I've got Shingles on my face :(

Sujamjen

And am feeling terrible. My family must be sick of me moping about!

Has anyone any experience of how long I can expect to be looking like a scaly, blistered, burns victim? It started nearly three weeks ago and am still getting blisters (much small ones though) and am still itchy all the time although the terrible burning pain has eased.

Cheers

Ted_Hutchinson

Shingles Information Page: National Institute of Neurological ...
For most healthy people, the lesions heal, the pain subsides within 3 to 5 weeks, and the blisters leave no scars

Shingles virus - symptoms, treatment, link with chicken pox

From this last link
Shingles can affect adults and children, but is much more common in older people. It can not be triggered by contact with someone who has chickenpox.
Reactivation of the virus is more common in elderly people whose immune system is weakened. There are various possible causes of this:

• conditions that affect the immune system, including HIV infection
• periods of increased stress
• excess alcohol intake
• long term courses of steroids
• chemotherapy or radiotherapy - cancer treatments
• medicines used after organ transplants (immunosuppressants)

While there are some of these that you cannot do anything about there are thing you can do to improve your immune system and/or enable you to cope better with stress.
FEEDING YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM is quite good but fails to mentions Vitamin D3 Immunity Boost: Science News Online, Oct. 9, 2004

What Foods are Good for My Immune System?:

For stress.Feeding Minds Web guide
Nutrient table

Sujamjen

Thanks Ted, I perused both sites with interest. Having checked the sites I can't see why I've developed shingles as I'm not old (only 52) I don't drink or smoke, haven't got HIV, cancer or anything dire (I'm so very glad to say) and although a bit stressed I don't think any more than anyone running a home & family, going to work, having an aged parent and having the usual problems that people have in this day and age.

I don't know anyone who has had shingles and I wanted a personal opinion so I thought I'd asked the Oracle aka know as this Site!!

Thanks again.

Ted_Hutchinson

Not much help to you but this is quite interesting.

Experimental shingles vaccine proves effective in nationwide study.

But if 50% of the people who took the vaccine didn't get shingles it also means the other 50% took the vaccine and STILL got the virus (albiet with fewer complications) So it's not surprising the some folk, without particularly high risk factors will still be affected. [FONT=Verdana,Arial] About two-thirds of all cases occur in persons over the age of 50 and 50% of people have had one session by the time they reach 85.

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twink

think vit b complex would be good, it deals with the health of your nerves along which the shingles will be, can you back that up ted?

ailuro2

Get l-lysine from holland and barrett, it can massively reduce the time you will suffer for if taken early enough. They use it on old folk,and when caught early enough it can dramatically reduce their suffering.

Not suggesting you're old, just that speed is of the essence.

Came across this stuff when I had a giant coldsore on my nose a week before a big family wedding.

All the herpes family.

I'm sure it worked.

Ted_Hutchinson

ailuro2 wrote:

Get l-lysine from holland and barrett, it can massively reduce the time you will suffer for if taken early enough. They use it on old folk,and when caught early enough it can dramatically reduce their suffering.

Without lysine, 90% indicated that healing took six to 15 days, but with lysine 83% stated that lesions healed in five days or less. Overall, 88% considered supplemental lysine an effective form of treatment for herpes infection.
From H&B
potency 100mg. 60 Tablets Normally: £5.99 Now: £2.99

I've checked Zipvit , Healthy Direct, Simply Supplements and can't find it there.

Have had a very quick search for B complex and shingles on pubmed and google scholar and can't find any research on that combination so won't comment. Remember this isn't a medical advice site but a money saving one. It's a waste of money buying supplements which have no track record of being found useful but it is useful for those with shingles to be aware of relevant research.

Sujamjen

Am off to Holland and Barrett this very moment!! Thanks to all who responded to my plea :beer: :T

krisskross

My husband had a very nasty attack of shingles, mostly on his face. He looked like a tramp poor man as he couldn't shave. Took about 4 weeks for it to go, but no scarring. He had been on a high dose course of steroids for Rheumatoid arthritis and it was suggested that this had compromised his immune system allowing the virus in.

ailuro2

Sujamjen wrote:

Am off to Holland and Barrett this very moment!! Thanks to all who responded to my plea :beer: :T

I knew that time trawling the net when my nose felt like the size of a football would eventually help someone else too:D

Get well soon, and let us know if it helps.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Hope you went to see the doc as soon as the blisters cropped out. It might be an idea to go back if new blisters are still appearing as eye care is particularly important. HTH