Shingles....any suggestions?

JosephTree

JosephTree

Barefooters
Sep 7, 2010
2,526
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Near Valley Forge, PA
#1
Age has its advantages... and otherwise.

One of the otherwise that you youngsters have to look forward to is the completely random and spontaneous eruption of painful and unsightly sores, usually, but not always starting as a band around your lower ribs or waist. Hey, kids! It's SHINGLES! Did I mention that they're painful? Like an intercostal muscle tear or a raccoon bite, even. I even got off easy. Some of the pics you can find on the web look horrific, with massive expanses of sores, or facial sores... eeeyah!

I started feeling an awkward, niggling pain after my run on Wednesday and it developed into a rash that I was lucky enough to have my GF instantly id as shingles on Friday afternoon. She told me that there was absolutely nothing for it to get a prescription for an antiviral and then treat the symptoms as needed. I was super lucky in that she had a bottle of Valtrex on hand to get me going without having to go to a doc-in-a-box or worse, having to wait for my doc to open his office on Monday morning. I ran the Runners World Festival 10K yesterday morning and noticed that I felt zero, nada, nil, a complete absence of pain or even irritation around my shingles.

My question for the gallery is what experience and wisdom can anyone share on this? I want to keep up with my running, especially if the damn things stop bugging me for the duration.
 
#2
Wow, maybe I'll get the vaccine after all. I didn't get Chicken Pox until I was 40 (from my kids) and the anti viral had already been invented. It reduced my symptoms as well as duration by around 50%, but the downside was that if I get Shingles it will probably not be effective. Sounds like it worked for you, get better soon!
 
#3
If shingles is the same as herpes zoster, I had that 20 years ago (when I was still young and beautiful :D). And yes it is horribly painful - in the end my doc prescribed me opiates as I couldn't sleep for two weeks because of the pain. She ordered me complete rest for 14 days (and then for another 14 days, as it didn't get much better). It seems there is a connection with chickenpox, which I had in childhood - the virus of chickenpox stays in the body and in times of stress or whenever the immune system is a bit down, it can break out again in a mutated form, which attacks the nerves - it's the nerve inflammation that it the origin of the pain.
She prescribed me high dosed vitamin C (to be taken orally) and intramuscular Vitamin B 12 shots to repair the nerve. She also prescribed me the usual allopathic remedy (which didn't work), gave me acupuncture (which didn't work) and painkillers (which didn't work until she went on to opiates).
After a month or so I read about an aromatherapy remedy (combination of two oils), I tried it out, it seemed to help, but it could also be that I already was in the stage of natural remission anyway.
Much later, an osteopath told me that a herpes zoster can easily be treated by rearranging the spine, but I don't know if this is true.
I can look up the oils for you, but as I'm not a doctor it could be against some law to do so in a public forum (in France this would get me into big trouble!)
Hope you get better soon!
 
#4
Hobbit said:
If shingles is the same as herpes zoster,
Much later, an osteopath told me that a herpes zoster can easily be treated by rearranging the spine, but I don't know if this is true.
Click to expand...
Yes it is the same condition. In the U.S. very few osteopaths believe spinal manipulation will cure a viral disease these days, but there are plenty of chiropractors that would be willing to give it a "crack".
But then again maybe he/she really WAS talking about rearranging the spine, you know, like move C3 to maybe like the position formerly occupied by L4, you know, that type of thing.
On second thought nah, that wouldn't work either.
 
#5
So far so good! Thanks for the responses. Do you think there's any harm or benefit to running as long as it feels OK?

I haven't spoken to my GP doc yet, so we can have his take on it tomorrow. I expect that he'll have the conservative, conventional view, but I'll see. LB, one question I will certainly ask is what he thinks of the vaccine.

Hobbit cher, I can well imagine this getting to the point where the pain would be very bad. As I mentioned, I think I'm getting off relatively easy. I am sorry that you had such a rotten experience. It's like an autoimmune dysfunction wherein one's body turns on itself. With luck we'll both experience shingles as a once in a lifetime treat.
 
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#8
But I already paid for the half marathon in 2 weeks! And I blew the same race off last year after I fell on my ass and bunged my spine up.

I talk to my doctor today and will let you know what he has to say, but my gut instinct in this case is to run as long as I feel better for doing it.
 
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#9
My friend just finished up with shingles. She said there is a vaccine for it now, but you have to have the vaccine BEFORE you get shingles or what's the point? :banghead:
 
#10
I've had shingles in my eyes twice, best thing to do is rest if your on heavy pain meds.
Just don't give your body too much load before it's had a chance to fight the infection.
I know that some feel that running can be medicinal, me included, but never underestimate a virus, they're crafty buggers, I nearly lost my sight.
 
#13
Chris, I got all choked up watching Kai. What a sweet kid! I can hardly imagine worrying about maintaining my amateur status as a middle schooler!

Shingles just suck! They aren't getting any worse, but I seem to have had all the juice drained right out of me. Maybe it's having to take narcotics (Vicodin) to get any sleep. I'm on track to join Rush Limbagh as a junkie. What a club! I hope I'll get to run a bit this coming week to have a little more confidence for my half next Sunday.

Thanks for asking, my friend.
 
#14
Keep that immune system strong JT.
 
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