WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

HERPES ZOSTER (SHINGLES)

Marion, hang in there. Your post appears to indicate that your dose of shingles, while very uncomfortable, isn't as agonizing as it can be and is so often. I hope it hasn't worsened since your post.

I'm putting this on the board for a reason. EVERYONE OUT THERE GET A SHINGLES VACCINE SHOT. Anyone who has had chicken pox is at risk. Anyone with a comprimized immune system, Judy Pete, that probably means you should have a shot and even if you've had shingles recently it doesn't mean you are immune. I know whereof I speak. Shingles, (herpes zoster virus) will stay in your spine forever and if you get old enough your anti bodies for that virus weaken or if you are having chemo or for many other reasons it can come roaring back. About 13 years ago I had what I thought was a migraine coming on with the typical pounding in the left side of my head just over the ear so ignored it and we left for a road trip to OH to leave Shadow with field trainer and then to Rochester to visit DD and the grands. I figured the pain would last a day or so and then I'd be good as new. By the second day on the road I had fierce stabs of pain in my left eye. It felt as if there were barbed wire in there and bright light was making me very uncomfortable. As I suppose most of you know, the virus attacks a nerve, most often running around the ribs under the arm and into the abdominal area. Well, mine was the optic nerve. As soon as we arrived at DD's Al took me to the ER at Strong Memorial Hospital, affiliated with the U of R medical school. It was my misfortune to run into a trauma doc who didn't know his #%@ from his elbow. A resident urged him to call in an opthalmologist or neurologist (either of which would have known exactly what the problem was). Of course by the time he saw me I was drugged up and they'd used some topical analgesic as well as demerol or some such thing. He sent me back to DD's and she and DSIL insisted I get into their bed. By midnight I was in agony and was afraid I was dying (brain tumor?) Al took me back tothe ER and I ran into another resident who was very concerned and the previous one came in as well. When the trauma doc arrived he was even worse than the preceeding one. He treated me and the female resident as if we were six years old. He did a lot of arm patting and telling me that I had abrasions on my cornea. I tried to convince him that I had terrific head pain as well as eye and that there had been no trauma to my eye. Both residents urged a consult with an ophalmologist and while he treated the male resident somewhat neutrally he really dissed the young lady. They doped me so heavily that I slept for a while and in the morning Al took me back to DD's where he gathered our belongings and we headed for home. ER idiot gave me an antibiotic salve for my "abrasions" which of course increased the pain and I had an allergic reaction to it as well. Poor Al was so exhausted we just had to stop so he could get some sleep and by the time we arrived in little old Sylva, NC and my doc's office which she kept open for us I was sure I was dying and so did Al who was normally unflappable. She had trouble getting a look at the eye for all the swelling but she guessed it was herpes. She drugged me up and ordered a brain scan to be sure. I met the ophalmologist in the local ER next morning and he and the trauma guy there guess it was herpes and when the scan came back "normal" but which did indicate a long standing sinus infection which indicated that even though I had been oblivious to the infection it had adversely effected my immune system. Since the infection was so long standing by the time it was diagnosed all attempts to relieve the pain, severity and duration I was sick as a dog from mid June onset until well into September. I spent most of that time in the darkest room in the house with one of those sleeping masks as I couldn't stand light, couldn't read as one of the eye drops I was getting was to paralyse the iris so as not to irritate the eye further, couldn't sleep for all the narcotics and pain. I tried to listen to recorded books but couldn't concentrate. To cut to the trace I would have paid every dime I had for relief. When the vaccine became available a couple of years ago it was a couple of months before Medicare started paying for it but I was the first one in town to have it and would gladly have paid 100 time the $200 it cost me. A friend in the guild had it recently around the ribs and she not only couldn't stand to wear a bra but had to turn her tee shirt inside out as the little seam allowances drove her nuts. Hers was treated promptly so the pain killers help her but not 100%. It lasted six weeks.

It's a bad, bad bug. I have corneal scars which have caused problems in getting a good correction with glasses. My DB had the same thing which was treated promptly and still his tear duct was damaged and his cornea had edema and it has remained very cloudy. Run, don't walk to your doc and get the vaccine.

Jane

posted by Jane in NC @ 7:49 PM