Yeah, thanks to my mom being an anti-vaccer I’m now stuck with shingles for life too. Every ten years it’ll crop up again, I’ve been told. No way to get rid of it once you have it. It’ll just hang out in your nerve ends, dormant, and occasionally wake up.
My first bout of shingles was two years ago. Here in Denmark it’s called “helvedild”, literally translated to “hellfire”, an apt name.
Every ten years it’ll crop up again, I’ve been told
Not likely. This might be a misplaced average. While Shingles can break out any time your immunity is weakened most people don’t get it until they’re old. For example: four brothers including myself: one got it, once. On the other hand I believe like two out of three elderly will have an outbreak, and repeatedly
Yeah, but I got it when I was 29. The doctor told me it’s pretty weird for me so young to get an outbreak, but not unheard of. It was the doctor who also told me I’ll likely get regular outbreaks throughout my life, but yes, she did mention more likely the older I am.
Do you have access to famcyclovir? If you begin treatment within 72 hours of the onset of symptoms it can stop the outbreak quickly and prevents the postherpatic neuralgia that sometimes happens in older people.
During my first outbreak the doctor said he was going to prescribe acyclovir and that the rash would spread to cover half of my body including my eyes, nose, mouth, genitals, and anus. Fun. I asked what would happen if I didn’t take the acyclovir. He said, “The same thing.” So the acyclovir does nothing. I asked him to prescribe famcyclovir. He said it was much more expensive than acyclovir but he would prescribe it if I wanted. It cost $200 for the treatment but the blisters didn’t spread from the first small patch on my right hip and dried up within a couple of days. Why the hell would I take acyclovir if it does nothing if famcyclovir is available.
This time around the doctor just wrote me the prescription for famcyclovir. I’ve taken 3 doses so far and the blisters on my thigh seem reduced.
I think I was actually prescribed Famcyclovir. Scary stuff that warned about the potential of peeing out your liver and kidneys, but the alternative is much worse.
I started taking those pills within 24 hours of my apparent shingles outbreak. The pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep and I cried. On medication it already started to lessen. I was given a week’s worth of medication, with the doctor telling me that the medication should combat the outbreak in a week. That’s exactly what happened.
I had the outbreak on one of my nerve bands, going from the middle of my spine, curving around my side, and ending in my crotch.
Yeah, thanks to my mom being an anti-vaccer I’m now stuck with shingles for life too. Every ten years it’ll crop up again, I’ve been told. No way to get rid of it once you have it. It’ll just hang out in your nerve ends, dormant, and occasionally wake up.
My first bout of shingles was two years ago. Here in Denmark it’s called “helvedild”, literally translated to “hellfire”, an apt name.
Thanks mom.
Not likely. This might be a misplaced average. While Shingles can break out any time your immunity is weakened most people don’t get it until they’re old. For example: four brothers including myself: one got it, once. On the other hand I believe like two out of three elderly will have an outbreak, and repeatedly
Yeah, but I got it when I was 29. The doctor told me it’s pretty weird for me so young to get an outbreak, but not unheard of. It was the doctor who also told me I’ll likely get regular outbreaks throughout my life, but yes, she did mention more likely the older I am.
Do you have access to famcyclovir? If you begin treatment within 72 hours of the onset of symptoms it can stop the outbreak quickly and prevents the postherpatic neuralgia that sometimes happens in older people.
During my first outbreak the doctor said he was going to prescribe acyclovir and that the rash would spread to cover half of my body including my eyes, nose, mouth, genitals, and anus. Fun. I asked what would happen if I didn’t take the acyclovir. He said, “The same thing.” So the acyclovir does nothing. I asked him to prescribe famcyclovir. He said it was much more expensive than acyclovir but he would prescribe it if I wanted. It cost $200 for the treatment but the blisters didn’t spread from the first small patch on my right hip and dried up within a couple of days. Why the hell would I take acyclovir if it does nothing if famcyclovir is available.
This time around the doctor just wrote me the prescription for famcyclovir. I’ve taken 3 doses so far and the blisters on my thigh seem reduced.
I think I was actually prescribed Famcyclovir. Scary stuff that warned about the potential of peeing out your liver and kidneys, but the alternative is much worse.
I started taking those pills within 24 hours of my apparent shingles outbreak. The pain was so bad I couldn’t sleep and I cried. On medication it already started to lessen. I was given a week’s worth of medication, with the doctor telling me that the medication should combat the outbreak in a week. That’s exactly what happened.
I had the outbreak on one of my nerve bands, going from the middle of my spine, curving around my side, and ending in my crotch.