I was diagnosed today with shingles. Honestly didn't even notice rash bc it was on my back until I was searching for a reason for random pain in my armpit area. Googled and shingles came up, panicked. When to urgent care and diagnosed. Started meds today.

I have one spot that is contained to maybe three inches. I felt weirdly sick earlier in the week but I'm also battling another health issue.

My question is - it dumb for me to attend a camping music festival next week. 🫣

Obviously I'd cover the one rash and monitor how or if it spreads and my pain level. It has been noticeable today but not terrible yet. It's the only vacation I've had all year after a terrible year and a lot of money has already been spent.

So I had singles a few years ago and like 2 weeks ago I got really sick I thought it was a headcold well I had fever and I was so tried. Few days letter my hands are hurting bad my feet are hurting I have no energy and I got fever. Friday I wake up to my face burning I look at face see small rash under eye not typical blisters just a small red rash along the vein. So I was like shoot it’s on my face well apparently the virus itself is spread all over my muscles, which is possible too. From my right foot all the way down to my testicles all the way up to my face I can almost feel it as it travels because the pain will be at random spots. Kind of work in the area, but it just kind of goes back-and-forth. Pain was the worse on my balls I couldn’t take it anymore I almost passed out. But just ranging in my body I am 36 second time with shingles so that’s not good but happy it’s not swollen up my face, but the burning is intense. I felt burning in my nose. Just random and travels so praying it just goes away soon nothing I can do

Thursday and Friday: extreme leg pain in the left thigh. Like really bad leg pain!

Saturday: went for massage therapy and the masseuse said it was just a muscle pain.

Tuesday: blisters appeared

Wednesday: went to the ER and the doctor said it was bug bites.

Friday (today): went to see the family doctor and he said it’s shingles!

Question;
1. My daughter is 8 weeks old and not yet vaccinated. Should I move out of the house until I’m healed?? Will she be ok?

1. Should I inform the massage therapist about this situation?

Thank you.

Past 18 months i had recurring shingles 4 times. Diagnosed, swabbed, treated.

I stopped going to the gym and started swimming instead and I have not had an outbreak since

What do you think was causing the outbreaks ?

I see many posts here about people getting shingles a second and sometimes even a third time. It made me think that if you have it once, the risk of getting it again is increases, but when I read about, it seems to actually be a lowered risk, if you are otherwise healthy:

Large population-based studies show that for a healthy individual, the risk of getting shingles a second time is roughly the same as (or slightly lower than) getting it for the very first time.

Have you gotten shingles again while being 100% healthy, or was it because you have a weakened immune system, or did you perhaps discover an underlying cause? I am curious about this, since I am terrified of getting it again. I am 4 weeks in now, and most symtpoms except for the weird night itch is gone

First time, M39y.

Started with a rash on top of my head, not painful. I thought its from the hat I wore and at that time I was a little sick

I went to the UC day 2 evening since I noticed that i start to get more rash. I was immediately diagnosed with shingles and given antivirals.

The rash went around my eye (eyebrow and on the nose alas small one)

The UC didnt have opthomologist, they only referred me within the hospital. The wait is ridiculous, but they should squeeze me next week.

I went to optometrist instead, they did the retina scan, slit lamp etc. Everything looks healthy.

Now its the 5th day - the rash is not spreading it actually died down. My eye redness is also going back (I had both eyes red so maybe that was caused by infection)

What’s interesting is that I don’t feel any pain with the rash.

I ocassionally do get some zaps of pain with the ear and also the top of my head is a little sensitive to touch. Also a little numbness on my cheek so monitoring that as well. And my resting pulse is higher than usual by 20bpm.

Just wanted to share, and hopefully this will be a mild case.

First off - this sub has been a godsend!
Mine started off with shooting pain on either Sunday or Monday evening (all days are blurred at the moment) in my back and leg, thigh and lower back felt tender to the touch like they should be bruised but weren’t - managed to get a GP appointment who asked during his checks if I had a rash, nothing at the time so said it was likely sciatica and sent off with a scrip for codeine.

Wednesday evening - noticed a small rash appearing top of the thigh near the fold with my groin. Had a constant stabbing pain in my side that I truly thought was appendicitis at one point.

