My Experience with Shingles
The pain in my shoulder was intense. I had shoveled base out of Jim's truck two times that week, but was careful not to overdo it. The thoughts I had, believing I couldn't even do that kind of work right now was disappointing to say the least.
As the days went by, the pain didn't lessen, it in fact seemed to be moving around my whole shoulder area and even under my arm and onto my breast. I started to put heat on it and that helped a little. But then the tingling sensation that began on my breast brought even more confusion to me. When my oldest daughter heard about the tingling, she thought maybe it was a pinched nerve, and so I started to use ice.
We had spent the day at our family ranch and it was after that that I first saw the rash, I thought I had hives. I had a whole lot of pain that night and a difficult time sleeping. When I woke up in the morning, the rash was worse ... the word 'shingles' dropped into my head. I knew it was true and I knew it was God who was speaking to me.
I quickly looked up shingles images and descriptions and began to consider my next steps. I knew I needed to see a doctor and get on some sort of medication, but went back and forth a bit on whether or not I'd go that day. Thankfully I did!
The pain seemed to get worse as the hours went by waiting to see the doctor and then to get my pain medication. He prescribed Zovirax and some pain medication. After beginning the medication, the rash stopped growing, but did change over the next two weeks. The pain has been tremendous! More pain than I've ever experienced in my life. The nights have been miserable with not near enough sleep.
After about a week and a half, the sores that developed dried up and began to go away. A few more sores developed but didn't progress like the first parts. I actually currently still have some raised bumps and a whole lot of itchiness. I quit taking the pain medication because I didn't like the way it was making me feel, but have been taking Tylenol and Advil regularly.
Today is the beginning of week 3 ... and yesterday afternoon was my first day to do normal things and actually not have pain or discomfort to do them. Each time the medication wears off the pain in my shoulder and between my breasts returns with a vengeance. My hope and prayer is that it all go away real soon.
p.s. If you've been following, you know this isn't a normal post for me ... I thought some of you might be interested in hearing about how shingles affects a person. Praying you never get it! Have you had it? I'd love to hear about your experience.