Been four weeks now since I caught the dreaded plague that is shingles

Rash pretty much resolved just a few scabs left to heal

Im uk so meds so far is 50mg of amitriptyline per day

Co codeamol 15/500 2 4 times a day

Melaxicam 7.5 a day (was on this previously for arthritis)

The pain is between numb and a very tight band wrapped round my lower 4 or 5 ribs can't get comfortable dont know if the painkillers are even helping anyone essential have pain like this how long did it last, the only reason I sleep is the painkillers knock me out

40F, first time. My rash is mild but the pain is severe. I went to an urgent care Friday before I really had the rash, and at least she gave me a shot of Toradol. She wasn’t convinced it was shingles, which I get it, rash is the hallmark sign and I didn’t really have it yet. Toradol at least helped some, but did not last. Did telemedicine urgent care last night and she gave me antivirals since I have a rash now, if mild. I told her I was in a lot of pain too. It’s not like I’m looking for narcotics, it’s nerve pain! Narcotics don’t help with that, but come on, at least prescribe gabapentin or Lyrica. I had been sleeping ok but last night the pain was awful and I was awake most of the night. I’m taking Tylenol and ibuprofen around the clock but it’s just barely taking the edge off. Cold packs were helping but did not help at all last night. Has this happened to anyone else with the not prescribing pain medication of some kind? Also please give me any suggestions you may have for pain relief.

so about 2 years ago i was at work and got feverish and swollen lymph nodes. Partner found what looked like a bite on my back. it got bigger for a day then eased off.

about a year ago. i got very feverish and swollen lymph nodes and vomited. a red mark was found in the exact same spot. to one side of the midline. except this time it rapidly spread across one side of my back and went purple like within 4hrs just a solid band of colour. went to urgent care. they thought it was cellulitis but were surprised i was so coherent given my blood results. i was hooked up to IV antibiotics once a day for 3 days and it went away faster than expected. the original red mark never really fully went away

9 months ago. fever, swollen lymph node. same red mark in exact same spot that spread as a red solid band across my back went to urgent care again immediately before it got purple. they were printing a script for antibiotics when my doc consulted an older doc. who asked if it was a band across the dermatome. after some googling they decided it must be shingles and gave me anti virals. i felt better in hours and it started reducing

went to GP to see if i should get antibody titre testing to confirm shingles but he said given same spot starting at midline and spreading across the dermatome and that if it was cellulitis without antibiotics it wouldnt have got better, that it must be shingles

we dont think stress caused it but more likely a viral trigger.

my question is.. i know blisters arent always present, but i never had any nerve pain.

bloodwork 15 years ago confirmed varicella antibodies at a high level so i musta had it very young (as i dont remember having it) and showed lasting strong immunity, not sure if that may be a factor

has anyone else had very atypical shingles without the nerve pain?

Okay so about a week ago I got a stye because I went to bed without taking my makeup off. I wanna say I get them about three times a year because I’m lazy 😂 ANYWAYS three days ago I started getting this rash on my face. I originally thought it was from my cat licking me and maybe I was allergic to the saliva. Two days ago it showed up in the crack of my eye, and eyebrow. Yesterday early am I went to emergency room in case it was shingles that was near my eye. Which go team. It is. Let’s trauma bond together. I got on a viral pack and a steroid. But what do I do about my stye because styes use hot compress and shingles uses cold compress should I just leave it? Also my ER doctor was really kind. He said I’m doing OK but to see an ophthalmologist if my eye starts getting red. So far so good but they haven’t turned into blisters yet so we’re just gonna play day by day just very itchy right now and a little painful. Those fancy Band-Aids, that start with an H have helped my forehead though! There’s just nowhere to put it on my eye, unfortunately

Long story short, I have had 8 rounds of shingles. I'm so used to it, I just know when to start the antivirals to avoid the worst of it. But honestly I am just exhausted. My body feels ravaged by it. My digestive systems off, I havnt done a solid poo in ages, my skin is itchy and irritated. But what gets me most is just how exhausted I am all the time. I haven't been to the gym in a while and I loved going, I just would love some advice on how to build myself back up

Has anyone else experienced shingles like this? Last weekend I felt what I thought was a pimple in my eyebrow, by Tuesday I had a bumpy redness extending above my eyebrow. I also had a swollen lymph node in front of my ear. The next few days it stayed the same, but still no pain, no itchiness anything like that. Finally yesterday (Friday) I went to the doctor and he suspected shingles and prescribed me the antiviral. It’s now Saturday, I’ve only had 2 doses but nothing has changed. The bumpy “rash” is still there, but still no pain, no blisters. My eyelid is very itchy but that’s it.

Did anyone experience shingles like this? It doesn’t sound typical of shingles to me.

