Had covid jab 2 Saturday am
Sunday am itchy rash starts from belly button round waistband line, to small of back. Hundreds of dots in red welts.
Initially thought sal****er mosquito as they are prevalent round here
So, in true bloke fashion treated with chammy cream ( brand new jar) as its cooling and soothing
Had heafache for 2 days and felt ok ish but blamed covid jab.
Day 4 and the itchy burny sensitivity is still there so look on dr Google
Shingles, bummer.
Thinking the windsurfing has helped by sal****er bathing, and the chammy cream lessons the burning sensation, orvthe sensation you get the day after you burn yourself
Dr Google says treatment neefs to be in first 3 days so thats gone by.
Suck it up and crack on i guess
Wife got that a couple of years back - quite painful for a week or so. Took months for the scars to go....
Unlikely you'll die. I had shingles when I was 16 - starting lower sixth after rinsing myself the previous April-May for my GCSEs. I must have been run down. The pain is 'exquisite'. I've never had anything as sharp and prickly pain wise. I was having to drop calamine lotion onto them by squeezing drops out of cotton wool pads. For a few months afterwards you will get the odd twinge and it definitely left 'something' there in that particular nerve as it can still be a bit tender over 25 years on. Just occasionally.
My guess is you were already run down and the extra demand placed on your immune system by the covid jab requiring your cells to manufacture then react against spike proteins tipped you over into shingles. If I remember it correctly you will have a fair bit of pain for a week or so and feel totally washed out. How much of this fatigue is due to the shingles and how much is due to not being able to sleep properly is a moot point. Depends on how bad you get them and where. Mine ran from my left nipple area around my side to my shoulder blade - not a terrible place to have them, but whenever I rolled over onto that side in the night it woke me up...
GP could still help with pain/burning relief if that's bad enough to need help (and that help may also be able to pevent longer term pain in the same area)
I've had it on my arm a couple of times. I was just totally rundown from work and young child. It was itchy and uncomfortable, but went away after a few weeks.
Shingles can be anything from mildly irritating to quite significantly debilitating and it sounds like you have a pretty mild case. Nothing you can do other than get on with it. I had it 20 years ago and I can still clearly 'imagine' the pain centre where it hit me. At the time I wanted to dig it out with a spoon.
I always remember my bout of shingles fondly, cos we were flying out on holiday to Ibiza. Very sore.
While in Ibiza, wife got the shits, I went riding on a rigid Giant MTB and Princess Diana got killed. Happy times
As above - I had it at about 17 and knocked me out for about a week with rash pretty much all over, but other than that recovered quickly after that and no lasting problems. It's just a week of feeling grotty and you kind of just have to deal with it...
GP visit or at least a phone call with a medic.
My mother in law had shingles, morphed into labyrinthitis (can happen often apparently) which put her in hospital for 3 days it was so bad and it took a couple of years to fully recover back to her normal self.
Think i will live then
Its a band around my torso, belly button round to small of back
Annoying where your pants elastic and belt line is, so constantly rubbing
Bought some ibuleve gel from Tesco to try
Got mouth ulcers and constant dull headache
Plus im 1mph off my usual road pace over 65 miles, and feeling more tired after
Had it 6 years ago
Get to the doctor asap as if you catch it early enough they can give you pills which make the symptoms significantly milder. The pills did induce a bit of nausea but I got over the shingles pretty quickly
what no ShingleTrackWorld word play? disappointed.
what no ShingleTrackWorld word play? disappointed.
Had it about 18 years ago or so. Severe nerve pain shooting from neck down to arms plus the rash/spots, which were painful and itchy. Doctor told me to use whatever skin cream would alleviate the itching/pain on the spots. Nothing did and it was one of the most uncomfortable 2 weeks I've ever had. Although it doesn't match the pain from kidney stones.
I had it in Jan/Feb. I was given an anti-viral and pregabalin. Mine was around my side.
It took me longer than usual to get over it, around 8 weeks. I tried to get on with things as best as possible. Luckily with a snowy winter and lock down I did not miss much!
I was perfectly fine by end of March. I did have a bit of a Pregabalin comedown which I tapered off of slowly.
Got mouth ulcers
Another sign of generally being a bit run down. If you are still smashing out loads of miles on a bike you might want to ease off for a week or two? Do some 'skills-based' riding rather than long rides perhaps?
had it about five yrs ago, mildly. Similar to yours on the small of my back. Didn't really affect me too much. Went to the doctors and got some anti-virals, it cleared up in a couple of weeks. rest is the key so take it easy.
A simple traditional trick use in the far east to deal with Shingles. (only use this if you have no other methods to deal with it. This is a common method used in the far east).
This method may not be suitable for shingles on the head or face.
Look for the start of the shingles spots, middle and the end point/spot.
Then use incense to "burn" (put as close as you can to them but not touching the skin) them at the start point, mid and end point of the shingles. Or cut a very thin (paper thin) slice of ginger and put it on the those three location and burn the incense on them. Again not touching the ginger but let the heat gets through.
