Why do bad things happen to good people...or in my case, why do bad things continue happening to a good person?? Just seems like lately it's been one thing after another.
Sooooooo, I've had these clusters of blisters on my back for about a week now. I've had them come up before during stressful times, or being out in the sunlight or tanning bed...in the same place on my back, and it used to come up on my left arm before I got a tat in that same place. I guess getting a tat there made it go away from that location. Anyway, I never thought much about it because when I got it when I was younger, a nurse told me it was like getting a fever blister elsewhere on your body. It never made much sense to me.
So, last week I started going back to the tanning bed again to tan for my beach trip and a few areas on the right side of my lower back got really painful & itchy, I also noticed I was getting head & neck aches that were not like what I usually get. Well, I just thought I was getting dehydrated from the tanning bed or whatever, but then I started getting shivering chills and pain from my mid-back (like where the ribs are on the backside) coming around to the front side & into my chest. All the pains, I just attributed that to my chronic fibro pain. Yesterday & today, I woke up with pains shooting out through my hips & straight up my spine into my head. Every time I walk it feels like someone jabbing a spike down through my head, neck, & mid-back. I've never had that kind of pain from the fibro. These pains are shooting, stabbing, throbbing, burning, and tingling/numb kind of pains...like being stuck with a bunch of needles. So I started thinking about it today, relating the clusters of blisters to it because they are "in-line" with where my pain is generating. And, this is nerve pain so it follows along the lines of where the affected nerves are. So, I found out today, this, my friends, is called shingles.
This is what it looks like...
For anyone who doesn't know what shingles is, it is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox when you're a child. The virus lies dormant in your nerve roots until something reactivates it & comes out on your skin just like chicken pox does, except its not single blisters it's in clusters. After about a week, the blisters burst, ooze, crust over, then start to heal. The other sympoms are basicly flu-like symptoms...headaches, chills, stomachache, abdomen pain, diarrhea, malaise, swollen lymph glands, and itching.
The pain can start just before or during the initial development of the blisters & continue for anywhere from 30 days to weeks or years after, which is the result of getting nerve damage from it so the pain can continue on even after it's healed. You can also have several outbreaks after you've had the first one. I had no idea when I had those breakouts before that's what it was. Anyway, the pain really hurts. If you press down on that area you can feel the pain going from your skin through the flesh & nerves underneath. Every movement you make generates more pain, even just walking. It's only contagious to anyone who has not had chicken pox, and if you do catch the virus you will get chicken pox, not shingles. If you have had chicken pox, you can't catch shingles from someone.
Well, it just so happens that two of the medications prescribed for shingles are two meds I'm already taking. Ha!!! Lyrica is one of them...it's for nerve pain. The other is just your basic pain meds. So at least I'm ahead of the game. Hopefully it won't last long...it can go on for 3-4 weeks.
Ok, my sleepy meds are kicking in so I'm gonna get off here and hope that one day I'll have something good or positive to post for a change. Jeeeeeeeeeez!
Oh yeah, one good thing is that the Lyrica has been working quite well for my fibro, and the side effects of the med seem to be tapering off. I was starting to feel reeeeeally good until this shingles crap hit me!
Sooooooo, I've had these clusters of blisters on my back for about a week now. I've had them come up before during stressful times, or being out in the sunlight or tanning bed...in the same place on my back, and it used to come up on my left arm before I got a tat in that same place. I guess getting a tat there made it go away from that location. Anyway, I never thought much about it because when I got it when I was younger, a nurse told me it was like getting a fever blister elsewhere on your body. It never made much sense to me.
So, last week I started going back to the tanning bed again to tan for my beach trip and a few areas on the right side of my lower back got really painful & itchy, I also noticed I was getting head & neck aches that were not like what I usually get. Well, I just thought I was getting dehydrated from the tanning bed or whatever, but then I started getting shivering chills and pain from my mid-back (like where the ribs are on the backside) coming around to the front side & into my chest. All the pains, I just attributed that to my chronic fibro pain. Yesterday & today, I woke up with pains shooting out through my hips & straight up my spine into my head. Every time I walk it feels like someone jabbing a spike down through my head, neck, & mid-back. I've never had that kind of pain from the fibro. These pains are shooting, stabbing, throbbing, burning, and tingling/numb kind of pains...like being stuck with a bunch of needles. So I started thinking about it today, relating the clusters of blisters to it because they are "in-line" with where my pain is generating. And, this is nerve pain so it follows along the lines of where the affected nerves are. So, I found out today, this, my friends, is called shingles.
This is what it looks like...
For anyone who doesn't know what shingles is, it is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox when you're a child. The virus lies dormant in your nerve roots until something reactivates it & comes out on your skin just like chicken pox does, except its not single blisters it's in clusters. After about a week, the blisters burst, ooze, crust over, then start to heal. The other sympoms are basicly flu-like symptoms...headaches, chills, stomachache, abdomen pain, diarrhea, malaise, swollen lymph glands, and itching.
The pain can start just before or during the initial development of the blisters & continue for anywhere from 30 days to weeks or years after, which is the result of getting nerve damage from it so the pain can continue on even after it's healed. You can also have several outbreaks after you've had the first one. I had no idea when I had those breakouts before that's what it was. Anyway, the pain really hurts. If you press down on that area you can feel the pain going from your skin through the flesh & nerves underneath. Every movement you make generates more pain, even just walking. It's only contagious to anyone who has not had chicken pox, and if you do catch the virus you will get chicken pox, not shingles. If you have had chicken pox, you can't catch shingles from someone.
Well, it just so happens that two of the medications prescribed for shingles are two meds I'm already taking. Ha!!! Lyrica is one of them...it's for nerve pain. The other is just your basic pain meds. So at least I'm ahead of the game. Hopefully it won't last long...it can go on for 3-4 weeks.
Ok, my sleepy meds are kicking in so I'm gonna get off here and hope that one day I'll have something good or positive to post for a change. Jeeeeeeeeeez!
Oh yeah, one good thing is that the Lyrica has been working quite well for my fibro, and the side effects of the med seem to be tapering off. I was starting to feel reeeeeally good until this shingles crap hit me!
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