Shingles-the painful kind

[Emo]

Curious if anyone has had the shingles and have you found anything that provides relief from the pain?

My mother has cancer (currently in remission) but her immune system is not in the best shape and she broke out in shingles for the first time over the summer and is experiencing debilitating pain. She is on some prescription pain meds from the Dr but can't seem to get any relief even with double doses. Going on almost 6 weeks that she has had them now.

Thanks in advance.

[AxeMan]

Antivirals. acyclovir
Ask your doctor. It is most effective as soon as any singles symtoms appear though, such as the nerve pain.

[silverdoctor]

Shingles is viral, reactivated chicken pox actually. It needs an antiviral med. 6 weeks? Find out what med's she's taking or get a second opinion.

[Iron Brew]

When I got them I was immediately placed on antivirals...

[James Henry]

When I got them on my arm, I initially cheaped out but then bit the bullet and bought the $75 over the counter tube. The $75 was well spent.
She is in my prayers EMO

[600twin]

I had them on my face and over my eye and i would never wish that pain on anybody. I took antibiotics and it cleared up but i had double vision in that eye for a few weeks because of it.

[Zip]

I ended up with a bad case of the shingles while trying to get healthy from my cancer treatments...ya just what i needed another health issue to deal with...but i was on gabapentin 300 mg capsules for quite some time due to nerve damage from my operations...the doc just told me to take a coupla extra pills and ride it out. I didn't seem to be in as much pain as some other people i know explained the pain they had when shingles showed up for them...i believe the gabapentin did its job for me and kept the pain part down to a tolerable level...check with your Doc about this drug as it is a pain reliever for nerve damage....good luck....and don't scratch em!!

[Scott h]

Might be useful to ask her physician about gabapentin as Zip mentioned . It's used frequently for neurologic pain and that's what the pain from shingles is from .

[OneGirlWolfPack]

I'm surprised her doctor just gave her painkillers for shingles. Normally a patient would be treated with antiviral meds and if the nerve pain persists after the rash is gone they are put on Neurontin (gabapentin) or an antidepressant. Get her to ask her doctor for Neurontin. It will help her a lot more than standard painkillers will. Glad to hear her cancer is in remission. Sure hope she gets relief from this pain soon. Sounds like she's been through a lot

[silverdoctor]

From reading the posts here, there's alot of people here that have dealt with serious medical issues. Wow.

[molly]

Hubby had them and we were a bit too late for the Zovirax and antiviral stuff to do much good. It has to be addressed immediately. However, we did get a product called Neuragen from the pharmacist, which is a natural and very smelly product, applied topically. It really helped with the discomfort and my hubby is one tough SOB, so when he says it hurts, it hurts!

http://www.originbiomed.com/neuragen-ca

Good luck to your mom.

[Emo]

Thanks for the replies, I will ask what she was given and tell her to ask her Dr about some of the others.

I know at least one of the treatments she was not able to take due to its interference with her chemo (while she is in remission, she still has maintenance treatments quarterly). I also know she did not catch the shingles until they were full blown, she has never had them before so I don't think she knew what it was until it was too late-perhaps this affected her treatment as well.

She says she can barely stand to have clothes on it is so painful. I had no idea they could last for such a long time (while she has only had them 6 weeks some people I have read had them for months!).