After that avoid drinking water or touching water for 1 hour. Repeat the process for 2 to 3 times if necessary. It should disappear after a few days.
Avoid eating fried food for until they disappear if you can.
Note that this method might leave dark "scar" if you burn your skin i.e. without the ginger in between heat and skin.
Worst case of shingles means you will be in pain for several weeks if you don't deal with it quickly. Cream or oilmen etc might help but I found them to be less effective.
Mild shingles will go away after a few days, but the stubborn ones will be there for a while or years if not deal properly.
Shingles on the head or face need urgent attention form GP as there is a possibility that it will cause long term damage ...
I had it 24 years ago.
I still have an odd patch on my chest where the main rash was, I feel it on days when it has had sun on my skin.
Plus im 1mph off my usual road pace over 65 miles, and feeling more tired after
You really don't want to be doing strenuous exercise whilst you have the shingles!!
I had them a few years back, started in my left testicle and wasn't diagnosed untill it spread down my leg.
Didn't die, probably wanted to at one point......
Then use incense to “burn” ...Or cut... and burn..let the heat...
...avoid drinking water or touching water ..Repeat.. It should disappear after a few days.
Whereas not setting fire to your flesh, just leaving it and maybe putting on some soothing balm... it disappears after a few days. Brilliant, thanks doc.
That's Odd, my Mate had his 2nd jab on Sunday morning, he's got shingles now too.
It's clearly the scary side effect the covid deniers have been worried about.
Isn't a red rash one of the side effects to look out for after Covid jab?
Whereas not setting fire to your flesh, just leaving it and maybe putting on some soothing balm… it disappears after a few days. Brilliant, thanks doc.
Whatever makes you happy go for it.
My method is only the method I know from the far east where medication is hard to come by sometimes. Soothing balm ... yeah ... I have tried that and it did nothing to me at all, suffered intensely for two weeks and no sight of healing until I used the traditional method.
I have tried that and it did nothing to me at all, suffered intensely for two weeks and no sight of healing until I used the traditional method.
Nothing to do with the fact Shingles normally lasts a couple of weeks..
Google "shingles and...." Pretty well established link now, eldest daughter had this two weeks after first vaccine as well.
Had it about 15 years ago, two babies atvthe time and working shifts so must have been sleep deprived or run down.
Had it in my left eye, an intense twitching buzzing sensation like an electric shock. Eye swole up and gave me a cold-sore type thing on the cheekbone, but no puss.
End result is a slightly twitchy eye now and then, and a cool duelling scar under the eye. Also weirdly aged the skin under the eye, so when I was 30 I had one eye all smooth skinned, and one wrinkled and crowsfooted with a scar on it. Looked a bit like a burn.
Old age has caught up at last and now both my eyes look the same. Winner!
Mother in law got it in same way after 2nd jab. Seems there is some link according to an Israeli study. Been quite poorly for a couple of months and potentially looking like lasting nerve damage. Fingers crossed you're looking at a mild case OP.
I had it a month or so ago - 4+ weeks after first Covid jab for me, though googling did find some anecdotal comments about association, equally people get shingles and we've all been getting vaccinated.
It was unpleasant enough to get me on the phone to GP rather than just gritting my teeth and getting on . The Dr did mention that they like to get the antivirals started in first 3 days but prescribed anyway, I started at about day 5 so perhaps worth trying to get some. Hard to say if the drugs helped helped but things started to clear up in short order and based on others descriptions it felt like I'd got off lightly. Left over rash now mostly cleared up (3ish weeks from recovery)
Been to Wales lately...?
BBC News - Monkeypox: Two cases identified in north Wales
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57431322
Had it about 15 years ago, very painful in a don't really know why I'm in pain kinda way. You may find yourself feeling a bit depressed, I did but couldn't understand why. A friend was prescribed anti-depressants to help with his.
Had ophthalmic shingles a few years ago and the pain was brutal - imagine pushing pencil shavings into your eye, with the sharpened pencil, and it gets close! Misdiagnosed at first as conjunctivitis, but then caught and pumped full of antivirals before it damaged my sight.
Take plenty of rest, fluids and ibuprofen. And take it steady for a few weeks. An ongoing side effect can be nerve damage, with neuralgia, which your GP can help with.
Just got rid of shingles. Thought the red spots on my chest were insect bites but I also had bad shoulder pain.
After about a week my doctor surprised me by saying it was shingles.No treatment as it wasn't severe but I did have to take painkillers as the pain was fairly severe and made my right arm and hand feel numb.
Four weeks on and it's more or less disappeared apart from an occasional burning sensation under my arm.
Had shingles about five years ago in my early thirties.
Felt nausea unexpectedly, fainted, felt awful. Saw my gp who said it was a virus and they couldn’t do anything.
Bumps and rash appeared a few days later, doctor then realised it was shingles. Took some meds which helped.
What I didn’t expect was the lack of energy. I remember doing mountain mayhem as part of a team a good couple months after and struggling with doing just one lap. Felt absolutely horrible, just so tired and lethargic. Hurt to push myself.
I had spots up one side of my body, just as I went on holiday to the Canaries.
