I know I was giving up on whining. But today I have reverted to my old self.
Last week I thought I was bitten several times on my lower back and hip area.
By Thursday blister or hive looking bumps appeared like a rash. Or I thought I was allergic to what ever bit me. Friday it was a bit blistered looking and red. Yesterday brown and black was added to the works. And today I wake up in pain. It was unbearable. I went to the doctor with out an appointment. I was so thankful this new doctor is so kind to see me in and hour or so wait.
I was searching over the weekend and thinking it was a spider bite or bed sores. As I have had fatigue for a while and I though it could be an onset of them.
Well the doctor came in and I was laying on my right side. I could not sit in the chair any longer. I was in pain. She looked and said it is shingles.
My eyes popped out of my head.
I was like A hu. {with a stupid look on my face}.
I thought that was for old people.
I will not show photos. But you should look up images if you want to know what they look like. As I have never seen them till now.
I did allot of research tonight.
I am so thankful it is in this area. And it could be way worse.
It is contagious for the new grandbabys. As they do not have chickenpox shots.
But I have to find out if I just do not touch them if I can still spend thanks giving with them. As this is not airborne. it is direct contact.
I also found this will last 4-6 week and can be debilitating pain.
When this scabs over I should not be contagious any more.
She said this is from me having chicken pox as a kid. The virus stays in your body your hole life. There is a chance this will not happen again. But the good news is the area it showed up in is a small quadrant of my body. It follows a nerve from my spine on the left side and goes around to the front of my body. So this is not a bad area compared to the face. There was such bad photos of people who had it there. They also could go blind as it attacked there eyes.
She said for some reason I have had undue stress that compromised my immune system and that allowed this to wake up. I really wish I know what did that so It will never happen again. I have not been under great stress like I have in the past. I thought I was doing well. But something has to be wrong for this to happen.
This is a list I found of possible causes.
- stress; Very little,
- fatigue; I have had this
- a weakened immune system (This may be age-related, disease-related, or a drug-related decrease in ability to keep the chickenpox virus in an inactive state.) Some how I must have this to get shingles
- cancer;
- radiation treatments; I have had several x rays, 1 stress test, 1 cardiac cath. several Mri & cat-scans. Since Jan of last year. Maybe this is the cause.
Do you know much about this?
Or have you seen any one with it?
Yes this worries me.
Pain may last after the rash is gone. This is called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). About 10%-20% of all shingles patients get PHN. The older the patient, the more likely they will develop PHN, and the pain that develops frequently is severe. PHN pain often lasts months and occasionally may go on for years.
I coped that from this site, it was the most informative. But only had photo of early bumps.
Have a wonderful day and remember to laugh and play.
