Shingles or "Suck meter is nearly pegged"

[safariteam5]

It all started two weeks ago Saturday. I had a small bump by my left eye which was a bit sore. I first noticed it in the theater while watching "The Crazies". I checked it out when I got home but didn't think much of it. It got a bit worse on Sunday and on Monday morning I went to the doctor to get it looked at, thinking it might be some sort of stye or something. The PA looked at it for about 3 seconds and said it was "an infection" and gave me some antibiotic drops and told me to come back if it got worse. By Wednesday my eye was nearly swollen shut and had some nasty pus coming out of it, not to mention I had a headache that felt like somebody was driving a 20 penny nail through my skull with a ball peen hammer. The PA looked at it again and referred me to an eye doctor. The eye doc poked and prodded for about 5 mins and then said it was still "an infection" and gave me an oral anti-biotic commonly used for sinus infections. Again I was told to come back if it got worse. On Thursday it was worse. Not only was my eye nearly glued shut with the nasty pus when I woke up, the headache was even worse, the whole left side of my head was swollen and the vision in my left eye was hazy like looking through fog. So I went back to the eye doctor. He did some tests and decided that the pressure in my left eye was 44 when normal was 15-21. He gave me a bunch of glaucoma drops which brought the pressure down and said that the "angle ducts" in that eye, which allow fluid to drain from the cornea were almost shut and a eye surgeon would have to zap them with a laser to open them up and allow the fluid to drain properly. I go to the specialist that afternoon and after nearly a 90 minute wait in their shabby waiting room got in to see the doctor. The specialist looked at it for about two seconds and pronounced that I had shingles. Or as he said it, “herpes”, which gave me some pause. He explained that shingles is related to the herpes virus and chicken pox. I had always thought that shingles was something that old people got and certainly didn’t expect it at the relatively spry young age of 43. Apparently, if you have had the chicken pox, the virus lies dormant and can return as shingles at some inopportune time, frequently following a time of stress. As I just got back from a month in Haiti and the Dominican Republic providing security for convoy operations I guess I was a prime candidate. The doc prescribed three different types of drops and another type of anti-biotic which I have to follow for two weeks. The medicines have cleared up virtually all the symptoms but a side-effect of one of the drops, Atropine 1%, is a dilated pupil with accompanying blurred vision and light sensitivity. As I am a Federal LEO this means I cannot drive my government vehicle or carry a firearm so I have been on sick leave for a week with a week left in the cycle. Not a bad deal since it is March Madness and I have been able to catch most of the tournament, but it still sucks to be sitting home with blurry vision. At least I didn't have to get zapped in the eye with a laser (again...., I had Lasik in 2003).

If you have not had shingles, I gotta say it is not something to look forward to. While the last week and a half has been a drag I suppose I am fortunate that I got this out of the way while I am still young. Though this will give me one less thing to talk about when I am old and sitting around the Hardee’s drinking AARP subsidized coffee with all the other retirees.

[Vicarious_Lee]

1. It's never "out of the way", my man. Sorry to tell you, but you're now susceptible to shingles again (and again). Shingles is the chicken pox virus that lies dormant in the various nerve roots throughout your body. Forever. When your immune system is compromised, such as in times of serious stress (you were saying something about being in Haiti?), the virus reactivates and it's really painful.

2. That doesn't really look like shingles to me, but I don't have a ton of experience with it. Looks more like cellulitis or even Bell's Palsy the way your lower left face is drooping.

3. If some doctor said you have shingles, why the fuck didn't he give you acyclovir or some other anti herpes med? Is he not convinced of his diagnosis, or does he just want to see you in pain?

[safariteam5]

@#$%^&* Thanks for that bit of good news, V_L. I thought shingles was "one and done" like chicken pox. I guess I'll have to try to avoid stress in my twilight years. Sure as hell don't want this mess again.

I don't think my left side is so much drooping as just swollen. It was swollen all the way down to my lymph node on that side. And the way the left eyebrow is arched is apparently the nerves firing in pain. He said it was the "botox look" which he said was a tell-tale indicator. To tell the truth my head hurt so much at that time I was only getting about 1/2 of what he was saying.

Actually Acyclovir was the med the last doctor prescribed with three types of drops, Atropine, Pred Forte, and Combigan. Seems to have done the trick.

