Shingles Support Group

Does anyone have ANY information on the possibility of Shingles and Lyme together?

Here's my story...I got shingle this past December, was misdiagnosed at the ER because they thought I had strained my back from shoveling. They never asked if I had a rash, fever, etc. I did have the beginnings of the shingles rash but I thought it was an allergic reaction from a new fabric softener I tried and since the itching was where the underwire was on my bra, I didn't think to mention it. I was in too much pain in my upper back. They sent me home with muscle relaxers.

After a week, the rash had gotten worse and the sores burst but I couldn't take the pain anymore so I went to my doc. He took one look and said it was the shingles. Told me it may be too late to do much and said we could only hope that I wouldn't suffer from PHN (post-herpetic neuralgia--which is nerve damage that can last anywhere from one year or for the rest of your life!) but he put me on antibiotics anyway. He gave me only one week's worth of Valtrex and put me on Oxycodone for the pain.

In June, my service dog and I were attacked by a neighborhood dog. One of my injuries was a knee injury and he gave me prednisone. Three weeks later and my knee still bothered me so he gave me steroid shots to my knee.

My knee got better, but I got worse. The pain intensified and then other symptoms suddenly appeared. Exhaustion, increase in anxiety and panic attacks, muscle aches that are beyond the norm, serious brain fog and memory issues.

I just found out this week by researching Lyme that a doctor should almost NEVER give steroids because it could reactivate the Lyme. Over the years I have been bitten by Lyme ticks THREE times and then started to research Lyme symptoms again.

I went to my Pain Management doctor and he agreed that stress along with the steroids could have reactivated my Lyme. I emailed my doctor and explained how sick I was and very nicely informed him of my conversation with my PM doc and how we both felt it was Lyme. I'm not sure if he's trying to cover his ass or not because it said right on my chart that I had Lyme 3 times and maybe he just forgot about the steroids. He ordered a Lyme test and also one for Lupus and arthritis. I asked if he was going to send it to Igenix and also test for the co-infections and his attitude was like, "No, just the basic Lyme test, that's good enough." When I tried to educate him on how unreliable that one test is, it's like he didn't even hear what I said and went on talking about scheduling an appointment.

My questions are....could the shingles (which is also a parasite) have triggered the Lyme? Could it have been the steroids? Or a combination of both?

I've tried to research if there's a connection and found only a mention here and there on the two of them, one possibly triggering the other.



Any help or just a word of support would be greatly appreciated. I thought the shingles were bad enough----which, by the way, since I've now had the pain for almost a year, the chances of the nerve damage healing is slim to none so I'm looking at a lifetime of managing THAT pain.

The problem I'm having with the research is that the treatment for Lyme contradicts the treatment for shingles (meaning it can make it worse), and the treatment for shingles can make the Lyme worse! I'm at a loss here.

Thanks for listening...no one seems to understand the Lymes and how trying it is to just get out of bed and by the time I get dressed, I'm exhausted again and the symptoms get worse as each week passes.



Thanks,

Shantiann
Posted on 11/12/08, 01:11 am