Wellness

[jewelfool]

I take 3 antivirals every day of my life. One pill a day will not hold back a flare up. I had the shingles shot AFTER I had my very first flare up. I tried Lysine and it made me sick to my stomach. I have found that an anti fungal prescription ointment they gave me helps a lot. I've tried everything I have read on these forums and on the internet. I've had a good fall and winter with no flare ups so hopefully, the virus is settling down in my body. I was diagnosed 3 years ago this summer. I can't tell you which is worse, the nerve pain and the symptoms before a breakout or the blisters themselves. This is the worse sickness I've ever had (that being said, I've been blessed with good health all my life and am thankful that shingles IS the worse sickness I've had). Anyway, the vaccine is worth every penny even if you have to and can pay out of pocket.

[adelle38]

On 1/16/2014 makeupaddicted1 said:

FYI - My sister has a disability and she is on medicare and medicaid. Neither covered the cost of her shingles vaccine. We had to pay $250 out of pocket.

Medicare Part D pays for the shingles vaccine but it must be billed through a pharmacy.

[Lucibee]

I had a mild case of shingles in 2001. I went to the emergency room and they caught it early. I forget what meds I had to take. If you get the shingles once do you still have to get the vaccine?

[emmysmom]

On 1/16/2014 jewelfool said:

I take 3 antivirals every day of my life. One pill a day will not hold back a flare up. I had the shingles shot AFTER I had my very first flare up. I tried Lysine and it made me sick to my stomach. I have found that an anti fungal prescription ointment they gave me helps a lot. I've tried everything I have read on these forums and on the internet. I've had a good fall and winter with no flare ups so hopefully, the virus is settling down in my body. I was diagnosed 3 years ago this summer. I can't tell you which is worse, the nerve pain and the symptoms before a breakout or the blisters themselves. This is the worse sickness I've ever had (that being said, I've been blessed with good health all my life and am thankful that shingles IS the worse sickness I've had). Anyway, the vaccine is worth every penny even if you have to and can pay out of pocket.

jewelfool, Sorry the lysine didn't help. I have been taking it for years for herpes and its been amazing. Different things work as all of us are different. Just glad I heard about the tea tree oil on the internet. I really speeded things up. I pray you never have another attack..me neither! What 3 antivirals do you take??

[Jersey Born]

On 1/16/2014 emmiesmom said:

On 1/14/2014 emmiesmom said:

<em>I want to thank you for all your advice, I appreciate it. I am feeling better and will continue with the lysine. I also added tea tree oil with jojoba which is amazing. I read about it online..! I didn't see a doctor soon enough..hopefully I'll never have this terrible condition again..!</em>

Update: The tea tree oil and jojoba has been a God send. The blisters have dried up. The pain and itching are gone, its just been 8 days! Wanted others to know this, so you can have relief as well! The tea tree oil is antiviral, antibacterial and anti fungal, so there's no problem with infection. I also upped my lysine to 1500 mg daily!

I am so happy that you are feeling better and are using something natural to help you resolve your painful symptoms. Not many people are as open minded as you. I would try all existing natural anti-viral remedies, first, if I were to break out in shingles. I never would have thought of Tea Tree oil with jojoba, though, so thank you for sharing that.

[jewelfool]

On 1/16/2014 emmiesmom said:

On 1/16/2014 jewelfool said:

I take 3 antivirals every day of my life. One pill a day will not hold back a flare up. I had the shingles shot AFTER I had my very first flare up. I tried Lysine and it made me sick to my stomach. I have found that an anti fungal prescription ointment they gave me helps a lot. I've tried everything I have read on these forums and on the internet. I've had a good fall and winter with no flare ups so hopefully, the virus is settling down in my body. I was diagnosed 3 years ago this summer. I can't tell you which is worse, the nerve pain and the symptoms before a breakout or the blisters themselves. This is the worse sickness I've ever had (that being said, I've been blessed with good health all my life and am thankful that shingles IS the worse sickness I've had). Anyway, the vaccine is worth every penny even if you have to and can pay out of pocket.

jewelfool, Sorry the lysine didn't help. I have been taking it for years for herpes and its been amazing. Different things work as all of us are different. Just glad I heard about the tea tree oil on the internet. I really speeded things up. I pray you never have another attack..me neither! What 3 antivirals do you take??

Thank you, emmiesmom. I take the aciclyvor which I think (sp) is generic for Valtrex and I take 3 of those a day, not 3 different ones. My doctor and pharmacist told me try to cut the lysine in smaller dosages and take them separately but my stomach could not tolerate even 500 mg. Anyway, I'm doing fine now and I, too, pray I never have another attack and neither do you!

[Azcowgirl]

My DD told me yesterday, that she had a rec. from a friend to use geranium oil on a bad cold sore, and that it is also very effective on shingles...so, .I'm going to give it a try on my reoccurring shingles.

[emmysmom]

On 1/13/2014 Jersey Born said:

Good morning, Emmiesmom. If you are looking to try something holistic, how about coconut oil? If you are not allergic to coconuts, you could take up to three tablespoons per day either right off the spoon, or melted in hot chocolate (the yummiest way, IMHO), and you could also carefully apply the coconut oil to your affected skin areas, if you can reach them. Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, but will melt immediately upon touching your skin. It may not help you, but it could possibly be of great help to you.

Here is an article with some home remedies for shingles. I cannot say that I know if any of them work, because I don't, however, coconut oil works wonders on influenza like illnesses and influenza. That, I do know from personal experience.

Hope your shingles heal very quickly, and as painlessly as possible.

Thanks for the tip, I love coconut oil and have heard many positive things about coconut oil! Thanks for the well wishes, I will be so glad when its over..realized today I got very emotionally upset the night before I broke out..its stress related for me.

[emmysmom]

On 1/16/2014 Azcowgirl said: My DD told me yesterday, that she had a rec. from a friend to use geranium oil on a bad cold sore, and that it is also very effective on shingles...so, .I'm going to give it a try on my reoccurring shingles.

Have you tried using different herbs to boost your immune system?? Echinacea, goldenseal, I know there are others..garlic and ginger root! Just to name a few..you shouldn't have to suffer and I know when I take the echinacea and garlic, I get through the winter months without getting ill. I also make a tea out of the ginger root you can get at the store..its amazing. I just slice several pieces, let it simmer and add honey or sugar. If you use essential oils, remember to use a carrier oil, like jojoba, etc, so you don't burn your skin. You can just google using essential oils topically..Good luck!

[Reever]

I don't think doctors really understand what triggers an outbreak. I had it at age 40 which is considered young. Thought it was a bug bite at first, then it spread down my right leg and got the pustules. I didn't get to the doctor until 72 hours at which time the anti virals aren't as effective. Luckily, I didn't have much pain or any after effects such as nerve pain. Now that I know what the initial outbreak looks like (in my case large welts that resembled a spider bite) I won't waste time if it ever happens again and get to a doctor pronto. I got blood work done after it healed and everything came back normal. I'm not sure it's the immune system. The doctor was honest and said they don't understand why the dormant virus attacks out of the blue.