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

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.

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.

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.

Shingles is the worst pain! It does go away but the advice i would give is as soon as your Dr approves get the 2 dose vaccine!
Hopefully then it never returns!

@rebe410
I've never heard of left abdominal swelling & pain with shingles. Please contact your doctor to get this checked out. I'm so sorry you're dealing with so much pain. It's absolutely awful. And the post-herpetic neuralgia doesn't help.
I had the original Shingrix vaccine in 2018. Then I had the 2 dose vaccine in the spring of 2023. One month later I got the worst case of shingles in my life (I've had it 4 times now). I'm immunocompromised, so my doctor said it probably didn't work for me (he also mentioned that it's only 98% effective). Wishing you good luck.