Ah...about that last rib I broke....

Now George I don't want you freaking out on me big guy! Shit happens and as the saying goes there's shit all we can do about it. So Stay centered and don't go borrowing any pain when you have plenty of your own...
That said...

Last Monday I broke a rib, there's a very moving and exceptionally well written post on this somewhere around here...
(Exceptional in that I used spell check)
Any way the same day my pain clinic decided I needed an increase in pain and cut my meds while not telling me they were cutting my meds. I didn't know as my meds were also being changed.

I don't tell my pain Doc as she would assume that I was drug seeking and broke my rib to get drugs...yes things have gotten that freaking nuts! With my medical file right in front of her all she sees is I'm seek pain relief..

.given it might jeopardize her standing with the Feds protocols newly implemented, so the poor dear plays it safe at my expense and cuts my meds in half...doesn't that look fine in her charts, Already I'm cutting back...1st day!!.
So I break a rib. Go thought the usual, hey this don't hurt all that much on the first day to I move like Frankenstein on the second... I'm taking a new pain med at lower dose...so it's hard to judge but this one really does seem to hurt more

So I'm thinking...I know asking for more pain meds for a mere broken bone would just be silly...it might offer relief my heighten pain from post neuralgic neuralgia.

So I waiting for her GD 19 days, (Completely arbitrary time period as it turns out.) to pas,
when I'm told I'll "Actually" begin treatment...And they will at that time increase my meds...If I've been complaint...See just like I was 5 years old !These people are nuts.

The week passes and as it did with the previous two ribs and the pain begin to fade a bit.
... then Yesterday there was a sharp increase in pain. My sternum began to to send out that deeply wounded pain that makes your want to hold yourself in your own arms.

The rib began to hurt not just when I moved, but all the time. The pain now followed my rib around my back, (Which wasn't involved before the change Still hurting and thinking...

Thinking maybe an infection? If infection, I should see someone..pain still increasing.
Urgent care costs us big time each visit. Pain makes the decision for me.

I have around 100 Deludid @ 2.5 M.G. but If I take more than 4 a day I become a non-compliant patient and they really do cut people off cold turkey for non compliance. Makes a drug dealer look like a Saint do they not?

I see the doc and in further compliance tell her that I'm a pain patient at a pain clinic and explain if I'm going to take more pain pills than I'm under prescribed for I want EX-rays to PROVE my need...Yes it's freaking come to this!! I have to prove to medical community what they have right before them!


She exams me and while examining me tells me she CAN'T prescribe any pain ,meds to me for a broken bone. No pain relief...Why am I here?

So I tell her once again that I'm poor and that if I'm not getting any relief using the Ex-rays, there's no point in taking them. While I explain it's clear she's mulling something over in her mind...

Then she hit me right between the eyes.
" You ever have shingles? " (A.K.A. ZOSTER!)
I say yes that's why I needed the Dilaudid.

(When Zoster passes and stops being active it leaves you with a lot of dead nerve cells. These aren't a problem if to much damage hasn't been done.
But it also leaves a ton of damaged, mutated nerve cells that keep trying to fire
(God Love 'em)
but are to messed up to do so properly. These mis-fires the brain interprets as pain)

She informs me my zoster is active again. Writes the proper scrips and calls the Pharmacy and tells them to process ASAP. (We didn't even know you could get a pharmacy the rush order, when you think about do you really want them to? But this amounted to being placed at the head of line...so no rushing":O}

Steroids for pain.(this was new to me!) And the wonderful poison they use to kill ....for a while...Zoster.

But Ahem, No meds for pain...That will have to wait until Tuesday when the Pain Clinic comes off their vacation in the land where pain only happens 9 to 5 Mon thur Fri.

She did suggest the same Lido-cane pain patch as the Clinc. But I explained that after the Feds take $130.00 out of my $400.00 a month S.S check. for Medicare I just can't afford the $600.00 patch the clinic didn't even know the price of when they prescribed it!