Thursday morning the rash had spread further down the leg and a small amount had appeared on my lower back where the pain had originated. Googled sciatica and rash and found this sub where so many of my symptoms finally lined up and got a lift to the pharmacy where I really had to advocate for myself that I thought it was shingles. She was just reading off the same NHS screen that had confirmed for me it was probably shingles but seemed unsure as I only had small patches rather than a big strip it was only when she shone on a torch on and saw all the little blisters that she finally agreed.

Started on antivirals as soon as I got home last night rash is still already and feeling more fiery but hoping this will slow soon.

I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. It causes me constant extreme agony to even sit or lay let alone move. Have a spot on my side/hip that is 24/7 shooting pains and I spend a good chunk of my day swearing loudly or crying out in pain 🥲 this evening is the worst, got up to answer the door and once it was done immediately had to lay down as I was about to pass out. I nap more than sleep properly if I can get an hour or two reprieve from the pain and often wake up trying not to scream from the pain.

Living by yourself during something like this is very humbling and isolating 🥲 would love to have someone who could just make me a tea rather than me having to crawl or limp 🤣

This hurts worse than post-surgery. I had a lapo in February for endometriosis, adenomyosis and PCOS.
I’ve got shingles now, going over two of my lapo scars. I’m in so much pain. I had shingles 13 years ago when I was 13, on my neck and arm, this is worse.
Of ALL the places to catch it!

I've been on Gabapentin for two weeks now because of severe pain with facial shingles. Thankfully, the medication kicked in after the first week to take the edge off the pain. However, the side effects of Gabapentin have been difficult at times. One day, I was so lightheaded and woozy, and my legs like spaghetti, that my husband had to help me out of bed to the bathroom and kitchen. Other times I'm very weak and sleepy, but some days I'm okay. I've had a few episodes of high heart rate, twice my arm felt like electrical shots going through it (opposite side of my shingles), and one night my throat felt like it was starting to close in. But, there are days I feel relatively fine. Is anyone else experiencing fine/not fine days while on this? Thanks!

These photos are from Saturday thru Wednesday. I first noticed the spot Saturday morning, Sunday morning went of urgent care, and started antivirals Sunday afternoon. I’ve also been to my PCP and an optometrist and everything was good.

I thought I was turning a corner but now my eye is getting so itch and I have a small spot near my inner corner - you can see it a bit in the last photo. When did you start feeling like things were tapering off?

36F, otherwise healthy. Currently day 8 of shingles. Just throwing my story out there in case anyone else is experiencing something similar.

Days 1-2 had left sided skin sensitivity. Thought I maybe irritated a nerve.
Day 3 a small patch appeared on my left abdomen. I was immediately concerned and got started on valtrex.

Days 4-5 i was uncomfortable and tired. my muscles under the rash really ached and I would get sharp pains occasionally.
Day 6 I developed a really awful headache. I went to bed but was repeatedly woken from the pain

Day 7 at like 3am I was woken bc the headache was so bad and i had the chills. I took my temp and was 101f. As the day progressed the headache worsened (generalized throbbing that worsened when i would change position or bend forward, better laying down) and I developed nausea, neck stiffness, and jolt accentuation (where every step I took caused a sharp pain in my spine and head). At this point we went to the ER worried I had meningitis. My labs all returned normal as did my head CT. They deci against a lumbar puncture given how good my labs looked. I was diagnosed with essentially pseudomeningitis or meningeal irritation but not infection. Was told to continue my valtrex and hydrate like crazy. I was given a migraine cocktail in the hospital and a bag of normal saline.
Day 8 the headache is still there but improved. I still have neck stiffness and the jolt accentuation but they are much improved.

All this to say that shingles sucks. It essentially is in my spinal canal irritating the lining of my brain and spinal cord but isn’t causing a full blow infection.

Anyone experience anything similar?

Can anybody share with me their personal stories if they developed allodynia with the shingles or afterwards and how long after the shingles started clearing up, did you have the allodynia? I i’m struggling to even walk the slightest jiggle of any part of my body feels like someone dragging fingernails across a sunburn that you can’t even see it’s everywhere my boobs, my thighs, my arms, my back, my calves. I can’t stand the feeling of any clothes, touching my body. I can’t sleep. The fucking herpes are going away, but this shit showed up instead. Even taking a deep breath, expanding my chest, makes my shirt slightly move across my skin and putting lidocaine patches all over my body.

