Wellness

[lhs43]

I wanted everyone to be aware of this, so I am posting my experience. Yes, there is most likely such a thing as rash-less shingles.

About 2 weeks ago, I started to very suddenly feel a burning sensation on the left side of my upper back, near the shoulder blade. It was reminiscent of a really bad sunburn, the kind I used to get when I was a teenager, or like someone placed a hot iron on my back. I looked at my back - nothing there, not even a hint of pinkness. It was puzzling and at first I though maybe I had pulled a muscle as I do back rows on my Pilates machine a couple times a week. But I've had enough orthopedic injuries to know the feeling of a pulled, strained, sprained, or torn muscle, and this feeling wasn't remotely related to that.

I started to think to myself . . you know, the way I have heard people describe shingles, this would be exactly what I would expect to feel. Got on-line and, lo and behold, there were a few sites where others described the same feeling, saying they had shingles. The medical sites described this as a very rare occurrence, but that it does occur.

I went to my dermatologist yesterday. I respect his expertise like no other doc I've ever been to (and I've been to more than a few!) and chose to go to him rather than my internist for that reason. I just knew that he would know about this. Much to my surprise, he kind of poo-pooed what I said and said that he has never heard of or seen a person who had shingles without a rash. He took my blood anyhow, although he said that even if the titers of the virus are high, that would not necessarily mean that it is shingles because of the fact that I have had chicken pox. I asked him if he would please research this and he said he would.

P.S., he called me at home at 7 p.m. last night to tell me that I was correct, that he found the literature on-line and that he also conferred with his colleague, who said she is aware of cases of rash-less shingles. He said that high titers still wouldn't confirm shingles for me, but that a really low titer would indicate that I DO NOT have it. The results should be in in a couple of days. It's a moot point anyhow where I'm concerned because, as he said, treatment is really only effective if given within the first 24-72 hours after appearance of a rash. We both agreed that I shouldn't bother taking Valtrex, especially since I don't like taking drugs and have a history of drug sensitivities. Fortunately, for me, the pain is tolerable, though quite chronically debilitating and annoying.

I hope this information helps anyone out there who may experience similar.