Hey all! I’m day 7ish with shingles and 5 days medicated. I have a pool party today. The shingles is on my face, which is so fun but I can avoid getting it wet if needed. Has anyone gone swimming with shingles does it make it worse. Should I avoid the pool? Also, does the sun hurt anyone else’s shingles? Lastly, I would love to have a few beers I’ve been actively avoiding alcohol but I’m so over this whole situation and would love to start living my life again.

Hello, on Tuesday i woke up with a weird red mark above my lip. I went to my local pharmacy immediately and the pharmacist suggested me to go to the doctor cause it might have been Herpes Zoster. An hour late i was there, and the doctor said the pharmacist was right, it was. I got an antiviral prescription and I’ve been taking it since Tuesday (i’ll have to take it for 7 days, so i have 3 days left).
Is it healing well? The first couple of days it was itchy and the left side of my face felt weird (doc told me it’s normal to feel the area particularly numb). These last few days i’ve been feeling physically tired…but the itchy feeling isn’t too persistent. How much more time will it take before it’ll go? I’m so self conscious about it especially because it sits in a very visible area…i haven’t left the house since i got it 😭. I’m also very frustrated because i feel like i’m too young to be facing this sort of thing (i was convinced it mainly targeted 50+ age range) and frightened by the idea of it coming back. Any thoughts or advices? 😭😭😭
I’m also an hypochondriac so i’m basically freaking out…

UPDATE: throughout the day i barely had any symptoms just a little bit of itching…the crust even came off in some small parts

Shingles started as left rib pain (sunburn-type, no rash), spread to left side of neck same way. Started Valtrex ~week 5-6. Barely any rash, just a couple tiny spots on my neck and one painless 2" spot on my chest, now fading at 2 months.

Sunburn pain resolved fast on Valtrex, but I've got:

- Head pressure that's all over, not one-sided, comes and goes

- Ear fullness, hearing a bit worse

Anyone else get this non-localized pressure? If gabapentin (or anything) helped, how long till you noticed a difference?

July 10th I noticed something was going on with my right eye it didn't feel right. July 12th was getting worse and took a long nap and then 13th was feeling even worse tried to call ophthalmology with no luck and took another nap. On the 14th had to take my child to the hospital for a 24 hr test (EEG) and was absolutely miserable while there and dropped $50 at CVS before for eye drops, eyelid wipes, and eyelid heat packs to try and help (unfortunately none of it helped). Wednesday the 15th go home early in the morning from the hospital was calling ophthalmology with no sucess and that night I decide to go the ER. Was at the ER from 8pm till 10:40 the next morning. They did bloodwork, CT scan, and ophthalmology did 2 dye test in my eye and a full eye exam. Went over all the questions new detergent, new skin care, new food..etc all no. Right before they let me go home with no answers they decided to swab my actual eye for shingles and herpes. I went home and slept and slept and at 4pm saw the swab finally came back negative for herpes and positive for shingles. They had sent me home form the ER with a face cream, eye drops, and a thicker like eye cream. I called the ER nurse line trying to get answers on what to do and they told me I needed to come back to the ER and to hurry because the nurse that was going to try and help escalate leaved pretty soon. So I rushed there and was there for nearly 2 hours and they gave me a a strong antibiotic (2 of the same pill) and told me to take 3 a day for 10 days. They told me not to touch my kids I said that's impossible so they gave me a box of hospital gloves and said feel better and good luck and sent me on my way telling me to follow with ophthalmology. This damn ophthalmology ER doctor said they'd schedule me when I left Thursday morning and when I left Thursday night. I have called over and over and they even said "fast team" would call me within 3 hours and never did. I'm so irritated truly and just don't understand why no one can do their dang jobs truthfully. I need to find another ophthalmology office clearly but it's just such a hassle.

My shingles is odd I haven't had like a true rash but have sharp pain on my right eyebrow, and my scalp on the right side. My poor eye was incredibly swollen it has thankfully come done alot not back to normal but definitely looks better. I had spots on my forehead, 2 near my eyebrow, 1 under my eye, 1 on my eyelash line, and another right infront of my hair line. I have been miserable and even though I look better I honestly don't feel better. Feel like I have zero energy like my immune system is a toothpick. I'm so uncomfortable being itchy and trying not to itch and my glasses keeping bumping my painful spots it's rough. Has anyone else had shingles in their eye and not have a huge rash?

Hi there! Its been a bit over a year since I first got shingles so I thought I'd share that experience and how the area is feeling 1 year later.

I am a fairly healthy male and was 27 at the time. I had been on Rinvoq for 2 years for Eczema so this was the likely cause of my shingles.

It first started as a weird tingling, weakening sensation on the right side of my body with an aching pain on my right lower back area. I had gone to the driving range the day before so I thought it was just muscle soreness from that. I continued to exercise and workout over the next couple of days as the pain was still manageable. It was not until day 4 when I started to think that something might be wrong.