Diagnosed with shingles first of July, took an antiviral and on gabapentin for pain. Rash cleared up but the pain has been unrelenting and excruciating and the gabapentin has helped very little. Now I notice what looks like a developing rash in the same area. Can it be happening all over again? Don’t think I can take a double whammy of this stuff.

Mid 40s F. Oh dear god so this my shingles story. I came down with back pain quite suddenly which was only on my left shoulder blade then wrapped around the front of my chest. I also started to get some wierd shooting sensations in other places. I was advised to go to A&E because of the chest pain. While I was there they gave me cocodomal and I immediately came out in hives on my chest. They were just about to discharge me and I said is it shingles and they said no that's definitely only one sided. The rash got worse over 4 days but I was just focused on managing the pain. I stopped the cocodamol on day 3 to see if the rash went. It didn't so I went to the pharmacy and they said take an antihistamine and see the GP tomorrow if it hasn't gone. It was even worse and I went to GP. I don't she was even convinced what it was or what to do with me but because I was now in such a state on just paracetomol, could not sit up due to back pain, she got the supervisor. They said pretty quickly that it was shingles. They were also concerned about meningitis but I didn't have stiff neck so we agreed I would go home and if headache worsened go to A&E for a brain scan.

I have aciclovir and the rash is going down. I am exhausted from writing this so I will come back and update later.

So quick story,I'm a 24 yr old male and I had shingles last june and I think im about to get shingles again. Im experiencing under the weather and I have 1 bump in my right side of my scalp where i had my previous shingle and slight itch in my neck. So far I have no other symptoms. Is it possible to have another shingles after just a few months? Im scared i dont want to have shingles again, shits hurts.

I’m one month into when the rash first appeared. I didn’t know to start antivirals until two weeks in. I’ve finished the antiviral oral meds, but my rash is still here and I have so much nerve pain. My doctor gave me topical antiviral cream and gabapentin, but truly this is the worst I’ve ever felt and I’ve given birth without an epidural. 😅🙃

What was everyone else’s recovery timeline like? I’m 29 and otherwise healthy.

Hi everyone,

My wife has shingles close to her eye, thankfully she has no shingles in around the eye itself and no vision loss.

She also has redness in her ear (no blistering currently) with some mild tinnitus.

Is it worth escalating to an opthamologist at this stage or give the anti-virals more time to work?

Thanks

It has been 2 years since my shingle symptoms first started. The scarring has died down after a month and I've been taking Gabapentin and Nortriptyline almost daily.

I can still feel nerve pain from my forehead, around the eyebrow to around my eye, down to my nose tip. No effect on the eye itself but can feel pain below the eye. Think of a circle where the center is in the eye and the top edge is just above the eye brow, I can feel pain on the circumference of that circle.

Does anyone have any similar experiences?

I had shingles on my face for the first time a little over two weeks ago, 34 year old female. The pain on my face is almost gone and my scabs have fallen off. I finished my antivirals last week. I have still been taking it easy because my energy gets zapped quick. This weekend I returned to my normal routine with my family, going to soccer games, cooking, cleaning, going to a friends house. Yesterday my throat started hurting! It feels like I’m getting sick all over again with a cold. I had to virus’s back to back in September before getting shingles. Did I maybe over due this weekend?? I can’t imagine I would be getting sick AGAIN! This has never happened to me before being sick back to back so much. Mentally I’m ready to get back to life as normal and my symptoms also have quieted. But maybe shingles is still lingering?? It’s hard to tell when the rash and pain is gone

Facial Shingles Advice

Hi all,

My wife (31) has developed shingles along her mouth, chin, cheek, ear and scalp and is in absolute agony all the time.

The doctor has prescribed her 9 different medicine to help including codeine and anti-virals.

What else can I do to help her with the agonising pain?

Does anyone know a rough timeline of when symptoms start to improve? She first developed jaw and ear pain last Wednesday, over the weekend her face started blistering and the pain has ramped up.

