Fibromyalgia Support Group

I have a shingles outbreak about every five years - used to have one pretty much every year but I guess eventually your immune system starts to kick in.

It's just more nerve pain - I've actually had worse pain with fibro.

I have "something".....DO puts it in the fibro bucket and acupuncturist tells me its irritated nerve endings. Oh duh....but he told me to use mineral ice on it. I thought he was nuts but it does work. He tells me it draws the blood to the surface of the skin and somehow that gives some relief. Give it a try.

Gentle hugs...

Basket,
What is mineral ice?

the pain specialist that CarrieinSK uses is of the opinion that serious pain relief drugs should be prescribed for shingles if the patient wants them. i read this on his blog site "painmedicalmusings". he is talking about opioids by injection. before i got fibro, the worst pain i'd ever had was shingles, but our perceptions of pain change over time and everyone is unique. bottom line is you should be allowed adequate pain relief for an acute illness like anyone else.

I had shingles about 6 yrs ago. I got it on my face. It was horrible. I'd say that my 24hrs of labor was a cinch compared to that!!!

I was misdiagonsed with that at first. I had a doc tell me it was nothing more than a rash and to use some cream to heal it. Well, after doing that, it became worse.

I still have the scar on my face from it. It was nasty!

mineral ice is a gel that you can get at the health food store and sometimes at places like walmart and kmart. It used to rub on sore muscles for pain. That would be the last thing that I would think to use for shingle pain, but if it works that would be well worth it.

Mystery, my doctor is open and willing to try all solutions for everything. I am not anti-meds but I am for med responsibility. I also believe in getting to the root of the pain, rather than masking it.

If it's a hip joint out, try osteopathy, acupressure and aqua therapy, if it's arthritis pain, try anti-imflammatories and light exercises, if it's back pain, see a chiropractor that does oracle adjustments (behind the ear), get a ergonomic massage cushion and get injections if needed. If it's foot pain, see a doctor that specializes in feet, get ortho shoes etc. If it's nerve pain, get your B12 checked and if needed, take Neurontin. Check your diet if you get IBS and see what your trigger foods are. Try eliminating wheat, dairy etc. Try live acidophilus cultures and digestive enzymes. If you have insomnia, try Melatonin, Sleep Tonight, meditation, hot baths etc. and get a sleep study done.

If you are always cold, get your B12 checked, get tested for Reynaud's Syndrome, get a heating pad and increase your blood circulation with supplements. Too tired and sore? try D-Ribose for energy and muscle repair.

My doctor's web blog shows new ways on healing. Botox injections for pain, making your own TMJ mouth guard and steroid injections to name a few.

Am I fanatical now about medications and alternative treatments? ...probably. Reason, in 23 years, not once did a doctor help me for my pain and symptoms... just gave me antidepressants that didn't work and caused more pain, weight gain and problems. Until my new doctor. Now I know there is more and there is help to relieve symptoms.

oops, carrie, i think your post might be meant for a different thread? btw i wasn't meaning that your doc is pro or anti - i have read most of his lengthy blog and its clear he is extremely open minded. thats what is so cool about him. he does make specific mention of shingles and adequacy of drug pain relief though. i'll see if i can find the text for CJ.

btw antidepressants clearly weren't needed to save your life. i know of many people who do need them though.

Probably should have started a separate post on this but since you mentioned me here, thought I'd put it here.

Absolutely would take antidepressents ... if I was depressed, which I'm not.

Shingle pain, from what I've heard is extremely painful and if opiods are needed, they are needed.

CJ, here is the text from Carrie's dr's blog. if you want to refer your doctor to it, click on the weblink and then use Ctrl+F (the search function) and type in "shingles" to find the article, with the link the research he cites. PHN stands for post herpetic neuralgia (shingles).

www.painmuse.org

"Fast Fix for Shingles Pain - and Doctors: For God’s Sake - Give a Block!

Nerve blocks combined with tricyclic antidepressants gave rapid relief of pain in 80% cases in one Japanese report. I feel nerve blocks or epidural blocks are manditory for any cases of shingles in which the current acutely infected pain would be too high to live with long-term.

Masui. 2008 Jul;57(7):874-8. [Effective treatment of acute pain and related symptoms in elderly with herpes zoster] [Article in Japanese] Tajima K, Kawagoe I, Kanai M, Mitsuhata H.

Found tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) like Amitriptyline and nerve blocks alleviated acute pain in 80% of cases and relief of depressive symptoms with it. TCA dose -?anyone read Japanese?
abstract here

This approach was reiterated by another oriental article published last year:

Acta Anaesthesiol Taiwan. 2007 Jun;45(2):95-101. Clinical experience of pain treatment for postherpetic neuralgia in elderly patients. Chau SW, Soo LY, Lu DV, Chen TI, Cheng KI, Chu KS.

“CONCLUSIONS: Our study results showed that the concurrent combination therapy with proper medications and appropriate nerve blocks could offer satisfactory pain relief in the majority of elderly patients with PHN. ” "