I have shingles and am astounded at how painful it is. Anyone else?

If you have a friend in another country they ship to, perhaps your friend can forward it to you. I know that many companies won't ship to South Africa due to delivery reliability, but that may be a way around it.

I got shingles in my left sciatic nerve. I started off with sciatic nerve pain and then two weeks later. I broke out and shingles in that leg and it was unbearable! I got into it to see a pain specialist and he prescribed Lyrica and that helped tremendously for the pain!

For anyone in the U.S., there is a Shingles vaccine you can receive from dr or pharmacy, (2 dosages) with a prescription for age 50+ and insurance will pay for the vaccine.

A friend of mine had it and got a great deal of relief from the use of DMSO/Aloe 70/30

I got the Shingles shots and still got the shingles. I got it in my right eye, and it did go to my brain. I had encephalitis. I didn’t even know who I was. My poor husband. I ended up being in the hospital and rehabilitation for almost 3 months. The nerve pain is horrible and that was in November 2024, and it has not let up. I can’t see out of my right eye.
One thing I would like to tell everyone who has Rheumatoid Arthritis is if you start getting short of breath, please, please tell your doctor. I told my doctor and they kind of blew me off. Now I am fighting again for my life. I have Pulmonary fibrosis and Intestinal Lung (Spelled wrong) disease went from working in 2023 to being on oxygen 24/7 and hoping they can stop the scaring of my lungs. I am not trying to scare anyone. Just please don’t be afraid to question your doctor. We are the ones that live with the consequences. Hugs and prayers to everyone, just keep fighting.

So very sorry to hear and my sympathies with nerve pain as it can hit you fast and hard. Praying you feel relief soon.

Thank you so much. I've had the nerve pain since November. Some days I would rather sleep. I really appreciate the prayers. Hugs.

Have the doctors given you good medicine because shingles are one of the most painful things that you can have. It follows a train of nerves wherever they break out. Yes I know I have been dealing with them for a long time. I have RA and some of my meds make me break out in shingles. Acyclovir is one good medication and I keep it all the time. God bless you. Hope they gave you good pain meds because you need them.

I had it about 9 years ago. Interestingly it began as lumbar nerve root pain - so hip and flank pain -similar to what you might get with a ruptured disc. After chickenpox symptoms end - as my doc told me - that virus retreats to a dormant state in a nerve root area - and the specific nerve root it goes dormant in will coincide with the distribution of shingles blisters when, for unknown reasons, shingles is triggered. And sure enough, just as I was convinced I needed to see an Orthopedic doc for my outer hip and flank pain, i got out of the shower one morning and saw a trail of blisters on the same dermatome. The hip pain lingered briefly after the blisters resolved and then was just gone.

The human body is an amazing thing.

I got a terrible case of shingles four years ago: I told the young doctor I thought shingles but she said ‘no, just eczema’ four days later I went back to emergency screaming with pain & blisters; oh yes it’s shingles, she said! Too late for valciclovar: I had the most terrible four to five weeks with blisters/ pain etc; eventually it subsided but I’ve had post herpatic pain ever since. It varies between a 2 to 7 pain on my right side of neck going up to scalp. I had the tingling a year later & went straight to dr who put me straight on valciclovar : stopped it within a day or so. Again a year later I got symptoms & straight on valciclovar . This time I thought it was a spider bite: a sore itchy lump & tingling: saw dr a week later: shingles! It’s been three weeks: no blisters just itchy sore in same place as other bouts. I had the shingles vax four years ago; I’m thinking that’s what stopped this being as bad as first time? I’m 68, had chemo in 2015: successfully- could it be my immune system letting me down? Neurophen morning & night help with pain. Could it be something else? Dr said not cancer or spider bite.