I had shingles last October at first the pain was horrible but didn't realize it was shingles until the rash showed up on my right side .the nerve pain was bad ...I used calamine for the itching and shingles are contagious along with being painful nerves ..the calamine helped a lot and my doctor told me to use alpha lipiotic acid for the nerve pain..it helped me a lot I suffered for over 3 months with the nerve pain and the rash took close to a month to disappear after it dried up it is no longer contagious....they gave me gabapentin but I don't like the side affects so I used Tylenol and ibuprofen plus the alpha lipiotic acid..check with your doctor if you can use alpha lipiotic acid tho...I still have the nerve pain in my side at times..not sure if it ever goes away tho...the only way I could sleep was sitting in my lounge chair upright with a pillow behind me ..I'm sorry you are suffering from this it is a horrible nerve pain to deal with..prayers for healing soon for you 🙏