I was also prescribed medicine that specifically targets nerve pain. Hallelujah! The dosage was every eight hours. However, with my metabolism, it wears off in exactly six and a half hours. My new hobby has been counting minutes until I can take another pill.
Be your own advocate when talking to your physician and make sure you get all your questions answered and that you understand instructions completely. Discuss the supplemental use of OTC pain relievers with your physician before it becomes an issue. And while you’re on the subject, ask about nausea. I don’t know if my queasiness was triggered from the pain or the antiviral medication (one of the many side-effects listed on the information sheet from the pharmacist that you can read for entertainment while waiting for relief). You need to eat healthy and stay hydrated. Your body is fighting a serious virus and needs all the help you can give it.
Don’t forget to ask about what to do about caring for that nasty rash and the itch. A cousin told me that her husband actually rubbed one eyebrow completely off (she assured me it grew back). I replied, “No problem. I had my formerly invisible eyebrows tattooed on a few years ago. I don’t think it’s physically possible to rub them off.”
Are we having fun yet? No, shingles had yet another surprise for me. The doctor had voiced his concern about the possibility of getting lesions in the eye and having my sight permanently affected. Sure enough, the following morning my eye was nearly swollen closed. I looked like Popeye after losing a fist fight with his nemesis Bluto. Panicked, I made an emergency appointment with the ophthalmologist. Fortunately, even though I had rash and blisters all over my eyelid, my eye was safe. The specific branch of nerves that involves the health of the eye did not have the inflammation.
Oh, did I forget to mention that you’ll be contagious for awhile? No one can get shingles from you, but they can get chicken pox if they haven’t already had it. Not that you’ll feel very social, but you will be in contact with others while spending time sitting in the doctor’s waiting room, at the laboratory for blood work, and the pharmacy. I’m not sure wearing a bag over my head would be a safe enough protective barrier, but I seriously considered it for anonymity, if for no other reason.
While I’m on my soapbox complaining, I might as well state for the record that I think it’s totally unfair that if fate had to declare that I must have shingles on my face, why did it elect to choose the right side? Naturally, that’s the side I always sleep on. I can’t get comfortable on my left side, or stay on my back very long. So, I have spent part of every night propped upright with pillows on the sofa, dozing fitfully, and peering at the clock through one eye … waiting until my next dose of pain medication. Just call me Cyclops.
Commercials I’ve seen on television for the shingles vaccine claim that 1-in-3 people who have had chicken pox will develop shingles. Those aren’t odds worth gambling with. You may have heard it rumored that you can only get shingles once; don’t count on it. I know several people who have told me they have gotten it twice. If you have already had shingles, you can still get the vaccine.
The moral is, if you have had chicken pox and are 60 years old or over, go get vaccinated. Now. Getting vaccinated may prevent an outbreak; at the very least, it will help minimize the severity of the symptoms. If you haven’t reached that milestone 60th birthday yet, mark your calendar and treat yourself to a vaccination to celebrate your day and then you can blow out the candles and eat cake. But watch out, because as soon as this is completely cleared up, the poster girl for shingles is crowding her way to the front of the line.
©2013 Roberta McReynolds for SeniorWomen.com
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