Kitchen Garden Forum

.......is horrible!!! Just trying to get through my second attack - right after the first one. No gardening for me for a while. Anyone else had it - does it EVER go away...it's in my eye now. Feeling dismal.

Best wishes Diane.
Takes ages to get rid of sometimes.

My wife caught it a few years ago she was three months living with it there were parts of her body where you could not touch her skin it was that bad

Hi Diane

Very painful. You are actually contagious until it scabs over & dries, so lots of hand washing & linen changes. Anyone who hasn't had chicken pox will not be happy as they will get chicken pox not shingles but if you've had chicken pox you can still get shingles from someone who has it. You may have rubbed your eye inadvertently when you had the first attack with some of the fluid from the blisters on them which is why you've had it so closely together.

My commiserations Diane. I had it up the side of my nose, through my eye and into my temple and it was horribly painful. It took a few months to clear up but hasn't bothered me since. The nerve in my temple does tingle when I'm catching a cold so acts as an early warning signal since I had it. Hope yours clears up quickly.

Sounds nasty. I had a jab a couple of weeks ago that is supposed to protect me from it, hope it does. I managed chicken pox twice as a kid which is not supposed to happen, hope that doesn't mean dodgy immunity.

Poor you. My husband had it years ago and the side of his face was temporarily paralysed with a type of Bells Palsey. Had to have painful electrical treatment to sort it out. It can last on and off for months in some cases and can flare up when you get tired.
The NHS now does a shingles vaccination for the over 60s but has a strange way of defining eligibility as some specific ages arn’t eligible. No idea why this is but this is how it works in our area:

Dear Diane, I do hope it clears up with all possible haste, for you.x

Hope you soon feel better

All the best, Diane! It sounds horrible and I hope you are soon rid of it!

Oh Primrose - it's a bit confusing if your 75 isn't it?

Yes I cannot understand who picked these seemingly arbitrary dates. What medical evidence is there that you are less vulnerable to catch shingles if you were born after 2/9/1942 and then become more vulnerable again on your 78th.birthday. Who dreams up these criteria I wonder?

However as I noted the chart has been viewed around 46 times, which must represent more forum members than we probably have actively contributing at the moment there must be a number of people lurking and just looking after reading about Diane’s unpleasant shingles experiences!

Thank you all for your kind thoughts. It's now progressed to making me light sensitive. Having to wear my sunglasses indoors all the time and can't watch tv. And, the thing is....I had the shingles jab last year...well didn't work! Hey ho....could be worse.

Someone suggested L-lysine tablets...might give them a try although I think they are more for cold sores, a different type of Herpes.

On the bright side - my husband has taken it upon himself to prune the overgrown roses, all by himself, unsupervised. Looking good so far. Every cloud....etc.

Hope you get rid of it soon Diane. I say poster at surgery offering jab against it, and was considering it as mother in law had it bad but after reading of your experience I’ll pass.

Am sure you can do with the rest Diane. The constant pain of Shinglea can make you feel very tired.
You’re not missing much by being unable to watch TV. There seem to be very few quality programmes worth watching on the basic channels these days.

A little worrying that yiu had the shingles jab last year though and still got it. Have you been around my children who had chickenpox. That,s al OST certainly how my husband contracted his shingles . We visited a young niece whose mother forgot to mention that her daughter was just recovering from the infection.