Yes folks, I never thought in a million years that I would come down with a case of shingles.
I woke up two weekends ago with a rash that appeared from my breastbone over towards the right breast/upper torso area and on out towards the left shoulder. It was itchy, but scratching this set off a whole new meaning of the word 'pain!' Nope don't itch it, cause if you do, it hurts so much more, feels like a deep bruise and major burn! I couldn't figure out where this rash came from and had put up with the worst of it for over a week before I went in to have it checked. I hadn't been around a patch of poison ivy or sumac, nor pulling weeds, hadn't changed the laundry detergent, and I tried some ointments which didn't work. The other day when I had Isabella checked out because she fell and hurt her finger, the PA looked at my rash and asked me about it, said to me it looked like shingles. Shingles? seriously? so she recommended I see my doctor, who confirmed this diagnosis today.
This is not a picture of my rash, mine is not that big, but nonetheless is that red and angry! wow...so its a prescription of Famvir for 7 days and pain pills! It appears that shingles occurs as the result of a virus attacking the nerve endings under the skin, no wonder its so painful to scratch and just really really sore! Famvir is supposed to slow down the nerve inflammation and contain in. My doctor says this is fairly common to see, the severity of which depends. I'm not sure why, but if you had the chicken pox you could possibly develop shingles. I've never had anything like this, not even a fever blister. They say if/when the rash goes away you could then develop the post-herpetic pain, heavenly day I hope it doesn't spread and it never comes back!