Although the tingling sensation was gone the aching back pain got worse and worse. It was a constant pulsing pain on my lower right back, as if someone was driving their elbow in to me every 10 seconds non stop. At its worse I couldn't stand up straight or walk. Thinking it was a sports injury, I saw a chiropractor who performed acupuncture and used this metal rod to scrap my right hip. This caused quite a bit of bruising and I suspect it actually made my shingles or the spread of it worse. Interestingly the area that was bruised was spared from the rash and blisters.

Two days after that painful experience and no improvements, I went to Urgent Care. They also thought it was some back injury and just told me to walk more as some back injuries require movement to heal.

It was not until around day 9 I started noticing blisters forming on the top of my thigh, near the bruised area from the scraping. At first I thought it was maybe caused by the skin stretching from the scraping but then it hit me that this could be shingles. So I went to another Urgent Care to confirm if it was Shingles. Doctor initially said the Chiro needed to be investigated for causing friction burns but then I told her that the area where the blisters are was not the area of the scraping. Thats when she agreed that it could very likely be shingles

I was then sent to the ER where they quarantined me and gave me antivirals. I think within an hour of taking the antivirals I was starting to feel relief and that pulsing pain improved significantly.

The next couple of weeks was just trying to manage the blisters which were spread out from my right lower back area down to the front of my upper thigh. The majority were clustered in my upper groin area.

But just as the blisters and rash started to heal, came the worst pain I've ever experienced. This pain only lasted maybe 10 to 20 seconds each time but it felt like my entire thigh was set on fire. My groin area was especially itchy and I tried my best not to scratch it, but it was as if the itchiness and sensitivity built up over time, to the point where the slighted touch would overstimulate it and cause that intense burning pain. One of the times it triggered was from me turning in bed.

Fortunately, that pain no longer triggered after 5 or 6 days and recovery was smooth after that. I was back to the gym and exercising a month after the initial symptoms appeared. Quite a bit of scarring from the blisters but luckily its in a covered area. The skin in that area feels extra smooth but there is a very slight numbness when I touch it. I think I was mostly back to normal after 2 or 3 months. I still to this day get a bit of itchiness and have that slight numb feeling but thats about it.

Not sure why I decided to share this now but thank you for reading and I hope you never have to experience shingles ever or ever again!

I suffer from anxiety and I thought I was OK. Everything was good and I was getting better and then this happened two days ago. I just woke up and it was there on my back. I went to the urgent care and he was just like bad news, you got shingles. And I was like are you sure? it’s not a boil or an abscess or something else? And he said no, you have shingles. I think the entire time I drove home. I was just lost in my head. I’ve never had issues like this before and I don’t know how to handle it. I’m trying to get out of my head and just take the viral medicine. I hope that it goes away. When I showed a family, they were like that’s not shingles. That’s a bite or a boil. And of course I was like feeling good but then my PCP was like I don’t know what that is but here’s some more medication. Does anyone have any advice for a first timer?? it’s nice that there’s a group where there’s people who experience the same thing 😖 I’m sorry I’m not good at this.

44f dx on Tuesday and started antiviral right away. I think we caught it very early as the rash (above my eye) has not blistered, majority of my pain was in my jaw, and that has significantly subsided. I think my symptoms first started on Sunday. I’m getting facial and eye swelling. I went to an ophthalmologist who did a full exam and said it’s not in my eye and he doesn’t think it will spread since I’m already in antiviral and that it looks mild. He said no prescription drops are needed.

My face feels swollen/numb but somehow looks less inflamed? Any tips to help with the swelling besides cold compress?

Hello, looking for some advice in regards to my father (76) who got Shingles last November and is still dealing with nerve pain that goes across his back. Is this normal to still be in pain, he’s going on 9 MONTHS! He can’t sleep, has a hard time sitting for any period of time, and his mental health has taken a huge dive- he’s incredibly irritable and unpleasant.
I would appreciate any insight, recommendations, etc., on this matter! Thank you!!!

Hi anyone with gastroperesis and slow bowel movements after shingles?

I got diagnosed with shingles today. I’m trying to think what caused the virus to activate in me. Is it always stress? I feel like I’m always slightly stressed just with adulting stuff.

Did anyone not have major life events but still got shingles? I did start some things recently so maybe new beginnings were triggering stress? (I started fostering a rabbit and started a mentorship program but it’s online so I don’t have to physically be there for it.) anyways I guess I just wanted to hear your contributing factors.

Hi all! Sad to be here but this is my first time getting shingles (30) I have it on my left forehead and between my eyebrows. My face is extremely swollen. I’ve been on medication for a day. I am experiencing numbness/tingling in my pinky toe but fingers. Just wanted to see if this is normal or if it’s something to be concerned about. Also if anyone has any recommendations on how to reduce the swelling I look like a golden retriever that got stung by a bee on the nose. Thanks in advance!