[Istvan56]

My sympathies, Bro! I hate to say it but working in any disaster area, let alone in the 3rd World with poor to non-existent sanitation you risk picking up lots of bad things. Ugh, the parasites and illness I've had. Fortunately I've had time to get over most of it but yeah, some of it never completely goes away.

[Vicarious_Lee]

@#$%^&* Thanks for that bit of good news, V_L. I thought shingles was "one and done" like chicken pox. I guess I'll have to try to avoid stress in my twilight years. Sure as hell don't want this mess again.

I don't think my left side is so much drooping as just swollen. It was swollen all the way down to my lymph node on that side. And the way the left eyebrow is arched is apparently the nerves firing in pain. He said it was the "botox look" which he said was a tell-tale indicator. To tell the truth my head hurt so much at that time I was only getting about 1/2 of what he was saying.

Actually Acyclovir was the med the last doctor prescribed with three types of drops, Atropine, Pred Forte, and Combigan. Seems to have done the trick.

Oh, well there you go. Acyclovir makes it go away? It's shingles. I know it sucks (not firsthand.....yet), but just think about how nasty this condition was before the wave of antiviral medication R&D over the last 20+ years. In a roundabout way, you can kind of thank AIDS for helping treat your shingles.

It may never come back at all. Some people only have a few flare ups in their entire lifetime.

[alptraum]

Sorry to hear that. A good friend of mine (who is 39) just went through the shingles experience a week or two ago. He had an outbreak on his arm. We were also under the impression that it was the sort of thing that happened to much older people. He and his doc were lucky enough to catch it early. He still was in quite a bit of pain, though I don't think he had headaches. I think his pain was all in his arm. And it also really sapped his energy level.

It seems to be a weird thing. As I understand it, if you've ever had chicken pox, you could get it. And if you've never had chicken pox and rub up against somebodys shingles, you can get...chicken pox.

[doubleohseven]

Valtrex works.

[Nechro]

My wife gets out breaks every other month it seems. I think it has a lot to do with stress. She gets a patch of blisters on her back about the size of a silver dollar. Supposedly if those blisters pop and the puss comes in contact with someone who has never had "the pox" they will get it. She can't go swimming in public areas and has to stay home from work when she first initially breaks out (day care)
After a week or 2 it scabs up and without meds it's gone in 3-4 weeks. Our Insurance doesn't cover Valtrex or any others. She stopped taking meds years ago. She gets real bad pains in her arm from it. The shingles is attached to a nerve and she will always get it in the same spot with a chance of it following the nerve down her arm, according to the dr. anyway.

[safariteam5]

I guess I am going to have to take up massage, meditation, and whatever else it takes to prevent stress as I sure don't want this again. Actually only the first week really sucked but since it is effecting the nerves around my left eye and the associated meds give me blurry vision and keep me out of work it has been a three week drag. I go back to the doctor on Friday so hopefully I'll get a clean bill of health and be able to get back to work.

My mother-in-law had it and it was attached to the sciatic nerve which made her miserable for several weeks. So far she has only had it the one time.

[TDW586]

That majorly sucks.

[Vicarious_Lee]

My wife gets out breaks every other month it seems. I think it has a lot to do with stress. She gets a patch of blisters on her back about the size of a silver dollar. Supposedly if those blisters pop and the puss comes in contact with someone who has never had "the pox" they will get it. She can't go swimming in public areas and has to stay home from work when she first initially breaks out (day care)
After a week or 2 it scabs up and without meds it's gone in 3-4 weeks. Our Insurance doesn't cover Valtrex or any others. She stopped taking meds years ago. She gets real bad pains in her arm from it. The shingles is attached to a nerve and she will always get it in the same spot with a chance of it following the nerve down her arm, according to the dr. anyway.

I was hoping acyclovir was on the generic list. It's one of the oldest antivirals. Wait........ yeah, it is. It's not too expensive. However, valtrex is expensive as hell. Damn.

[Resolute]

Damn man, sorry to hear you got shingles on your eye - worst place to get it. Can lead to some serious permanent changes.

I had shingles a couple months ago, and got to miss a week of work from it... Luckily I caught it early and it was only about a dozen or so bumps on my right chest in an arc. It sure sucked, though, and sometimes I still have a few pains from it that stab me in the side/back.

I hope you can go back to driving and carrying soon!

[safariteam5]

Thanks for the kind words y'all.

