because i have grown sick of the sound of myself whining. suffice to say i'm not sick but i'm not well. i'm here. i'll be here and there. i'll be trying to get caught up on the things i'm supposed to have done by now and the new things i have to do. ok maybe i am venting. how the hell do you get herpes of the back is what i want to know. herpes zoster aka shingles. great. fucking great. and chris is going to say where did you get herpes and i'm going to say i don't fucking know, because i don't. apparently those cold sores i used to get as a little kid and haven't had for thirty damn years or something, just went underground in my nerves and have come out along the spinal nerves. doesn't that sound like a lame excuse? oh well. lame excuses are often true, while good excuses are often lies, ever notice that? i don't know why i'm saying this in public. i don't know why i am saying this here. it's sickening and gross, i know.
oh well.
I got shingles at the same time my kids got chicken pox, which are caused by the same virus. Hurt like hell, but steroids cleared them up, and they've never come back. I feel your pain.
wait a minute, so this could be like, from when i had chicken pox when i was THREE? it's not like incurable VD of the back? 'cause that's what the doctor made it sound like. he said it all ... you know, accusatorily, or maybe i just took it that way "do you have herpes?" and i'm all not that i know, and he's all, well you do, and i'm thinking, how do i explain this to chris and ...
it does hurt. that it does.
aha. chicken pox. not VD. why did the doctor make it sound like that? and why did he not offer me something for the pain? i've been in this pain for a week and i hate whining, so i have been ... dealing with it.
medical science is great except when it implies you have VD when you do not and does not ask you how you're dealing with the pain.
yeah, t's sort of like stage 2 chicken pox.
anyone who had chicken pox could bloom out in shingles decades later. take whatever you can for it - it is nerve pain you are feeling, not skin pain. just be gald you got it on your back and not someplace more sensitive.
i am grateful for that. i'd hate to be going blind or deaf right now from face shingles. for the pain i have beer and bayer aspirin. that will have to do me.
go see a different doc if he won't give you prednizone to clear it up. steroids can clear that up in no time. sorry to hea that you're not feeling well.
you know, being an asthmatic, i'm pretty sure i have some not-that-old prednisone in the garage. but dr. quack said "it's self limiting which is why i'm not going to treat it". i wonder if what that really means is, "come back and have our medical group bill your insurance some more soon". .
Of course shingles is chicken pox! I can't believe your doc treated you like that! Maybe you should kill him? Just a suggestion.
i would like to smack him in the face. or maybe sandpaper his back nerves to give him a little empathy. that would be not only satisfying, but beneficial to him professionally, to help him understand.
i hear that shingles are quite painful, and that an outbreak can be stress related (I don't know if that is always true, and I am so NOT a doctor it's ridiculous), but I just thought I'd say it.
Poor baby, I hope you are feeling better soon. I have heard that shingles can be quite painful. I would ditch the doc (if you decide not to kill him) and find one more sympathetic to my overall health and well being.
kd, just thought I'd drop in and give you a 'Doctors visit' to see how you were getting along. Well, as you may have learned by the previous comments, Herpes zoster (shingles) is caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, which is properly called the Varicella-Zoster-Virus (VZV). The virus does undergo what is termed 'latency' in the peripheral nerves and can be reactivated for no reason whatever, or during stressful times, when you are otherwise unwell, your immune system is waning etc.
Indeed, it can be quite painful, and the pain can last for a long period after it has healed, hopefully this will not happen to you. This is called Post Herpetic Neuralgia, and can be quite difficult to treat, particularly in the elderly (which I don't think applies to you).
Even if you do not remember having Chicken pox, you could have had a subclinical infection, meaning that you were exposed to the virus and developed an immune response to it, but failed to get the typical symptoms. Anyway, I don't want to flood your blog with anymore Medical jargon. Hope you feel better soon.
BTW, the photo of the kois in the pond is very nice. I keep fish as a hobby, but find I don't have as much time to dedicate to them as I would like.
thanks! yes, i did have chickenpox as a kid, i had it on thanksgiving so i remember quite clearly. i am feeling better but the combination of antiviral, antibiotic (apparently i was developing a skin infection too because i developed a fever between doctor visits #1 and #2) and the pain killers are making me feel pretty woozy. i'm just taking it easy, laying on the couch. my boyfriend had chickenpox as a kid and my son is vaccinated so hopefully the contagious part won't be a big problem here. as far as work? no choice -- no paid sick leave, and can't afford the time off. i'll tell them i'm contagious and it's up to them if they want to risk it.
my dr. said that taking the antiviral will hopefully lessen the after-pain. *sigh* i'm not good with pain. and i sure don't want to take these pills long-term.
thanks for stopping by! it's been great to have friends in the medical field helping me out to understand what's going on with me.
Hi,
I have a question about Chickenpoxs and shingles.
Is there any risk, to my 14 month old niece, or to her 76 year old
grandmother? My niece was vaccinated against Chickenpox about 10 days ago. Her grandmother a very bad case of shingles 2 years ago. She still suffers with pain, from the shingles at times.
Is there any reason, that they would need to, stay away from each other? If so, for how long? Can some one tell the answer? Or tell me where I can find a answer? I would really appreciate it.
Tanya is 45 and she is pregnant fof our first time in 16 years of marriage [ with no help thank you ] she has fucking shingles at 31 weeks I thought a 45 year old pregnant in atlanta in august was bad enough ! Listen my brothers and sisters out there we are at the 4 weeks of bad ass pain stage and if I could I would. That is I can't cause she is pregnant. In other words no drugs no nothing.
And it fucking sucks