Shingles Support Group
Herpes zoster, colloquially known as shingles, is the reactivation of varicella zoster virus, leading to a crop of painful blisters over the area of a dermatome. It occurs very rarely in children and adults, but its incidence is high in the elderly (over 60), as well as in any age group of immunocompromised patients.
I am a 75 year old male. I have had shingles for about 8 weeks. I was out of town when I first got it and didnt know what it was. On day 3 or 4, I went to emergency care and got a prescription for Valtrex, I hoped it would be over in 2 weeks, it wasnt , then I hoped it would be over in a month, it wasnt. At first I took 1 Advil a day for pain. My back was quite painful at first with lots of random itchiness and nerve pain. I had a long ace bandage that I wrapped around my chest and back to keep the clothing from touching my shingles area. It was difficult but I was able to go out shopping and go to functions. I got 2 products from Amazon, Shingles Symptoms Relief Cream and Myomed. I prefer the Shingles Relief Cream. I found that Gold bond Ultimate (blue label) worked as well as Shingles cream. A couple days ago I read about Tagemet. (link)I
http://www.lifeextensionvitamins.com/tatotrheands.html
I got generic Tagemet at Walmart and I am taking 3 pills a day. My shingles is very slowly getting better. At first I could not sleep on my back, the pain was too much. I could hardly touch the shingles area it was painful. After 4 weeks it is starting to get better. After 8 weeks, I can touch my chest without pain and my back is getting better. I can still see the rashes but they are fading
http://www.lifeextensionvitamins.com/tatotrheands.html
I got generic Tagemet at Walmart and I am taking 3 pills a day. My shingles is very slowly getting better. At first I could not sleep on my back, the pain was too much. I could hardly touch the shingles area it was painful. After 4 weeks it is starting to get better. After 8 weeks, I can touch my chest without pain and my back is getting better. I can still see the rashes but they are fading
I have had shingles for 7 months. It is almost gone. I quit taking Tagmet after 2 months. I did find a plastic lotion roller at Drug Mart. I used it to put shingles relief creme on my back. The roll-a-lotion has a clear plastic cover. I just put a little creme on top of the cover and reach behind my back and put the creme on. I was doing this once in the morning and once before bed. You dont need a lot just a light coating. The shingles symptoms creme is on Amazon and the Roll-a-lotion gadget is on Ebay.
My pain is on the back so that is helpful to locate that roller as tough dealing with it. I live in Australia but am from the US and will be back September so will head to Walmart. It does get so debilitating and hard to explain the chronic pain to people.
I have been taking Lyrica daily and Ibuprofen when I wake up in the night which lets me sleep for another 3 hours. Clothiing is the worst. Thanks for your info.