Thank you

About three weeks ago, I developed shingles around my right eye, complicated by secondary preseptal cellulitis. I ended up hospitalized for three days receiving IV antibiotics and was also treated with antivirals. Thankfully, my ophthalmologist has examined my eye and found no evidence that the eyeball itself was affected.

The initial infection improved significantly, but I've continued to struggle with swelling, particularly under my eye and my upper eyelid. What's frustrating is that the swelling seemed to get worse again after initially improving. Some days it looks better, other days worse.

My ophthalmologist recently prescribed another course of antibiotics because of the increased swelling, but after experiencing significant gastrointestinal side effects, I discussed it with the on-call doctor and we agreed to stop them and monitor things. It's still unclear whether the lingering swelling is from inflammation following shingles or a bacterial infection.

I'm finding the uncertainty and the prolonged recovery really difficult, especially because I thought I'd be much further along by now.

Has anyone else experienced persistent or fluctuating eyelid or under-eye swelling after shingles? Did it sometimes get worse before eventually resolving? I'd really appreciate hearing about other people's experiences and how long recovery took.

Has anyone had RHS multiple times? I’m (hopefully) recovering from RHS, diagnosed and started treatment on 7/25. I was fully vaccinated with Shingrix in 2020. If I get shingles again, is it typical to get them back in the same area as the initial outbreak? Having blisters inside my mouth and inside my ear, losing hearing and getting tinnitus is awful. I’m afraid I’ll get them back in the same area and lose more hearing. I never thought I’d have shingles this bad after getting both doses of the vaccine and now I’m afraid of getting them again. TIA

Almost 3 weeks ago, I developed really acute back pain on the left side. I have chronic back issues, so I chalked it up to a pulled muscle or pinched nerve. The pain was really intense though and felt different, waking me up from sleep and not going away with change in position. After about a day, the pain then started to radiate from the back to front of my abdomen. It was constant and I was convinced that something terrible was going on with kidney or other organ. I was about to go to the hospital when I noticed 3 small bumps on my stomach and realized that it might be shingles.

Went to the doctor and was immediately given Valtrex and Prednisone. While that really intense inner nerve pain subsided within that first week (with the occasional zings now and again), the skin sensitivity and burning just keeps getting worse. I've been given Gabapentin, which honestly isn't doing too much. The feeling of my clothes, water from the shower, even how my skin moves/stretches when I inhale is just so painful - I feel like I'm on fire. I have this sensitivity on my left side from about my waist to my upper chest, but it also is present down my left arm.

Googling shingles would indicate that at about 3 weeks, I should be getting better, but if anything the last few days have been worse. The Valtrex must have worked though, as my rash was never terrible, only itchy for about a day or two and is almost healed. I'm so scared that this means I'm going to have long term nerve pain/damage. I'm an otherwise healthy 45F.

Anyone else feel this way at week 3, but then recover normally? It seems like something that varies a lot person to person, but I'm so anxious and stressed.

Jedanesti je dan od pojave glavobolje i boli u uhu. Prvi dan dobivam kapi za uho i sumamed i dijagnozu upale uha. Drugi dan mi se lice paralizira, desna strana. Na Rebru mi daju Dekirtin i dijagnozu pareza lica. Bolovi se pogoršavaju te peti dan pojavljuju mjehurići u uhu i na uhu, uho otečeno. Dr me šalje na zaraznu. Tu dobivam dijagnozu Ramsay hunt sindrom, virus herpes zoster u uhu upali facijalni živac i tako to onda traje.
Peti dan sam u bolnici, na venu primam antivirusni lijek Aciklovur i kortikosteroid Deksametazon.
Bolovi i zujanje u uhu su u dalje tu.
Molila bih ukoliko je neki imao iskustvo, pišite...
Kaoliko dugo i kako ste se liječili 😌🫤

The redness from the shingles has faded and darkened. The itching remains, and if I accidentally scratch it, the intense pain catches me off guard. The lesions are on the left side of my waist, where rubbing against my underwear or the movement of standing and sitting triggers the pain.

I’ve been feeling depressed for about a year, with poor nutrition and constant high stress. It feels like this outbreak is a warning sign that my current lifestyle has reached its limit. Still, even though it appeared in two neurological areas at the same time, I'm relieved that I was able to start antiviral medication within 72 hours.