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Been in lots of pain in my neck shoulder the last 5 weeks. Tried chiro and acupuncture and massage thinking I pinched a nerve. Last 3 days a red welt and rash has appeared. Seeing the doc tomorrow. Damn this hurts and my shirt bothers it. Hasn't be officially diagnosed but nurse says classic symptoms. Any body suffer this crap before and what can you tell me about the near future in treating it if I in fact have it.

My wife recently had it. Nothing to play with. Get to the doc ASAP! The sooner you are on the meds the better.

A few years back my shoulder started hurting, then my elbow, finally went to see the doc when the wrist and knuckles started aching. Assistant thought it was shingles but wasn't sure.. rash broke out on my hand 2 days later and got on the meds next day and life was SO much better within a week.

Sucks BIG time. Frigging prescription came while I was in Vegas and can't drink while taking the medicine. Vegas without drinking? Cripes..

Pain was extreme also. Ibuprofen is your very best friend.

Just got done with it about 2 weeks ago- still have marks, but no more leftover pain. Felt like being hornet-stung, over and over, for nearly 2 weeks. Itching pretty bad, too.
COLD feels good- went out shirtless on the porch every night, sometimes in the middle of the night. N-saids, yes.
Whatever, yes. They can't do much for you if it's a mild-to-medium case on your torso. You do NOT want it around your eyes.
All told, I beat it w/o the assistance of medical professionals. The thought of possible after-pains for at least 30 days, up to a year, had me pretty nervous for awhile.

It was 1986 IIRC when I had em. I could not happily wear a shirt....

Mom has them off and on fairly often....

No fun they are but not as bad as kidney stones.

I remember my father had it, very painful, almost killed him. Absolutely not a thing to be screwing around with at all.

If you haven't had it yet, there is a preventative vaccine for it, problem is it is a bit spendy but not all that bad, Medicare doesn't pay for it for some reason. Get it anyway. Save yourself a whole lot of agony.

Here's info: http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/default.htm

Nothing to screw with. Best of luck , I will be heading to CVS to get my vaccine sometime this week

I'm a fan of metal roofs, screw shingles.

DocRocket wrote up a great post on it a couple years back. Hopefully somebody can find a link to it.

Sidepass, if it shingles, it's caused by the herpes zoster virus that is now again activated but lay dormant in the posterior ganglion of your nerve roots since you recovered from the chicken pox as a youngster. In your case, seems like your cervical nerve roots.

There are oral antiviral agents now, and a vaccine, that may help and most primary care folk will not be aware of this probably but a cervical epidural steroid injection can be very therapeutic. It's another "tool" in the bag so to speak.

You'll want to seek diagnosis and treatment because this can cycle downward without it to PHN (post herpetic neuralgia) a chronic pain condition that can be very troublesome.

My father in law has been dealing with it for a month and a half now, couldn't happen to a better person. He's got it in one of his eyes and one of his ears. My wife and I asked about the vaccine and were told that the success rate isn't that great, but the new vaccine that is coming out soon is much better at around 94% success rate.

Nail shingles.

Screw metal roofing.





Just sayin'.

The present Vaccine is not 100 % effective , but if you come down with Shingles and have had the Vaccine , the pain will be less severe . Friend in Germany came down with Shingles and it went into his Nerves . Very severe case which his Doctor said could last for years or forever for him . He was put on Meds and is doing much better now . If you come down with Shingles and recover , you can get it again . I got the Vaccine when my Dr. recommended it . My Dr. said people with Shingles often come into his Office wearing only bed sheets because of the extreme skin contact pain ! You can only get the Vaccine if you are healthy & don't exhibit the Shingles symptoms.

Get to your Dr.
Get some itch cream (Aveeno).
You are in for some bad days.

I had 'em 30 years ago, at freakin' 28! I got an itch on my right temple, followed by the rash a few days later.

Being so close to my right eye the Dr. went all in with the steroids etc.

It followed the nerves all the way to the right side of my mouth. Not pretty! I had lightening bolt pains for at least 10-12 years after.

I still blame the max regimen of Prednisone for my half bald head.

Best wishes never had it but it looks very bad with the cases I've seen.

Just be glad it isn't on your nuts sack

[quotue=bea175]Just be glad it isn't on your nuts sack[/quote]
Amen to that!

The quicker you go to the doctor the better. They can start you on anti virals if caught soon enough that will really make a difference.

Even the after hour or walk in clinics can give it to you if they think it's shingles. If it turns out not to be it's no big if you had taken the anti virals anyway.

But it loses it's effectivness if you wait too long to start. Very small window to start and it work.

There are several things that can treat the pain after the fact. Nuerontin which is normally prescribed for neuropathy can help but I avoid it due to the nuermous side effects it can cause and some of them can be pretty bad.

Pamelor can help with the lingering pain at low doses. It's an anti depressent which can also be prescribed for neuropathy. It's a pretty milf anti depressent and in low doeses has almost no side effects.