The Steroids seem to be reducing the pain quite a bit. This is new medicine, it's been 10 years since Zoster was active in me, Always present though

.If steroids hadn't worked I would have had to Wait for Tuesday, under prescribed, with a broken bone and a nice fresh Zoster attack, still coming down from the Oxy I was previously on.

When I made this little summation for her she couldn't look me in the eye...They KNOW they are failing us.

I tell you brothers this is a system designed to make junkies out of pain patients. I've taken three extra pills sense last Monday 4 pills a day prescribed). They CAN declare me to be in non-complacence.. Weather they are THAT crazy I will learn onTuesday.
So...
I have zero respect for this countries drug laws. I'm in great pain. How many in non-compliance are going to sit home in agony when Heroin is better anyway? When Oxy Dxy and friends await with open arms on every other st corner?Watch these Government Asshole stack up bodies coast to coast with their ignorant power plays. They already are!

So George I feel better now than when I started writing this...better enough to think maybe Steroids are better answer than Opiates...I wouldn't mind that to much! ":O}

Man, that sucks.

Do you have anyone that can act as your advocate? I went through similar things with my mother. I was able to get her some relief by speaking on her behalf as her son. Probably helped that I was obviously a square with a real job and no other issues.

I'm afraid my wife Patti is left with the heavy lifting needed to get me thought the system. Fortunately she is as good at the paper work as I am bad at it. But the real problem is that the system sucks and they know it sucks, honestly they can barely look me in the eye. The feds have tied them up in knots.
Care givers Like mine who know me, can no longer legally prescribe Narcotics to their long term patients.... If they know you they might be enabling you

This Isn't Wa State, this is nation wide. Care givers, like mind are being totally demoralized. Why aren't they to be trusted anymore? They didn't endless scrips!
So now he's forced to send me, his patient of the last 5 years to one of two pain clinics,
about which he knows nothing and can't seem to get clear answers from about my care.
We had a choice! We picked the nearest one...50 Min each way. in a town several hamlets away.
The steroids are a shot term God send. I didn't know they had a use as pain control!

Thank you for your tender concern Chris.

After all the confusion and pain...The Beatles had it right. "Love is all there is."
And God help us when we need more!! LOL

"Probably helped that I was obviously a square with a real job and no other issues."
When doesn't it! LOL

I know I've never experienced this level of ongoing pain, but there are alternative treatments that claim success for this type of thing. Have you ever tried a proper [usually Chinese] acupuncture doctor/provider?

Here is Thailand it is fairly common, and I have to admit that it has worked well for me on several different occasions. Once when I had severe back pain after a pinched nerve in my C2/C3 decided to send spasms down my shoulder and spine, making me completely non-ambulatory. I literally thought I was going to be paralyzed. The acupuncture physician was astounding, and the relief, although partial, was nearly immediate. I continued the weekly treatments for several months, and it has never bothered me again.

This isn't to say it will cure your problem, but relief, even if it's temporary, is a good thing.

This is why I so very much feared the Affordable Care Act (not Obamacare; while Obama championed it, those cretins in Congress are the ones who wrote and implemented the laws), when it was passed. While I can't honestly say that the ACA is directly responsible for your predicament, I feel it HAS directly enabled (and accelerated) the implementation of a lot of stupid policies by people who have ZERO understanding of healthcare.

I'm glad to hear that you've had success with this, Thunder. While I'm a big believer in Chiropractic (it took me from being nearly immobile to allowing me to pursue being a black-belt in TKD, after all), I've always been somewhat sceptical of acupuncture. Something about the idea of simple needles being able to block pain or otherwise impact our heath just always struck me as hoccum. But I respect your opinion enough to be willing to re-evaluate.

Hi T.R. welcome to my little clinic! ":O}
I to have had some success Chiropractic treatments as well as acupuncture . But as I'm sure you've experienced the quality of the practitioner is everything! I once was given a sub-cutaneous infection by a guy with dirty needles...

