that. I am getting some type of sore not really a blister here and there next to and around my shingles area I'm assuming they are related but they are blisters so I don't know. Anyway I am so blessed and grateful and so thankful to be getting better I can't even express how frightening it is and how painful it was. It is so very very itchy on my head and I'm looking into fraxel or CO2 laser to help the scarring diminish when this is all over. I'm going to give it a little bit more time to heal and possibly wait a few months. Thank you again,

      April.

    • april66508
      april66508

      Posted

      Sorry for the spelling errors it is text to speech!
  • franklin87490
    franklin87490 april66508

    Posted

    Hi I am still dealing with problems from having shingles on my rt face, eye, ear and head. I am having the light sensitivity , which is a real problem. My shingles were diagnosed about 2 months ago, it is a lot to deal with. Don't know what I would do if I wasn't married, to have someone to depend on. Have you returned to your normal, before the virus? If not how long did it take, or have you fully recovered?

  • aaron10029
    aaron10029 april66508

    Posted

    Hello.

    I am curious how everyone is doing who has posted. I am 7 months out from my diagnosis on the left side of my face/forehead/ear/eye. My forehead still itches and I'm in a vicious cycled of a week of corticosteroids, a week of artificial tears, a week or so of no issues other then bearable light sensitivity, and then something flares up and I start over again. My vision has changed significantly, but I think I'm adjusting to it and the progressive bi/tri-focal glasses I now where.

    I really hope this cycle ceases soon. I am an avid SCUBA diver but am not able to dive due to the steroids lowering my eyes ability to fight off microbes in the water.

    Thank you all for letting me know I'm not alone with these issues.

    Aaron

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