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The Misery of Post Herpetic Neuralgia
I ama 64-year-old female who lost her body to post herpetic neuralgia (after the shingles), at the age of 59. Chronic pain, 24/7. Every day is a struggle. I also have additional nerve damage in the dermatomes. Areas on my body are on fire. I cannot wear clothes in those areas, and I can only sleep on one side. I have tried multiple drugs, procedures, acupuncture, etc. I have been at it for 5 years. I would love to find if there is some miracle out there that I haven't found. Most pain management doctors think I am crazy, because I am in crazy pain. Most of them do not even know what it is. Not rare, but not very common. I really have tried so much. I have to hold on to hope.
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Hello @fmmartinez58 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I am so sorry to hear of your post herpetic neuralgia after having Shingles. I have had something similar after having Shingles, however, the pain has not been a problem for some months now. My Shingles were also in the lower back and side. I recall walking doubled-over for many weeks before getting some relief with Gabapentin.
Mayo Clinic has a pain rehabilitation center that might be helpful to you. Here is a link that describes this multi-disciplinary clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/pain-rehabilitation-center/sections/overview/ovc-20481691. I would like to invite another Mayo mentor, Rachel, @rwinney to discuss the help she found after attending this clinic.
After reading the link about the pain rehabilitation center, do you think that this is something you might consider?
I have a suggestion: I also have PHN from a severe shingles attack. Mine isn't as bad as yours. I do still feel some pain and discomfort after a year. It also affects the bladder condition I have, which is Intersystitial Cystitis (bladder pain syndrome). And we get attacks because our immune system is not up to par, studies say. And that makes sense. I have found that most of the drug options and other pain treatment options do not work for me. I look for natural methods to treat. And since you cannot eliminate a virus, you do something to make it better. It makes sense to boost the immune system so that it can fight the virus. Here is what I have found that helps me. I use L-lysine to help the immune system. It is an amino acid that is for that purpose. You can get it at Walmart and is not expensive. You can take 3 a day. I also found Red Marine Algae to be helpful. Both help ease the pain. Of course, you don't want anything to interfere with medications. Hope this helps!!
Hi i also have a severe case of phn and i suffer back pain, miserable skin pain and sometimes belly pain. I’m 9 weeks in and the pain has not subsided. Was taking 3200mg of gabapentin and tried to ease off but I’m in great pain. Not sure the higher dose will make a difference. So worried this will be for life.i read most pain subsides after a year due to my severity of shingles not so sure