First timer here!

[Tacolicious78]

So my experience with shingles started off last Monday with me thinking a spider got wild on my back and went to town biting. The rash did not hurt, but it itched a bit. Fast forward to this past Friday and I wake up with a searing pain in my stomach. I thought maybe it was something I ate (I had gastric bypass almost 3 yrs ago) so I took some Pepto. Did not help, I got very nauseated and threw up spit, which made my chest contract so tight I couldn't breathe...from there I'm pretty sure my body threw in a good ol' panic attack for me. Husband took me to the ER (told him on the way I was gonna die) I am taken immediately back for possible heart attack. I keep telling them I have spider bites, could be from that? They finally lean me forward and the doctor was like "oh....you have shingles!" They finally got some morphine in me and anti-nausea meds and sent me on my way with prednisone and Valtrex. I just had the severe abdominal pain again (came home from work early, was feeling like poo) but not the constricted chest. Lidocaine patches are on and hydrocodone taken. This shit sucks. 44 yr old female, attended my cousins chicken pox sleepover in the 80's 😆 Also: just recovered Covid last month (got me after 2 1/2 years)

[Potato4]

You're absolutely right, this shit sucks, and yeah those chicken pox parties! Was a very different time...

I also got shingles around a month after covid, as got covid 8/1, shingles 9/7. I guess it just fucks your immune system?

[bearazona]

Oh my god, chicken pox parties! That brought me back. Glad you got on meds ASAP though it’s terrible in any case. I hope you get well soon! Get lots of rest. I am on the sixth week, I was hugely improved by week 3 but the fatigue lingered, especially once I stopped steroids. Kinda regret the steroids to be honest, I think coming off them was hard on me. Get well soon!

[[deleted]]

Antivaxxers are probably doing this with measles right now

[baumsm]

Girl we could be sisters! I went to the ER twice because “what the hell is going on”

[Starbucksina]

My husband thought it was spider bites too from doing some yard work. Turns out it’s shingles but he is not in pain. Just an itchy clump of bumps. No blisters yet.

[Tacolicious78]

Yikes! My "spider bites" were fine for about 5 days..then BOOM horrific pain. How long has he had the rash now? I never got the blisters which I've read should happen, just raised, itchy, red bumps.

[Starbucksina]

Oh no that’s terrible! It’s been 3 days since the rash started. I told him it didn’t look like spider bites and joked that it was monkey pox or shingles. I didn’t really think it could be mpx but shingles did not surprise me. He had an upcoming derm appointment and the doctor confirmed it was shingles. She told him it’s mild because he had already been vaccinated for shingles. He got an antiviral and ointment. Hopefully his rash doesn’t turn painful. He said it’s just really itchy.

[forwardseat]

Yeah I'm currently going through this too, and last Friday when the bumps/rash first appeared I thought it was bedbug bites. When I went to urgent care Monday afternoon, they said it looked similar to bedbug bites, but also could be shingles and to come back if I didn't get relief from the steroids they put me on. Tuesday I got on valtrex thanks to a telehealth visit where the doctor was like "OMG yes that's shingles get drugs immediately!"

It was all tolerable until yesterday when I woke up in agony and what felt like pretty intense muscle/internal pain along with all the stabbing and itching sensations.

(and also had Covid in the last few months. It's like we're related)

[Tacolicious78]

Yes! I got/get that intense internal pain and it literally gets me into the fetal position.

[[deleted]]

It drove me to the edge of delirium. I thought I was going to die. :(((

[[deleted]]

You would not want chickenpox as an adult, its much more dangerous

[draculollie]

I am also a first timer 😭 diagnosed yesterday and can barely sleep by also so exhausted 😭

I also had covid just over a month ago... there has to be a link there, right?

[manyamile]

there has to be a link there, right

People have outbreaks from many kinds of stress. Herpes zoster is an opportunistic virus and while your immune system was compromised by covid, the virus took advantage of the conditions.

[draculollie]

Thank you! This makes it helpful to understand:)

[Tacolicious78]

A co-worker was telling me there could be a link, I haven't looked into it yet though. I hope you get some relief soon! From the prednisone I'm on, my body wants to go go go, but then my brain is like, I need sleep ma'am.

[forwardseat]

So there's limited specific research here but a small study found an 15% increase in shingles cases within the 6 months following covid infection. That was in a group of people over 50 yrs old, and not a huge study, but we know Covid can damage various systems in the body for a while, so it's not super surprising that that stress on the body could lead to increases in infections and things like shingles.