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Shingles rash and pain
I’m in week 10 of shingles and still have crusted blisters in my arm pit. Why are they still there and how do I get rid of them? I feel like the pain won’t start easing there until they are gone. I had severe pain for 3 days in my left shoulder blade. When it started to ease I felt blisters on my back. I went to urgent care and was diagnosed with shingles. I took acyclovir for 7 days and then nothing. My doctor’s office wouldn’t fit me in and insisted I wait for a regular slot so I didn’t see him for 3 weeks. In the meantime i then got the rash and blisters on the underside of my left arm, in my arm pit and over the left side of my breast. The rash slowly crusted on my back leaving ugly scabbing and holes on my back. That left and I just have a large discolored area on my back that is fairly painful. The rash and crusted blisters on my chest took longer to go away and the pain only left the sides of the breast. I still have pain in the middle and top near my armpit. The last to start going was my underarm and armpit and the pain has been awful. Better than it was but ....... I’m worried I’ll never get rid of the pain but what worries me even more is the crusted blisters in my armpit haven’t made any progress in at least 2 weeks. I hope someone knows a magic way to make those go away. THey said the rash would only last 10 days to 2 weeks but it’s now 10 weeks. I have low-level MDS so I catch things easier and they tend to last longer.
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Cold packs, numbing lotion. If you can find one that works I haven’t found any yet.
Don’t use anything under your armpits just soap and water. When you take a shower they will fall off eventually just don’t pick them or you’ll have a big scar that will last forever. Plus you don’t want them to get infected. They’re painful enough.
You could have a doctor remove them due to getting an infection. It doesn’t matter if you get a scar underneath your arm.
I got the shingles a little over 2 years ago. I use Aspercreme with Lidocaine. for the pain. It does a good job of elimination of the pain. Didn't really want to use pain pills.
Pray that you get better!
I got rid of mine by adding natural antiviral supplements and foods to my diet. I ate lots of papaya, which reallllly helped. I also used fresh aloe vera gel on the sores. Hope you feel better soon!
I had a dreadful case of shingles back in 2001. The pain was so unbearable that my doctor hospitalized me, and I was on a morphine pump for days. The blisters covered my entire right torso, but, fortunately, didn't touch my face. When I finally recovered weeks later, I was left with post-herpetic neuralgia. That was treated successfully with gabapentin, which I had to take for over a year. Those two drugs saved my life!
I read that raw honey can be put on the blisters to help heal them.
I have shingles going into the 4th week now. I still have the rash, but it is slowly dissipating. I have a lot of nerve pain. The rash and pain is under the breast and around the left side of the torso. I am unable to wear a bra for any length of time even a softer one without wires. The problem is I am a DDD and obviously I have to wear a bra outside of the house. I teach yoga. I tried teaching a few classes, wearing a bra on the outside of a camisole with another shirt over that. I had tremendous pain afterward. I am on gabapentin. Was on 100 mg 2x daily, starting today 300 mg 2x daily. I hope it will help. I’ve tried a few topicals. Dermatologist recommended capsaicin cream that was a terrible idea. The burning was intolerable. I had to wash it off and lie down for an hour. Dr. also recommended lidocaine spray that also made the pain worse. Calamine lotion is OK. It’s frustrating because I don’t seem to be able to function or do anything much because of not being able to wear a bra. Hopefully it will pass so that I can return to some normal life. Thanks for listening. Any suggestions most welcome. Thanks.
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1 ReactionI came down with shingles in the middle of July. For the week before any rash and blistering, I had a bunch of weird pains in my ribcage and chest areas and even some stomach issues and was having a little trouble urinating. I was able to get a doctor appointment and he was about to do an EKG and looked at my chest and said "you've got shingles" as there was a red rash on my left chest and back. This was about 4 pm and there was no rash when I got dressed that morning. He prescribed Valtrex and I took it about two hours later. I already have Grover's disease, which is a red rash of a different type and itches like crazy. The shingles rash and eventual blisters were relatively mild, probably due to the Valtrex. But then, my skin started hurting where I had the rash and other spots on my chest and back. Some of the pain in my ribcage and stomach returned. While it didn't fit the exact pattern of postherpetic neuralgia, it was assumed that is what I had. After a week or two, the doctor prescribed Gabapentin, which I had taken for 13 years between 2008 and 2021 for my Grover's (which worked great until it just stopped working). The Gabapentin seems to work and I'm able to sleep again after having some sleepless nights. It's not hard to find forums with people who have all kinds of problems with Gabapentin. I've never had any problems with it or stopping it.
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1 ReactionHello @kaa1
I'm really sorry to hear about your Shingles pain. A couple of years ago I had Shingles, and I understand that nerve pain is a terrible type of pain.
With my Shingles pain, sleep was difficult. The pain worsened in the evening. Are you able to sleep at night?
The nighttime combination of meds that helped me the most was a small dose of Trazodone and 100 mg of Gabapentin. While Trazodone is an antidepressant that belongs to a group of drugs called serotonin receptor antagonists and reuptake inhibitors (SARIs). It works quite well for both pain and sleep problems. I only took one-half of a 50 mg tablet, so only 25 mg. It did help me sleep and took the edge off the daytime pain as well. Were you given an anti-viral medication when you were diagnosed?
As you are looking for suggestions, I wanted to add this one to the mix. Recovering from Shingles pain does take time, though. It sounds like you have a rather severe case. I wish you well.
Will you post again as you go through this process?