Shingles Support Group

you neeed to start an antibiotic like valtrex, because shingles is one of the forms of herpes. that will stop any new sores from forming and start to make the old ones go away. i've had shingles 3 times now.. and i found a pretty good way to deal. put lidocain patches on the sores, or a cream that my pharmacist made up. it is a blend if benadryl, lidocain cream and an antibiotic of some kind. dont do the cream and patches at the same time tho. apply one during the night and one during the day. it just depends on what one you wanna use when. since shingles is the adult form of chicken pox, you can give it to people that have not had chickenpox. here is a link with alot of good info. as far as natural remedies, i think there is a topic from awhile back that had that kinda info in it. i have never used natural so i dont know what to tell you on that part. hope you can get all this under control soon. its such a painful fustrating problem..

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/s...

amy

Three weeks ago I was diagnosed with shingles on the left side of my face extending from the top of my head to my left eye. My doctor put me on Valtrex, a pred pack which is orally taken methylprednisolone and prednisone drops for the eye. The pain was excruciating. They gave me oxycodone. The sores have healed but I still have three corneal lesions, neuralgia, or numbness in the face and fatigue like you cannot believe. Take care of yourself. See a doctor and make sure it is shingles. Normally, shingles only affects one nerve. I do not understand how it can be on both of your legs and an arm. Also, respectfully, this is no time to experiment with natural remedies. Get on Valtrex, etc. Good luck and I hope you beat it.

Thanks for the feedback! I've learned a lot about this condition in the last couple of weeks!

My understanding of Valtrex is that it is anti-viral (not antibiotic).

Yes, I did get outbreaks along both sciatic nerves and a small outbreak on the ulnar nerve (it cleared up quickly). Used licrogel, which is antiviral (based on licorice) and blisters were healed in 10 days and the scars are barely visible.

I still have fatigue. The reason the doc thinks that the virus broke out in so many places is that I have been on prednisone and cortisone series several times in the last 6 months due to a back injury and back surgery. Apparently shingles can hit multiple dermatomes in people who are immunocompromised - which cortisone will do (among other unhappy side effects)

I've sworn off cortisone treatment as a result unless there is no other option... it seems everything has its price and this has been a big price tag.

I was also just diagnosed. I was told and have read again and again that it is on only one side of the body. The doctor told me if it was on 2 sides it was not shingles. It seems checking this out would be the first thing to do. Perhaps get another opinion to make sure your diagnosis and treatment are correct.

I even had a physician's assistant tell me that I could catch shingles...

It IS possible to get shingles along more than one dermatome. I'm not the only one. Apparently its quite uncommon.

Yes, I have polyneuropathy, both legs and left arm, and neck, and not rash at all.