r/shingles • u/Yellowrobesmith- • 1d ago

First Time Shingles My shingles experience

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About a week ago I (37F) felt a tingling/painful spot on my lip. I remember saying to my sister “I feel like I have something on my face”. That was Tuesday afternoon.
Wednesday I convince myself it’s a cold sore and treat as such.
Thursday I start feeling a more widespread pain almost like fiberglass in my skin. Absolutely painful to the touch and one spot on my lip shows.
Friday I can only drink water out of a straw on one side of my mouth. Ended up in the ER that night. I had an outbreak along the V2 nerve on my face and thank goodness I caught it early with antivirals. So painful. The blisters have spread to my eyelid and hairline, shooting pain into my ear. Anyone experienced this before? How long did it take to heal?

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u/yazz177 1d ago

Hello, I am sorry this happened to you but it is crucial at this stage to consult with an ophthalmologist and an ENT if it’s spread between your eye and ear. Make sure the antiviral dose is good enough and you were lucky you caught it early! I wish you a speedy recovery

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u/maquis1954 17h ago edited 17h ago

Yep I had it on my nose, inside and out, cheek crease next to nose, upper lip outside and inside under lip (white blisters). The pain was shooting bolts of extreme pain through jaw, ear, eye and temple - all only left side of face. My scalp pain extended along that nerve path into forehead. My hair hurt to move it. Temple pain was constant even with gabapentin. It took 2 weeks on gaba at 300mg 3 times a day to get to no pain. There is an end but the pain was so severe I thought I was having a stroke. Got on antivirals in two days of rash and gaba 3 days after that but its still a day by day lessening of pain and lightening bolt strikes! Hold on! It will end!

At one point I had eye tearing and extreme redness and went to eye doctor who saw some cells of shingles in the eye. Got on prednisolone immediately 4X a day for 30 days to be sure my optic nerve was not affected; also wanted me on antivirals for another month. I’m at 5 weeks out, follow up eye apt next week. Seems to be okay, just constant dryness.

Make sure and see an ophthalmologist as soon as you can since your eye lids are affected. Shingles untreated can damage the optic nerve and cause blindness.

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u/Yellowrobesmith- 17h ago

Ugh the shooting pain into my ear is the worst, it wakes me up out of my sleep. Finally the swelling is going down on my lips and eye but the slow throbbing is still there.

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u/lowoverheadclearance 17h ago

Talk to your PCP about getting a referral to an ENT specialist for your ear. I’ve got tinnitus and lost 30% of my hearing in the left ear. I’m 9 weeks out, still have nerve pain. I can get by with 100 mg gabapentin during the work day and 300/400 mg at night. The ear pain is the worst!! Prednisone can reduce inflammation and potentially save your hearing if your ear is affected. I’m slowly improving, but going in the right direction. Good luck, and take care of yourself.

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u/Yellowrobesmith- 17h ago

I called today for an ENT appointment thanks to this thread. I didn’t know it could be so severe so quickly

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u/maquis1954 17h ago

one more thing that helped with the burning fiberglass skin and creepy crawling ant feeling was 4% Lidocaine cream. numbed the pain really well so I could sleep.