But I've had much better results as well. Living in the woods it's hard to find someone of real skill and I suspect that money would a problem...I keep my eyes and ears open, lots of Asian moving into the general Area perhaps a healer will come along with them.":O}

What drives me nuts is that for two years congress tried every approach in the book to get us good care INCLUDING single payer!
And Obama wouldn't budge on a thing. Then in the very last minute he comes up with a total monstrosity of a health care program. That left every Democratic Congressman and Senator to fin for themselves in the 1/2 terms...Giving the congress to the morons!
Personally I have come to doubt the the Republicans really stopped him from anything he wanted to do.
A Stall in the status quo is what profits corporate and that's what it seems to me he did!.
He practically hired the entire Bush administration and continued it's foreign policies.
Politically, I've never misread so completely or been so disappointed in anyone in public life.

The Republicans treated him in a disgusting manner. Why did he not call upon those of us who elected him for "Change we can believe in...to bring about that change!?

So here I am again with my little Bernie light shining in the darkness. At least this time I have a 37 year track record of diligent duty done to judge my man by... and then of course there are my options...
By which of course I mean...we have no options.":O}

You guys are compassionate, no doubt!
But... I keep remembering that beautiful line spoken by Jodie Foster in "Nell".
She plays a woods born and a bit of a wild child grown into a partially mis- functioning adult.
Brought into a competency hearing she's asked to give account for herself.
At this point it is plain her compassion pains her, merely being among us gives her pain.
She looks out into the court room and the suffering in the people she has been brought into contact with.

"I have no sorrows greater than your own."

We are together in this. There really isn't my pain and your pain, there is our pain shared by our separate bodies.

"There is a river of tears that flows though our eyes
There is a river of love that flows though our lives."
T-Bone Burrnet

All other greedy bass- turds in far off lands must hang their heads in shame and bend way low when an American billionaire
requires that his farts be sniffed and praised! No one breaks a widows back like an American billionaire.

A couple of things have been poking at me from our conversations This includes everyone here in our little group session.":O}
First your emphasis on Fear strikes me as central to the whole Addict as opposed to pain patient thing Gizmo.

Perhaps each group is best defined by what they fear. In the case of the patient this may call for more deliberation than it first appears.
Obviously he fears pain and as Gizmo explained we fear time.
The time it takes to go from agony to something that reassemblies relief

1 hour and 40 min. for Oxy and 1 hour and 20 min. for Dilaudid...

( These are MY times and mileage doesn't very much at all for me )

I didn't have to time this. The drugs timed me.

If one is laying down a base pain relief addiction these times wouldn't really matter much...IF...
The dose taken lasted as long as prescribed.
it does not.
I'm prescribed a six hour pill. As noted 1 hour and 20 min to gain relief.
2 hours and 40 min of relief. 2 hours and change waiting for the next dose...in pain.

Obviously this strongly tends to fixate the mind . Both upon one's pain, but more importantly upon pain relief, The acquisition of drugs
\Even if your sitting looking at a bottle of a hundred pills, TIME has made you it's bitch. You suffer and you wait.
As long as the "care giver determines times and dosages this will be the case.
This will condition the brain.
This will make of our care givers drug pushers in all but name.
Keeping them happy becomes the only path to pain relief.
What could go wrong!?
Exactly what
HAS gone wrong!
Care givers writing endless scrips addicting endless patients who are not permanently afflicted with pain.
But are now CONDITIONED by pain and time, by how they have spent their mental time, by where they have been focused for months by pain and pain relief to be addicts.

(I mitigated this, I think, still unsure, by taking half doses twice as often. I don't get as much relief at once, but it seems to l greatly lesson the up and down pull of these drugs.

Finally patients fear becoming addicts.
These fears twist and turn us. They shape our experience of pain in the worst way
and magnify it as fear magnifies everything.

Now this does change in the extremes...But I prefer pain to fear.
Fear is the pain of the imagination and as such can be limitless.
Can drive us mad and destroy in the most horrible way.

George please tell me if you think I'm wrong, But my guess is that most OD's come from the fear that the rush won't be good enough to take you from your fears.

