Thanks, shraby. You've been one of my supporters all along. My thanks to all,like yourself, who contributed your story and helped me through these past few weeks.

The pain has been horrible but seems to be letting up a bit being I was able to remove a major stress item from my life luckily.

This problem can go on for years or it can go away slowly which is where I am at.

Don't fear taking stronger medications for pain as your body needs the rest to heal from this horrible virus.

I hope you are feeling better soon!

Hang-in there!

It would also be nice to get something topically applied too.

that healing for you be swift and thorough.

together the nicest folks on the earth...

Thanks.

My shingles fortunately stopped fairly quickly, a couple weeks of bad. Percocet helped, did not need gabapentin though.

Dependency does not always follow using strong pain killers. You do what you have to do to get past this.

Avoid eating nuts and chocolate in any quantities as they have an amino acid which encourages herpes outbreaks. This isn't woo but actually known to occur, look up arginine/lysine for more info. One theory why chickenpox outbreaks occur Jan-April is that is the time of year when people eat arginine high foods, like that chocolate and nuts.

I hope you feel better soon, and don't have it ever come back as it can really be a pain.

But thanks for the heads up. Hoping that this outbreak will not keep me from going to my dtr's for xmas but the drive itself might just be out of my capability...

My shingles was so severe (you can still see it on my chest and shoulder) that the docs just gasped "wow." That wasn't what I wanted to hear, obviously...

Again, you are a godsend and thank you. I appreciate your warm wishes...

At first I thought I had kidney stones, then maybe appendicitis. After a day I connected the dots, so to speak, and realized it was both ends of the nerve, and made a quick trip to get some anti-virals. It still hurt, and I wore second or third hand xxl soft cotton pj shirts for a while as anything touching the sores or the nerve was too much. Eventually it usually goes away.

In the meantime, being in pain, being stressed, releases chemicals in your body that make healing more difficult. If you are a person who doesn't like to do medicine, or drugs, or painpills, being able to be more relaxed and even sleep better will let your body do its healing.

Yes, some people get addicted, but that is pretty darn rare if you are taking it for a thing like this. You need to do what you need to do, then heal up.

Isn't it fun being a "wow" sort of patient? Not.

You probably know all this, but here it is anyway: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/postherpetic-neuralgia/basics/definition/con-20023743

Right now I feel better, like I can get through this and I am hopeful for tomorrow, but we'll see. Friends and neighbors (and DU!) have been so helpful! It wonderful...

related to lyrica. that one did nothing for me, but lyrica has been a lifesaver.

kiddo.

of this drug obviously. Oh, well, as long as I take it as prescribed and I have my two docs working together, all should be well...

It should be helping the Percocet along. I once needed to be on it around the clock for a few months and did get slightly dependent on it, resulting in a raging headache, minor flu like symptoms, and insomnia for 3 nights. I just ended a prescription and didn't want to refill it because I was sick of having that stuff in my head. If you have symptoms, you'll be allowed to taper down, stretching the amount of time between pills, then cutting the pills in half, then off completely. You should be symptom free with that. You can get dependent on strong painkillers but if you are taking them according to directions, you won't get that dependent.

If you're not getting adequate relief with that combination, ask about lidocaine patches. They can be cut to size and will completely numb the surperficial nerves that are causing so much pain.

The good news is that PHN generally resolves over time, meaning you'll likely taper your own painkillers down as you no longer need them.

I've never gotten dependent on painkillers so I have no reason to believe I will start now. My grown dtrs are giving me the razzmatazz about the dependency thing. I'm trying to straighten them out on that score. One dtr wants me to "think other thoughts" to get my mind off the pain...oy, how does one even TRY to explain that one...

Addiction is the hard one because of the cravings that never completely go away. They're totally different phenomena.

They followed 10,880 patients in Boston in the 80s who had strong narcotics in the hospital. There were four new addictions. FOUR. I think your odds are pretty damned good.

it was fine. Maybe my doc just lowered the dosage as I got better but that's OK. I didn't need as much so I didn't get it.

I WILL MAKE YOU REMEMBER; yes INDEED

An ass-kicking from Skittles cures everything. Hugs and best wishes for healing (I'm not a very good ass-kicker Maybe Skittles should give lessons)

I WILL TEACH YOU A LESSON; yes INDEED

I'm not worthy...I'm just not worthy

There's a big ol' 2016 right ahead for you to jump into....

but there's not much in the way of hope at this point. I keep waiting for it to fade away but in the meantime I've got DU and a supportive circle of family and friends. I'm thankful that the weather is good...no snow, yay!...but a neighbor picked up a 40 lb. bag of snow melter for us to keep on hand (and before the stores get sold out of it, which is what kept happening last year)...

I've been on (for me) some pretty industrial strength pain meds since I broke my hip. During the day, I try to ignore the ache, but often need help to sleep.

Tramadol and Doliprane 1000 help me make it through the night.

but when the BIG PAIN hits, as you say, thank god for the heavy duty chemicals. New molecules are a gift from the Universe.

and have pleaded with them to call me back. It has been a WEEK and I am at the end of my rope with this pain.

Even if just to refer me to a doc who will inject me with a nerve block (if he won't). Or to email in a lidocaine patch to my pharmacy for intermediary relief. Or mail to me if that isn't allowed.

My pcp who referred me to the neuro guy is still on vacation. If this is still going on when he gets back next week I'll make a huge stink about his colleague's attitude toward my three pleas for help in the constant pain that I am in. This neuro only seemed to want to give me a bunch of pills I was already taking and that weren't doing the job adequately. Thank goddess for the internet for clueing me into the info about the lidocaine patch and the nerve block.

OK, that's my rant. I guess I am lucky with so many caring friends who are pitching in with food and doing shopping. Hubby can do small runs but I have been HIS caregiver and he's resenting a bit having the roles reversed. I understand it but it can make for some hard feelings at times...

end of rant. thanks for listening...