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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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@azbarb Ive never had shingles but a friend had them on her face .Its so important to be under a Dr care if your not go to E.R or urgent care. As retired nurse a few things I can tell you dont scratch use calamine lotion or make an oatmeal bath with washcloth apply oatmeal its soothing keep the area clean wash hands before touching area . Eat a healthy diet no junk food ,vegies ,fruits and lean protein drink lots of water ,wear loose clothing just a few suggestions hope this helps.
Hello @azbarb, I would like to invite @cdcc, @oranbaughn, @sjsmall5286, @joanlee, and @barbarn, to share their experience with shingles and how long it took them to get over some of the things you mention above.
I would also like to invite my colleague, @lisalucier to share her experience with shingles as well.
@azbarb, do you mind sharing if you have another follow-up appointment to address the blisters in your arm pit?
Our pharmacist suggested I try using A+D ointment. From the beginning my husband had been applying calamine lotion to all areas to try and ease whatever we could. Since that is very drying the pharmacist thought the ointment might moistureize the area to let my body take care of shedding them. It seemed to be doing that and debris was sloughing off as I applied the ointment but after about 4 days the area started to get a lot redder and raw feeling. I worried about getting an infection so I stopped the ointment. I’m going to go back to calamine lotion now to ease the burning.
@azbarb I don't know if this will help but I have burning groin pain and since they are both from nerves I found using ice on my groins helps me just a suggestion.Once you get older make sure you get a shingle shot.
Hi, @azbarb - sounds like you've been going through a lot of pain and discomfort with your shingles. As my colleague, @JustinMcClanahan, mentioned, I also had shingles. Mine actually was discovered in its very early stages by my doctor when I went in for problems I was having with an epidermoid cyst on my back. Finding a rash from shingles when she went to look at the cyst really surprised my doctor and me.
The experience of having shingles was no fun at all. I didn't end up with extensive rashing since mine was caught early and medicated with acyclovir, but it did hurt, quite a lot. I did some soothing baths, too.
I can relate to what you said about being worried you'll never get rid of the pain. My husband had a work colleague who never did get rid of his shingles pain completely (technically, postherpetic neuralgia following shingles — see https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/postherpetic-neuralgia/symptoms-causes/syc-20376588). So, that made me quite concerned when I developed postherpetic neuralgia and my pain went on after my rashing disappeared. I ended up taking gabapentin for that and using lidocaine patches, I believe, and the pain finally subsided after about 10 weeks after I started the treatments.
How is the burning and the crusted blisters in your armpit?
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1 ReactionDo hope you are doing better. Shingles are horrible I had them six years ago. Trigeminal nerve on the right side of my face. They took forever to go away. I. Thankful I didn’t go blind since they were all ove4 my right eye, nose forehead and head to the crown. I wasn’t left with pain I am left with severe itch, nose eye forehead and head. I’ve seen so many specialist to help with the itch and there nothing they can do or give me. So I suffer extremely at times with digging and digging and of course it doesn’t help. I do pray you are feeling better and you have no after effects
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2 Reactions@cdcc Have you tried all the itch creams like calamine lotion and others?
NOTHING THEY COULD GIVE ME...WOW, with science the way it has moved forward and the thousands of dollars doctor spend to learn Medicine and graduate and they don't have anything to give you? and nothing they can do?
I caught Shingles when I got out the hospital and I had a hard time with the pain I cried so bad. But I got over it but now I'm having underarm pain so bad. What can you use to ease the pain?
I got shingles four years ago. Never pick the scabs off. I made a mistake. I one on my eyebrow. It leaves a bad scar never goes away ,lotions don’t use just let them dry naturally. I’m still suffering from my pain.