I also suspect that the Addict fears becoming a patient as much as the patient fears becoming an addict
For addict to become a patient means being chained to the clock and care giver dosages.
In means having to get your drugs from those whose job is to withhold them as much as possible.

I've never been to jail or even to trial. But I totally know how it feels to have a parole officer who dresses in white and pretends to know my pain better than I do.

So fear seems to me central in defining different types of users. We ALL fear. What we fear defines us.
It has been said that the Superior man so fears doing wrong that all outer terrors glance off him harmlessly.
His mind so focused on the positive, his fears lesson. I can say of a certainty that as fears lessen, pain lessens..

The other thing that's been bugging me are my remarks concerning the "Chippers" The week-end recreational users of hard drugs.
I noted that these folks are not addicts and as a rule, don't become addicts.
I feel I left out something extremely important in my appraisal of their usage. While MOST user are not addicts...

Damn! Things change in a man's life! What could be handled then, can with change and loss...do great further damage.

The loss of a beloved child
The loss of a job one loved.
The loss of one's sense of direction.

These thing change people. They test and tear and seek for the soft spot.
Our liabilities change. Our strengths and weakness change over time.
But these drugs for all of their benefits ...they don't change, they change you.

Ok I think I've gotten what I wanted to say said. Lend me your views! ":O}

.

I think I owe my Pain Doc a bit of an apology
Given the pain I was experiencing when she switch me from Oxy to Dilaudid, I found fault with her treatment of me
I now think erroneously.
I now believe she had her scrips right as far as equivalence goes. Pill for pill the dose IS what's recommended.

I think that what happened is that I could not make the right distinctions between the pain of my broken rib, my coming down off Oxy, my circulatory pain problem and the new and yet unknown to me at that time on set attack of Zoster shingles.

SO SUE ME! LOL

That said...":O}
The Feds have made it so that the pain clinics lock up all narcotics from all legal sources.

Once you enter a clinic ONLY that clinic can prescribe pain meds. for you...For any reason!!!
Your heath care provider, who knows and has treated you for years can not!

Mind you I'm standing there,in urgent care, well propped up against wall, with a broken Rib, pain from past Zoster encounters and pain from a present Zoster infection and pain from my blocked arteries;
the urgent care Doc CAN NOT prescribe me ANYTHING for pain.

Cannot by law even say "Sure take a few more until you talk to your pain clinic on Tuesday"...in short cannot by law help me...
But they, thank God can still bill be as freely as they like!

I don't know if this includes private Doctors...been so long since I've seen one of those But I believe it does for long term pain patients..

Guess who owns a great big bunch of these pain clinics that wrote all those scrips that hooked all those people and now have locked up long term pain care?

If you sell enough scrips, if you hook enough people and show the world your really on the ball the US government will SELL you the franchise and make you the king of the hopeless...

WE finally found an "Emergency" Number to call
( No body around the entire three day week-end...yet again I'm screwed by the week-end!
Trying to gain permission for me to increase my dosage to counter the new Zoster on set.

We called them up left a message and got a message service that they would have a
Doc call back in 15 min
. 15 min! No kidding that's great!!

We called back three hours later.
15 min! No kidding that's great!!

We called back three hours later
15 min! No kidding that's great!!
You get the picture.

The Clinic opened at 8:30 this morning . Patti has been trying to get them to say yes or no to allowing me to increase my dosage. Now 330 pm. Ya think they lostmy number?
Mind you I have around 100 pills sitting by my bed side. All I need is for my clinic Doc's secretary to talk to my Urgent care Doc's secretary to confirm this new diagnoses has been made.

Please realize that This Doc who made this diagnoses can no longer prescribe for me. as he/she now knows (by way of my having zoster,) that I'm a long term pain patient...So he can only refer me to a pain specialist.

This isn't about me personally. Really it's not. Pain is boring and mostly not worth talking about.

(How many of you just spit coke all over your keyboard when I said that hey? ":O}

Yet I KNOW Zoster Shingles.

One in four people who have contracted the Chicken Pox will have Zoster come to,

"Wined up and end up to meet you on your crossroads
from inside the walls, the walls of Red Wing."
Bob Dylan

Once you have Zoster, well... zoster has you for life.


