I am back on and finally after all this time . I wanted to share with someone . I had the shingles and could not even type . Has anyone ever had the Shingles . I never hurt so much in my life . I was on Valtrex for a week and feeling better .

I lost my password and finally on . Hurray !

Welcome back, glad you were finally able to sign on...Shingles ick, never had em' but hear they are really painful and hard to get rid of. I wonder what causes them, do you know?

Chatty,

They're a virus similar to chicken pox, fever blisters and herpes. Not a fun thing to have!

Renee,

Glad you're feeling better!

Yes, it is nerves and I have had a lot of me this year planing a 40th reunion which is next Saturday and mother death last March and then husband had surgery on a herinaed disk and it just keep mounting . I thought I had hives , but doctor said shingles . Well they are dried up and only have two Valtrex left . It took a week to get ride of . for me at least . Very painful at night and I would just cry so it hurt

Renee

I've known a few people who have had shingles. They all got them in terrible stress situations. Maybe it's like Herpes? They usually come out under stress.
I have alot of stress in my life, but am slowly learning to take more time for myself, as you see...this forum is stress relief for me.
Hope you're soon pain free Renee. God bless you.

My Mom had shingles, soon after she had finished her last radiation treatments for breast cancer. She was in agony, dealing with the pain from the shingles and the burns from the radiation. My heart ached for her, but because the doctors caught it too late, there was nothing anyone could do except give her creams and pain medication.

Eagle, how do people endure such things? Your poor mom. Honestly, either of those things is enough. Trust me, I've been doing lots of thinking about pain lately. I was whining last night and ended up sleeping with my leg propped on two pillows with an ice bag for two hours in the middle of the night.

Renee, glad to see you got back in the forums. I can sympathize with you because I had shingles in high school. I can't figure out why it would have been stress at that time, but let me tell ya, I remember tha pain. I got them around Easter vacation and the basketball team was going to Assateague National Park camping. My doctor told me I could go, but he thought I'd be miserable. He was right, but I didn't want to miss anything. I had them along the rib cage. I recall sleeping while sitting up with my head on an Utz potato chip box. I'll never forget it. It was damp and I couldn't lay my body on the damp floor for anything.

I can't believe you got through them so quickly. I don't think that medicine was around when I was a kid. Glad to hear they are dried up. Keep getting better.

Hello Renee, I was wondering where you were. I'm sorry to hear so much piled upon you, but I'm glad you are here!

Yes Renee, I had shingles in September of 2003. Can't think of anything that stressed me out except that my loving 15 1/2 year old Bichon passed away only 3 months earlier. I was devastated and had a hard time getting over it (which still saddens me). I started with numbness in the left hip area and lower back pain. Couldn't figure out why. Mentioned it to a doctor since the back hurt so much. She asked, "Do you have a rash anywhere"? I pulled my pants down and sure enough we saw blisters beginning about 3 inches below my belly button. Immediately, she said "shingles". She put me on an anti-viral medication and a cream. I only had slight pain (think I caught it early), and the blisters were gone in about 2 weeks. I was very lucky. My big question now is, are we more suseptable to getting it again? Or, is it like the chicken pox, that we would likely not get it again? I don't know, I think I may have read back then that we could get them again. Feel better. Hope yours were not in the eye area. I understand they are the worst and most dangerous.

My hubby had his years ago, and only once. It's my understanding that ALL of us who've had chicken pox have the virus still in our bodies and could get shingles. But I haven't heard about too many repeat occurrences.