I had gabapentin/neurontin from the doctor. I could buy it over the counter there, but not in UK ubfortunately, as it really helped with my sleep too
It didnt hurt, and never came back,but Id keep taking the meds if I could get some
A friend was prescribed anti-depressants to help with his
the "typical" use of antidepresaants in shingles is to help with the nerve pain - especially the prolonged postherpetic pain (though now drugs like some have mentioned above are increasingly used instead)
I had it about 5 years ago, started as a pain in the small of my back, went to pharmacy to get some ibuprofen cream; pharmacist took one look at it & said ‘you might want to see your GP, that looks like a nice case of shingles’
Doc prescribed some antivirals - looked like horse pills! And a week off work. That didn’t go down well as I was contracting at the time, lost a week’s pay. It cleared up eventually.
If you are still smashing out loads of miles on a bike you might want to ease off for a week or two?
Defo agree with DannyH on this and tpbiker speaks sense as well:
You really don’t want to be doing strenuous exercise whilst you have the shingles!!
I had a case of shingles on my face (trigeminal nerve) in my early thirties that I caught early enough to not do any damage to my eye. I took loads of Aciclover and special eye drops. (I was sent to A&E to get drugs ASAP). It was ugly with very painful stabbing pains to the back of my head and face.
Over the next few years I felt it coming on a few times and started on the anti virals asap to halt it in its tracks.
I’ve not had any real flare ups since.
I still get problems with the side of my face when I’m run down (slight tingling and awareness of the area). This goes away if I just take it a bit easier.
I also had the trigeminal version. It was brutal, not helped by being misdiagnosed several times by GP, Optician and hospital. Only when I insisted on seeing an E/N/T specialist at the hospital did they correctly diagnose and put me on some strong antivirals to try and mitigate further nerve damage in my face.
After 3 years, I'm still a little tingly and feelingless in some areas of my face.
Preceding the Shingles, I had spent the spring/summer training hard for a good time in a marathon, whilst enjoying a series of weddings/stag weekends and hard work. I smashed the race, then spent the next month enjoying the freedom from running by riding every day, lots of travel, late nights and planning a wedding. I felt like I was 'living my best life', but in reality I was wearing myself down. This only became obvious when the virus struck and I realised how utterly exhausted I was.
On the other hand, I had it on my face 13 years ago at the age of 40, symptoms coming on while biking to/from Ben Alder Cottage at the end of a long (month+) trip. Initially felt like I'd hit my head on something, but it settled down. Lots of bumps, just didn't scratch them; kept an eye on possible eye complications, but no big deal and didn't take (or get prescribed) any drugs.
With my face singles, I had no bumps, spots or scarring which I think is what made it difficult to diagnose.
I think that this thread is great in showing how wide the range and severity of shingles can be, and that one person's experience and after effects might be completely different to yours.
Lots of people aren't aware of the differences, and really, why should they be? When I was suffering with the trigeminal variety I had lots of people empathise along the lines of 'my nan had shingles, she was bedridden for a week and still has lots of scars on her left hand side from it', obviously their empathy was well meant and well received. Similarly when I read of OPs shingles, I think back to my occurrence, even though they have very few similarities.
Phoned 111, 30 questions they got me a phone appt at local docs
Same qs from doc, and 1 set of pictures later
Yep, confident its shingles so course of aciclover prescribed plus take it easy for a week.
Slightly concerned by fluttering eye as well but thats monitor it and get back intouch if it worsens
I had shingles about 18 months ago. mainly on my face and in my mouth.
I had gone to the doctor feeling unwell until I mentioned the mouth blisters she was pretty meh about my complaints.
Anyways a course of antivirals and anti depressants for the pain relief (apparently normal pain relief isnt very effective).
Seemed to bed ridden for about a week and it took months to feel well again.
Funnily enough I had handed my notice in. Thus spent my whole notice period on the sick (kept being signed off by the doctor)(sorry Newcastle Uni ;))
I class my self lucky my mum had shingles and it went into her eye shes been on meds for ages and numerous trips to the eye clinic.
So yes it seems it effects everyone differently.
I've had it twice - both times the lower right chest wall area. The first time it went in a couple of weeks.
Last October it took about 5-6 weeks to go and far more painful. I was awake with the pain about 2am for about 7 days, couldn't sit comfortably or move in certain directions. No rash either time and I found that the amitriptyline the GP gave me to sleep didn't work so I gave up on them. No rash - no point taking acyclovir.
I sincerely hope I never have it again - nerve pain is just nasty
Had a big off a couple of years ago on scorpion at Yair, proper "make sure everything still works before moving" off.
Two days later shingles started on my ribs in the area of the impact.
Not for nothing is it known as "the belt of roses from hell"
I had it in my ear during lockdown. I had been completely run down with a parent in hospital, managing work and kids/lockdown.
Misdiagnosed at first by out of hours until I went to my own doc as I had facial paralysis. Ramsey-Hunt Syndrome. Got prescribed some very strong steroids for the paralysis and things were back to normal in a few weeks. Side effects of the steroids were horrific though.