I know Zoster Not from the science but from the WAR between pain and the side effects of pain killers,

That emergency phone line?

My friends...I can not, do not want to tell you how close I came to jumping out a window 25 or 30 years ago when this first hit me.
I think I mentioned that my pain Doc saved my life. He understood completely what I was going though.

He was ALWAYS there for me...No 9 to 5 with him. He seemed to realize that pain is at it's most deadly in the lonely hours of the night when the dawn keeps retreating from the ever greater darkness of untreated pain.

He understood the kind of pain that make death a welcome release.
He made sure I knew he wanted me to live and would do what ever he had to to see to it I did!

He was a healer.
He was my Doctor.
God Bless him.

Due to my drugged state at the time...I do not even remember his name. But will never forget the gift he gave me
Belief in my own tomorrow. No easy thing to do with a Zoster patient.

I remember only and always that there was one who saved me from a darkness many did not make it though. They had my pills, but they did not have my Doctor. God bless them who have passed in pain alone and afraid.

This onset...so far...hasn't gone to quite he extremes of past occurrences .Not sure why or if the best is still yet to come.
.Zoster likes to play hide and seek, it's cool, he always lets you find him! ":O}

When I first met Zoster he was a rough and rude bastard that needed at lest 6 different meds to knock him down. Now I'm taking one pill! I wanted you to know that. I wanted you to know that progress is being made. Don't fear what's to come. It's already been her and gone a million times.

It's still givingme a fair share of our collective pain....but Patti doesn't have to nail the windows shut so I don't jump out my trailer window...OK...so I don't squeeze out my trailer window falling falling, falling 2 feet to the ground..splash.

Oh. That emergency line?

It's going to have people jumping out of windows.

It breaks my heart that my previous Doctor won't, by law, be there to catch them.

BTW:
The Governor of Main or some small eastern state just veto a law making Narcan...

(A narcotics blocker that saves lives every day stopping Heroin deaths and buying the needed time to get emergency overdose aid.}

available to anyone over the counter. 37 states have done this to save lives.

His fat ass tried to reason out why he did such an evil spiteful thing, but only could come up with this bit of vileness.

Paraphrasing here:

"Why make it available when the junkies will just cost us a lot of money saving them and go right back out there to do it again."

Don't look at me they elected him!

Several mom's spoke up saying they WANTED their son or daughter to have that chance..the chance to choose again with new experience to guide them.
Did no good! He looked those mom's in the eye and sighed their children's death certificates, ah, I mean the veto.

I hope my posts of late haven't been bringing anyone down. Your posts have most certainly helped me to stay up.":O}

2.0 mg, lowest does they make,less than a months supply..

Patti FINALLY got in touch with the "Pain generating clinic. We were just being stupid, drug induced mindlessness I guess.
If we had anything on the ball we would known the the EMERGENCY number requires 24 hours to respond to any emergency.
They see to my Emergency some time tomorrow.
They did suggest that I could go to an Emergency room.
When pressed by Patti they did concede that an E.R could not write a scrip for me or give me permission to properly use the meds. I have.

AND If I asked them to I would be in violation of "Our Contract. ALL my pain drugs now must go though them...when you can find them at home. I also would have liked to know if they would pay for my E.R visit at $160.00 a pop minimum?

George, I'm not a stoic!

If my life was half as bad as you describe...I wouldn't still be here enjoying your company.
Pain is an adversary. I have had many adversaries, pain is not the worst I've had to deal with.
Like all adversarial encounters, you win, you lose.

But here's the thing George if your really in the fight, you have no idea if your winning or losing. While your in the fight every bit of you that's in the fight is free of pains dominance, is free to to try to find solutions.

Naturally pain and the degree of pain can often persuade most of our poor bodies to stay home.
To tried or injured to fight, pain can and often does rule over us...we lose.

So for long term pain the trick to to spend as much time fighting to keep pain from ruling over me or in victory as possible.