This morning I called the doctors office to confirm the hour of my appointment and it turns out I mis-remembered and it is on Monday not today. I asked if there was something today since I need to get back to work (I have cases piling up that I need to get cracking on before I am off to DC for a protection detail on the 9th). I told the nurse/receptionist that the sypmtoms are gone and the only reason I am still on the bench is the Atropine drops so I wanted to see the doc and get the okay to discontinue the drops. She said that it would take up to 10 days for the dilation and blurred vision to return to normal. I about flipped. I had no idea. I have since looked up Atropine 1% and all I have found on the internet (which we all know is the truth ) says that it should be closer to 48 hours. I am hoping by Monday to be back to what passes for normal. We'll see. Not that I haven't enjoyed chilling at home with the missus but I am ready to get back in the fray and keep the evil passport fraud perpatrators on the run.

[ODA 226]

Thanks for the kind words y'all.

This morning I called the doctors office to confirm the hour of my appointment and it turns out I mis-remembered and it is on Monday not today. I asked if there was something today since I need to get back to work (I have cases piling up that I need to get cracking on before I am off to DC for a protection detail on the 9th). I told the nurse/receptionist that the sypmtoms are gone and the only reason I am still on the bench is the Atropine drops so I wanted to see the doc and get the okay to discontinue the drops. She said that it would take up to 10 days for the dilation and blurred vision to return to normal. I about flipped. I had no idea. I have since looked up Atropine 1% and all I have found on the internet (which we all know is the truth ) says that it should be closer to 48 hours. I am hoping by Monday to be back to what passes for normal. We'll see. Not that I haven't enjoyed chilling at home with the missus but I am ready to get back in the fray and keep the evil passport fraud perpatrators on the run.

This is what you get for not getting QP'd on PS.com! Quit you're whinning and send me a PM over there! There are other QP's that know you!

Huggy Bears and Kissy Faces!
Craig

PS: Get well soon! That shit SUCKS!

[DCIdevil]

I had the same thing happen the week I got married, I was buying my house the same week as well. STRESS!
Same symptoms minus the puss, headache like I wanted to die/slightly blurred vision ... Seen everyone in town and no one could tell what it was, was incredibly incredibly painful.
From start to finish it took about 2 weeks to be done with but all my wedding pics my eye is all swollen up

Anyways good luck to you man, I hope it never happens to me again. You should clear up soon.

[Metzger]

Not trying to derail, but anyone else get tired of doctors throwing blister-packs at their patients and running? Prescribing antibiotics for everything without actually doing a diagnosis seems to be endemic.

Friend recently went in for a persistent cough/sore throat, basically strep is what everyone thought. RA prescribed antibiotics, took a swab, said call back if it does not fix it. It did not fix it, and when he called back for another appointment he learned the RA did not bother to send in the swab for a test, so he still did not know what it was. Repeat this 2 more times over 2 weeks while everyone around him is yelling at him to get a real diagnosis. But when your sick and sleep deprived you are willing to hear a comforting "take this and it will all be better." When he finally finds out what it is? Antibiotic resistant something, causes pneumonia or fluid in the lungs. Something doctors and hospitals breed by giving out too much antibiotics. Of course he is fine, once they bothered to figure out what it was the cure was obvious! A brand new Antibiotic, one that this particular bug was not immune to.. yet.

True story.

The fun thing about curing shingles or herpes? They have anti virals, but it cannot cure the stuff hiding away in your nerve cells. So when they find a way to make all your latent virii come out at once they can use an AV to kill them all at the same time. That is going to be a bad case of shingles/ coldsores

[FlashDaddy]

Yeah, it ain't just for old folks. I got the shingles, and it was bad, when I was like 35. My employer was going down the tubes, there was a recession on and I couldn't find another job, my paycheck BOUNCED...talk about stress. However, it has not reappeared. That was like at least two recessions ago, so I wouldn't worry that you are doomed to have repeated flareups.

[DCIdevil]

I am very sick of it, I have pretty good insurance and it cost me well over $2000 out of pocket and they still didn't figure out what it was.
They kept throwing antibiotics at me with no results.. A doctor never actually got the diagnosis right.
I figured it out on my own what it was a few days later.

[Veritas]

1. It's never "out of the way", my man. Sorry to tell you, but you're now susceptible to shingles again (and again). Shingles is the chicken pox virus that lies dormant in the various nerve roots throughout your body. Forever. When your immune system is compromised, such as in times of serious stress (you were saying something about being in Haiti?), the virus reactivates and it's really painful.

True that. That's why it's associated with the elderly...they have weakened immune systems.