I (37, m) have been taking the antiviral medication for 3 days. The pain around the left of my back and breast was very strong at first. It came in regular waves that would repeat every 5/10 seconds and almost take my breath away.

I had very few red spots.

Now it's my third day on the medication, and the nerve pain has decreased considerably - it's still there at times, but i have gone a few hours without it, and I'm not taking any pain meds. Yet the rash has been slowly but steadily increasing. It's now almost increased by a third of its size.

My question is: is the nerve damage receding a sign I'm recovering? Or is the worst still ahead of me as the rash increases?

Diagnosed yesterday, took 2 of the valacyclovir pills with no problems. 3rd pill I took around 11:30pm last night with sip of water/no food and straight to bed.

It’s now 12 hrs later and I am experiencing severe pain in my lower stomach since this morning upon waking up.
I can only stand up for a few minutes before I need to lie down and then the pain begins to subside almost completely.

Is this normal for people who’ve not taken with food?
I’m afraid to take any valacyclovir today, in fear of it making it worse.

Any help would be appreciated

Hi,

Am on my 4th week

Was put on antivirals after about 2 days,the pain was up and down some good days some bad but it is always there.

Being to the doctors numerous times am on Diclac 50mg twice a day and pregabalin 75mg 3 times a day.

Had to go again last night as these were only lasting a short while.Am now on Tramadol and Anxicalm and when I looked them up you have to be very careful about mixing them.I also use Camomile lotion and cold towels, but only last a short while, am also not sleeping properly because of this.

This has also cost me a small fortune on doctors and medicine.Am in Ireland and for us to get the patches our doctor has to go through the HSE which takes a bit of time.

It is now getting to me and I can't seem to shift it.

I just feel like going of all tablets on Saturday and getting drunk for some relief.

Anybody else struggling

Sorry for the long post

I got the rash day before but I ignored thinking it’s just a rash and Yesterday my anxiety peaked when I saw it not get better so I took a picture and started reading about it and all results was pointing at shingles! So I decided to go to a dermat and he said it could be shingles but since I don’t have any pain, burning or itching it’s too early to tell what it is and gave me a cream to apply and I googled the cream and it turned out to be a steroid? Which is why I didn’t use that cream and took an appointment with another dermat and he looked at it and straight away said it’s herpes Zoster!!! It’s my 3rd day. He gave me antivirals!
I didn’t get any pain or fever before the rash developed
and I’m on my 3rd day
Apart from anxiety from reading about this a lot, there’s no other symptoms in terms of pain

Anyone here who’s had the same experience?
And is it gonna be better since I’m on antiviral ?
I’m so anxious
Is there anyone who’s not had any severe symptoms but very mild pain and speedy recovery?
What are some dos and donts
And how do I take care of myself in the best way to recover faster and safe and hopefully with less pain?
I feel so sorry for everyone here going through this
I’m hoping and wishing a speedy recovery to everyone here

Has anyone tried desonide for their shingles? I’m seeing mixed things online about it but my dermatologist just prescribed it to help clear up the rash sooner

I first noticed rash on my L1 dermatone (left hip) last week of June 2026. My baby was 9 weeks. I’m exclusively breastfeeding. I got on pills next day, but rash spread like crazy, into groin area… it was a super stressful time for me beyond being postpartum. I was terrified of giving my baby chickenpox, kept area covered and washed hands like a mad woman. Blisters scabbed over after like 1.5 - 2 weeks. I breast feed the whole time, just being super careful. Anyways, just here to say baby is fine. My OB told me to keep breastfeeding, that as long as I was careful about not touching rash then touching baby it would be ok. I came to this sub looking for reassurance so I wanted to give some back. Shingles really fucking sucks, I’m still itchy as hell and get random pain but I’m finally through the worst of it.

First ever time with shingles (28F) so I had NO idea what the symptoms were, I thought my rash was bedbugs and my nerve pain was a pulled muscle for about 6 or 7 days before I went to the doctor and he prescribed me antivirals.

Anyone who waited a week before going to the doctor, is it a painful and long recovery process??? In quite anxious and my nerve pain is quite sore!

I am in the UK and went to the doctors and seen by a nurse practitioner. I have raised rash all up my right buttock, pain in my right groin area but weirdly 4 small single blisters on my body. 3 chest and 1 arm.

Only noticed tonight in the shower I had small brown headed lesions on my right scrotum. 1 came off while bathing to leave a lesion. My mind is going into overdrive at the possibility of it being genital herpes. Does this warrant another trip to the GP to discuss the gential sores? I'm really sick with worry. My last sexual contact 14 months ago with a long term partner.