When not possible...hell I hear they have these little pills for that! LOL

Pain does not stand between me and happiness. Only I can do that.

"The Superior man does not seek pleasure nor avoid pain in the performance of his duties."

I do not worship at the alter of pain. I've come to burn the place down!
(Damn non-combustible internal mis-alignments always seem to put out my match.)

None of this is a solution, I know that. There may never be a solution and most probably not one for me and those like me in this generation.

Pain is a burden all of nature must carry.
This pain came to me and made me it's very own.
How can I deny that it is mine to carry... it called out to me
It knew my name!

This was alway mine to do. I'm 68 years old.
"How long should a man wish to hold onto the light a setting sun?"

I had my crappy little "Youth."
I wouldn't do that again for the world, not for the world in it's entirety.
I'm on my way out. Pain is just one of the reasons I don't mind that so much.

But pain isn't driving me out or even close. I just don't like you George!

George, you know your my favorite brother right? ":O}

Big Important alert!!!
Earlier I posted that one in four who have contracted the measles will get herpes Zoster.

This is incorrect. One must contract Chicken Pox, NOT the measles!!

Very sorry about the mess-up!

To improve our general knowledge I have copied this from the Mayo Clinic. I has the best short form explanation I have found on prognosis and treatment.
My only observation would be that it a bit general and doesn't fully cover some of Zosters clever trickery.":O{

On the other hand a LOT of progress has been made since I first got Zoster in my left eye...BOY! That was fun! LOL. That was my first contact. (30 years ago Appox)

For those who have been kind enough to take an interest in my particular experience of Zoster...here's where I don't fit into the general rule (Many don't! Many experience Zoster as I have, in documented and understood, but in unusual ways.

First I never exhibited a rash of any Kind. Around 25 years ago I awoke at 3 in the morning with the worst cramp of my life in my right shoulder blade next to my spine. The "cramp" kept getting unbelievably worse. at 4 I awake Patti and ask her to take a look, I can't reach it to feel it.

See looks, she freaks, We go to the E.R..
My back has a lump the size of a flat fist. It's has around 30 perfectly round holes in it. Each one is dripping clear fluid. The fluid is the out flow of my melted and fried nerve cells.
This was my second contact. And the worst one I have experienced.

A round 5 years later it returned, but having recently been though it got right on it and had good results after just a few months.

That I never show a rash is very problematic It's the main Bell weather for diagnosis.
So until it gets fairly advanced...I don't know what is going on.

Can't say for sure, haven't found anything to confirm this But:

I think this round of Zoster has been creeping up on me for months! Various pains that have persisted without getting to bad. My Zoster also likes to be on the move. For days my shoulder feel like the joint if filled with small rocks. Then it's just gone and my groin will start hurt like a really badly pulled muscle, goes on for months. I ice it and get by...Ice on my groin,

The thrill of it all! LOL

I was able to confirm that my broken rib was a trigger! YEA for my side!! LOL

(Rib-Side-get it? ":O}

also, none of my out breaks have given me a fever or anything else, just weird pain moving about my body. As I don't show early sings, I usually don't treat until there's a real battle to be fought. Oh! I do retain a numbness in rt thumb and fore finger.
I just re-read my own post and realized that Zoster has caused me the loss of hearing in my Left Ear...I wonder about that! ":O}

From the Mayo site:
679
What are the most common medications used for treating shingles?
Antiviral drugs administered during the first three days of symptoms appearing can greatly diminish the potency and duration of shingles. Three of the most common antiviral medications for shingles are Valtrex, Acyclovir and Valacyclovir. These medications help shingles sores heal faster, and they also soothe pain and itching while preventing new sores from forming. They also block long-term pain that can persist even after rashes fade.


517
Which treatments can help with shingles after the first three days?
Several treatment options can help when shingles isn't diagnosed within the first three days of rashes forming. Over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen can reduce pain and inflammation, while prescription antidepressants can also help relieve shingles pain. Many patients find relief from skin creams such as calamine lotion, or doctors may prescribe topical corticosteroids. Some people with severe cases of shingles may require prescription-strength pain medication such as oxycodone or gabapentin.