2. That doesn't really look like shingles to me, but I don't have a ton of experience with it. Looks more like cellulitis or even Bell's Palsy the way your lower left face is drooping.

He can still wrinkle his forehead on that side, so it shouldn't be Bell's Palsy. If he did have lower face drop it would be more likely central seven palsy...which would be very bad. Obviously that's not the case.

Any kind of herpes infx near the eye is scary, good call on going to the ophthalmologist.

The trick with shingles is to see if it looks like a line across your body - it follows dermatomes, if you know about those. Other herpes infx do not tend to follow dermatomes like that.

[argyre]

The dead giveaway for shingles is, as the previous poster stated about dermatomes, is a rash in a band across your body, and which almost always stops abruptly at the centerline.

I woke up one morning on a camping trip a while back, and my wife spotted what looked like a poison oak outbreak, a lot of small pustules and rash, wrapping around my ribcage. We thought that maybe I had dragged some poison oak leaves into the tent or bag with me, or had some poison oak oil transfer from the wooden deck of one of the hot tubs (hey, our camping can be quite plush!) But no one else had gotten it, and it did not feel like poison oak.

When we got home, I mentioned it to my nurse practitioner friend and she diagnosed it correctly, first try, based on the fact that it didn't cross the body centerline. Hopped over to my doc's they confirmed it, adn provided me with anti-virals.

The itching eventually stopped and I lucked out and have had no hint of the main bad sideeffect, the neuropathy pain that can continue for years for some folks.

I was 53 when this happened. Normally my immune system ROCKS. But I had been laid off a month before, and immediately after that is when the U.S. economy went completely downhill. And on the way up to the camping trip, my 4x4 gave up the ghost (crankshaft) with a full load of passengers and gear.

So, there was a little stress implicated.

Stress is very bad for your health, and rarely provides ANY upside. Avoid it.

Of course, all the young folks who got slapped with chicken pox vaccines (not available when us boomers were tots) should manage to avoid shingles as well.

[safariteam5]

I suppose I was dealing with stress and a stressed immune system. I had just gotten back from a month in Haiti and the DR. I was in charge of convoy security for the embassy convoy operations going being between Santo Domingo and Port au Prince. This was not my first rodeo (heck it wasn't even my first time in Haiti) but a month of 18-22 hour days with the heat, absolutely shitty roads, dicey border crossings, etc, etc I guess my system was a bit stressed. On top of this I have just moved back to the US after three years overseas. I was the Regional Security Officer in Santiago Chile. After ten years of being in the Foreign Service I converted to the General Service to have a more stable (and less stressful life). This meant settling into a new office with new boss and co-workers, a new house, a new school for my daughter and a job-search for my wife. Most of this was a positive change but it was still a singnificant stressor. To top it all off, my former post, Santiago Chile, which I left a year early to take this new position suffered a catastrophic earthquake. My wife is convinced that I have subconcious guilt over not being there at post when the crisis hit. Maybe she is right. In any case I guess all of this made my ripe for this malady.

The upside is I have apparently recovered. The Acyclovir must have done the trick. The Atropine 1% gave me blurry vision and a blown pupil for a while but the blurriness has 95% cleared up and the pupil appears to be slowly returning to normal. The doc said "5-7 days" for full recovery after stopping the Atropine drops which means tomorrow I should be good. I need to wear my Oakleys without fail but I can drive and carry my gun again. That in itself has done a fair bit to lower my stress level.

Hopefully it won't come back.

[SingingDemon]

I have never gotten shingles. I have a few friends that have gotten them.You think it would be more or less a older person might get. Nope the two ppl I know got them were 21 and the other was 24 at the time. Hope all goes okay with you.

[Cnidaria]

My grandma was diagnosed with shingles, so I did some research for her. This is what I found out:

There is a vaccine that can prevent future outbreaks. It is called Zostavax. You can read about it here http://www.zostavax.com//url] and here ... ingles.pdf

Herpes zoster is the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles, but not genital herpes. You cannot get shingles from genital herpes and vise-versa. Anyone who has had chickenpox as a kid could develop shingles later on in life. People can catch chicken pox from someone who has shingles, so wash your hands after touching the sores and be careful around old people who have never had chicken pox.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Valtrex works.

Can you point a link to anything backing this up? I've had the chickenpox, and seen my father in law go through the shingles outbreaks- I'd prefer to skip that, if I can.