Last Saturday, I noticed an itchy, painful place on my side. I chalked it up to an irritable waistband on the junk shorts I was wearing while painting my kitchen cabinets. (Saturday was day three of that job.)
From there on it went something like this.
Sunday: Hey this spot feels even worse. What the heck? Did I get cleaning fluid on it? Maybe that Bam! is caustic to my skin?
Monday: Ok...Weird...The itchy painful spot is bigger. Now it runs from my waist band to bra line in a 2 inch swatch. But I don't see anything.
Tuesday: Ow, ow, ow, ow...rash. Oh man. This really hurts. It's like it was burned. I'm not even a pain wimp. I had one kid with pitocin and no pain meds. I should be able to handle a little rash thing. Gosh, I am so tired. Why do I feel so tired?
Wednesday: Worse than yesterday. Ok, that's it. I'm going to the doctor even though I feel stupid making an appointment for an itchy, painful rash. I was so tired I took a nap today and yesterday. I am not a nap person. This can't be related to the rash and the terrible pain around it.
Thursday: Don't touch it. Don't touch me. Oh this hurts. As soon as MIL arrives, I'm going to the doctor...if he laughs at me I'm going to be so mad.
MIL arrives and looks at the rash as says...."Hey, that looks like shingles."
Shingles!
Shingles is an old people thing. I'm not old. So I do a little research before my doctor's appointment.
Chicken pox? check that one
compromised immune system from a list of causes including stress? Ha, ha,ha, we've got stress in spades around here.
The pictures were pretty scary but they looked similar to what I was wearing.
The doctor agreed and I started a topical ointment and some horse-size anti-viral pills. Yesterday, I noticed that the larger area wasn't as painful. The rash is slowly getting better I don't cringe if something brushes up against me. And I can knit again.
What amazes me is how such a small area could be so debilitating. Some older people get shingles all over one side of their body. I've often heard about older people with bad episodes just losing the will to live.
I can understand that.
Bad stuff
4 comments:
Sorry you've been sick. It's hard enough to make it through deployment days when your healthy.
ugh ZooMom!!!! oh man! I am so sorry!!! Do you have to be careful around the children? around others? they have anti-viral pills??? what's the name of the topical cream? good gracious! i am sorry.
Jacqui,
Technically the kids could get chicken pox if I rubbed them against the rash. I don't plan on doing that. Doc said that some kids get chicken pox from people with Shingles but it has to be a very bad outbreak and there has to be lots of contact.
The virus that causes shingles and chicken pox is in the Herpes family. (That is so gross to even type out.) So yes, there is an anti-viral drug for that family of viruses but not for virses in general. The big horse pills won't help the summer cold I have brewing but they are keeping the rash from gong crazy.
Cream is a hydrocordisone, xylecaine, and aloe mix.
It doesn't do anything but relieve symptoms. (doesn't fix the problem...like a topical pain med.)
I think I'm on the down slope. The rash looks better and my energy is coming back.
OMG, I've had those. (I said the same thing, too - I'm too young for shingles!!! Evidently, we're not.)
FWIW, in the future, if you can call your doc the second your skin starts to get that "mmm, this isn't right" feeling to it, you can get on the drugs immediately and actually bypass the whole rash outbreak. And he won't laugh at you.
I'm glad you're on the upswing. It's been an absolute circus here, and I haven't been able to stay caught up, but you've continued to be in my thoughts.
Oh, and on a totally unrelated note, are you close enough to Chattanooga for a trip to the aquarium? I think I'm going to drag the kids up there while Zorak is gone. :-)
Dy
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