Guess what I have in common with little old ladies and roofers?
(Photo by BobbyProm via Flickr)
That’s right. I’ve got shingles.
And not just anywhere, oh no. I’ve got shingles in my ear, on my face, in my mouth and on my tongue. And they ALL hurt. Every last one of these fucking blisters… of which more have appeared daily. I look like a cross between a leper and a zombie.
This is awesome.
/sarcasm.
I always thought shingles happened to old people and they got them on their backs. WRONG! Here’s a quick summary of things I’ve learned about shingles:
Shingles is the awakened version of the chickenpox (varicella) virus. Once you get the chickenpox (or twice, like I had it as a very young child) it goes dormant in your system. And for a lucky 2 to 3 people (like me) out of every 1000 aged 20-50, it wakes up as shingles!
Shingles attack nerves. So in my lucky roll of the shingles dice, it went after the mandibular branch of my right trigeminal nerve, meaning basically my jaw line on the right side of my face. The excruciating pain I’m experiencing (even in my fucking teeth) is because the virus travels along these nerve branches.
As an added benefit, I might have permanent nerve damage after all of this because it went undiagnosed at 2 different urgent care clinics this weekend. The first, a spacey nurse practitioner at a CVS Minute Clinic diagnosed me with swimmer’s ear and gave me ear drops, telling me that I was having a bad acne breakout. The second, an uninteresting hospital urgent care doc, told me I was having an oral herpes outbreak with a staph infection to boot. It wasn’t until my primary took one look at me Monday afternoon and went, “Yeah, it’s either shingles or poison ivy, and I’m pretty sure you haven’t been grazing on any poison ivy lately.”
The longer you wait to treat it, the greater the risk of Postherpetic neuralgia – fancy pants lingo for “lasting nerve damage and pain.” ROCK ON.
I’ve had blisters for at least 3 days before I started anti-virals and the phantom, unabating cluster headache around my right temple that I had for a week prior was most likely my little herpes zoster viral assholes gearing up for the big blister shitshow on my face and in my mouth.
(Electron micrograph of the varicella virus,
via Wikimedia Commons)
Right. So… thankfully I have a few pre-written posts for the next few weeks. I’m out from work mostly because my face and mouth are in so much pain all I do is take handfuls of drugs (literally – handfuls. It’s insane the amount of oral meds I have to take) and sleep.
Oh, and did I mention I can’t really eat or chew? So… lots of Gatorade, popsicles, frozen custard, soup… if I’m really hurting for nutrients I can always hit up the Ensure or hell, even cans of Slim Fast.
But yeah. Having the shingles sucks hard.
That said… you can help keep me entertained for the few hours I’m awake each day by sending in your anonymous questions on my “Ask Me Anything” post. (I’m not sure if the first question that was submitted was kidding or not so… yeah.)
I would love your random, anonymous, any and all questions about yours truly. Answers will go up Friday.
So yeah. Fuckin’ shingles.
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I can TOTALLY sympathize with you! I had shingles 2 years ago. The entire right side of my upper body, from my sterum to my back bone. It felt like the worst sunburn I’ve ever had in my entire life, coupled with awful stabbing pains. I, too, was midiagnosed (for 2 weeks). At that point, it was too late for the meds that clear it up quickly. Luckily, the only after-effects I have, is some minor pain once in a while where the largest blister was. Apparently, in people our age, they never think of shingles first. Lovely. I hope you feel better soon!!!!
Keiko, I am so sorry. The shingles weren’t any fun when I had them as a seven year old–I can’t imaging how much worse it must be for you. Hope you feel better soon and that you don’t have any lasting nerve damage.
Thanks for checking in – doing a lot better today. I can’t imagine having shingles as a kid. Chicken pox is one thing, but this pain on top of it? I want to hug your 7-year-old version of you for braving through that.
I am so sorry, Keiko! You must be so uncomfortable. And in pain.
Sending hugs.
Doing a lot better today Heather, thanks! Still generally blah, but it’s clearing up on my face thank goodness. Not feeling so Quasimodo-like 😉
Oh, yuck, Keiko! And working in academe, I can only imagine how the work stress is feeling right now … I’m so sorry! If I lived closer I would bring you custard. 🙁 Tiramisu, maybe?
(I’ve also been making purees out of our summer squash … maybe some of those?)
Mmmm. Custard. One of my favorite desserts, how did you know? 🙂
And as a NJ gal, I know you can appreciate frozen custard. I have only seen it outside of NJ a few times and I’m lucky there’s pretty much the only Rita’s in MA down the street from me so I can get my frozen custard fix.
I have to say- your posts with zucchini and squash lately have me intrigued, and I’m not a big squash gal either. Feeling lots better today – thanks!
Oh no! That sucks. Hope you feel better soon.
Thanks – already feeling a lot better today. Probably because of the handfuls of medicine I’ve been taking each day this week 🙂
Frighteningly, shingles has become a lot more common 🙁 My husband had them last year, my sister had them very badly a few years back, and I’ve had them too. At the time I thought it was a very bad case of poison ivy, but since it was January and I hadn’t been outside since I’d had my twins at the end of November, not so likely. Lets just say that shingles suck ass wax, and when you have them on your hand and have twin newborns that need to be changed 8X a day, I just wanted to cut my hand and lower arm off!
Sorry you’re going through this. I’ll try to come up with some tough questions for you.
That’s crazy! I posted about this on FB and a bunch of ppl told me that they all knew other ppl who just had it.
*visions of a 2012 shingles apocalypse*
I can’t imagine being responsible for children with this right now. No way.
Feeling a lot better today – thanks!
URGH! I’m so sorry Keiko! Going to submit a ridiculously entertaining question for you now!
Get well soon and all that good stuff!
xoxo
So… I’ve answered all the fun & deep questions… I wonder which one was yours? Guilty pleasure maybe?
Feeling tons better today – thanks!
Oh my goodness! OUCH. Sorry to hear this, I really hope you get better soon (with no last nerve damage!)
Thanks – me too. It’s the tooth pain that’s the worst. So random and only lasts a few seconds, but it packs a punch. Feeling a lot better today.
Ouch!! That sucks. I’m so sorry. I remember when my grandmother had shingles (not to remind you of the little old lady thing or anything…) and it was an absolute nightmare!!
Thanks – between POF & shingles, I’m feelin’ like a spring chicken 😛 Thankfully it’s really cleared up a lot in the last couple of days.