Shingles. Any advice?

[janedoe]

It looks like my husband has shingles. Cetirizine is helping but he was in quite a bit of pain yesterday. Does anyone have any advice?

[smartrock]

If the rash has just appeared recently (<72 hours), see if his physician will try an anti-viral to help shorten duration and hopefully avoid post-shingles neuralgia. Pain meds like ibuprofen, acetaminophen. If it's near his eyes, he definitely needs to see an ophthalmologist. I understand it's miserable, hope he feels better soon.

[bett]

OXYCODONE

and i think i got an anti viral that I'm not really sure what it did but the pills made it so i was able to not scream 24x7. i had a wicked case, pain 3-4 days before the rash appeared. between my generous breasts. real comfy.

[arentspowell]

I had shingles when I was in the 4th grade, so about 9 or 10 years old. It was HORRIBLE! Felt like knives stabbing my skin on my back. No advice but I truly sympathize, hope he feels better soon.

[POPTOP]

Been lucky so far. Understand it is miserable. Sending healing thoughts.

[janedoe]

If the rash has just appeared recently (<72 hours), see if his physician will try an anti-viral to help shorten duration and hopefully avoid post-shingles neuralgia. Pain meds like ibuprofen, acetaminophen. If it's near his eyes, he definitely needs to see an ophthalmologist. I understand it's miserable, hope he feels better soon.

It's been almost a week. He thought he had really bad allergies because his side was so itchy then he thought he had a virus and didn't show me the place where he assumed he had scratched himself (the rash which looks just like the pictures on the internet) until last night. I told him that if he thought that pain in his side and back that had him doubling over was a standard virus, he's working too much. Fortunately, he thought to take antihistamines and ibuprofen throughout. Usually he just suffers through stuff but it's been bad enough that he did take the meds so I guess he treated it by default.

[csblabmom]

Have them prescribe Nuerontin for nerve pain!

[Maxx&Emma]

Have them prescribe Nuerontin for nerve pain!

^^This!! I had a bad case recently and this was the best advice I got! (Thanks again csblabmom!) The narcotic pain meds did not help me much, just made me sick to my stomach and stupid. The Neurontin was a life saver. It is really miserable, sending healing thoughts to your hubby.

[bett]

doesn't neurontin take some time to kick in?

[janedoe]

OMG, this is disgusting. The original stuff is starting to blacken as it heals and there's new stuff leaking pus and just ick. It's all over his side and back.

After reading more about it and the input from people here (thank you!) I thought that he had a mild case if there is such a thing because he wasn't complaining about the pain. Today he looked at me and said, "It's like the nerve pain you have after surgery." For those who don't know, my husband has brittle bone disease and has had lots of broken bones and surgeries since he was a child. Basically, he's just used to that level of pain so he's doing normal stuff and here I'm thinking that he's OK. Now I'm thinking, what the H???

All I can say is that I hope I don't get it.