I'm just getting over shingles now. Mine started the last week in April. The first day I just had a mild soreness in my right shoulder. Day two the only symptom was a sore throat. On day three it was more of the feeling of a toothache on the right side of my jaw. Day four the first blisters appeared on the front of the right shoulder and I thought it might be poison ivy or something. The blistering started to spread though and I then figured out it was shingles. The antivirals are only really effective if started in 72 hours and it was well over 96 hours by the time I figured out what was going on.
I found the hairdryer to be pretty comforting to mine. Blowing warm air on them really seemed to make them feel better and since I was feverish, adding more heat to the area seemed like a good idea. There were two really bad days about a week in where the blistering under the chin was especially bad. Since I couldn't shave I also had the sharp little whiskers rubbing against the blisters. Once I got past those two days though it's been pretty manageable. Mine started at the front of the right shoulder, went to the throat/chin area, then up the right side of the face and around behind the right ear up onto the scalp.
It's pretty much gone now. It's not fun to deal with at its peak, but the peak only lasts for a few days and if it's someplace where you don't have things like whiskers rubbing against it, it probably isn't as bad. For anyone who hasn't gotten the vaccine, I'd highly recommend getting it. Shingles won't kill you, but it can make you pretty miserable for quite a while. Mine's probably 98% of the way gone now. The blistering is long gone, the scabs are largely gone, there's just a feeling of tightness in the scalp where it was, like the skin is being stretched a bit too much, but even that's pretty minimal.
One of the things I was reluctant to try but did ultimately find comforting was capsaicin cream. The idea of putting capsaicin cream on open, raw, oozing blisters was not something I would have thought of on my own, but multiple websites recommended it. Kudos to the first person desperate enough to try it. I've gotten capsaicin cream in a cut before and it wasn't pleasant, so the idea of putting it on raw blistered skin wasn't something I'd have thought of on my own. Even with multiple sites recommending it, I still put the smallest dab possible on a finger and barely touched a blistered area with it, while keeping a wet soapy washcloth handy in case it burned too much. It felt fine though and did seem to ease the discomfort. Ice also helped a bit, but I found the hairdryer the most comforting.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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