469
Is my skin rash appearing on just one side of my face or body?
Unlike many other types of skin rashes, a shingles rash usually affects one side of the face or body. After the rash sets in, it may wrap around the body in a stripe-like fashion. Examining the shape and location of your rash is one way to determine whether you might have shingles.


346
What might have triggered shingles symptoms?
The dormant traces of herpes zoster that cause shingles are often triggered into action by some kind of change in the body. This change can be the result of an injury or surgery, or the impact of new medication could trigger the onset of shingles. Traumatic events or prolonged elevated stress levels have also been associated with the occurrence of shingles.


191
Did the skin tingle a few days before the shingles rash set in?
Another common symptom of shingles is that affected parts of the body may lightly itch or tingle up to five days before the first signs of an actual skin rash. If you experienced this symptom, then you may be dealing with shingles. However, some people who have shingles don't experience this symptom before their rashes appear.


58
Is the shingles rash itchy or painful?
Some people may experience severe pain or discomfort from their shingles rashes. Your doctor can help you choose medications to help manage the pain until your shingles rash subsides. There are also home remedies such as oatmeal baths and calamine lotion that can help calm painful rashes.


28
Have I had the chicken pox?
A person can only get shingles if he or she has previously had chicken pox. Most people have chicken pox during their childhoods, and remnants of the herpes zoster virus that causes chicken pox lay dormant in the body for decades. If these traces of herpes zoster reactivate, then that's when shingles outbreaks can occur.


15
Does my family have a history of shingles?
Having a family history of shingles is one of the risk factors of the condition. Your doctor can help you review your family medical history, but you should ask your parents and relatives if they're aware of anyone in the family struggling with this condition.


-12
Do I have allergies?
Talking to your doctor about shingles is important because there are so many things that can cause people to break out in skin rashes. Allergic reactions are the leading cause of skin rashes. Do you have any known allergies, and have you possibly come into contact with any allergens lately? Talk to your doctor about whether your rash could be the result of allergies.


-27
Do I have any flu-like symptoms?
Just like the chicken pox, people who have shingles often experience unpleasant symptoms such as fever, chills and stomach sickness. These symptoms often strike after rash symptoms appear. Over the counter medications can help to relieve these symptoms, but talk to your doctor about prescription antiviral medications that may be needed to shorten the duration of your shingles outbreak.


-134
Have you had shingles in the past? Most people who experience a shingles outbreak will only experience it once; after that, shingles doesn't return. If you've already had shingles in the past, then your chances of having it again are statistically reduced. That doesn't mean your rash couldn't be shingles, though. Talk to your doctor for more information.

And this from the National Institute of Health:

Shingles

Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful, blistering skin rash. It is caused by the varicella-zoster virus. This is the virus that also causes chickenpox.


Causes
After you get chickenpox, the virus remains inactive (becomes dormant) in certain nerves in the body. Shingles occurs after the virus becomes active again in these nerves after many years. Many people had such a mild case of chickenpox that they do not realize they have had the infection.

The reason the virus suddenly becomes active again is not clear. Often only one attack occurs.

Shingles can develop in any age group. You are more likely to develop the condition if:

• You are older than age 60
• You had chickenpox before age 1
• Your immune system is weakened by medications or disease

If an adult or child has direct contact with the shingles rash and did not have chickenpox as a child or get the chickenpox vaccine, they can develop chickenpox, not shingles.

Symptoms
The first symptom is usually pain, tingling, or burning that occurs on one side of the body. The pain and burning may be severe and are usually present before any rash appears.


Red patches on the skin, followed by small blisters, form in most people:

• The blisters break, forming small sores that begin to dry and form crusts. The crusts fall off in 2 to 3 weeks. Scarring is rare.
• The rash usually involves a narrow area from the spine around to the front of the abdomen or chest.
• The rash may involve the face, eyes, mouth, and ears.

Other symptoms may include:

• Fever and chills
• General ill feeling
• Headache
• Joint pain
• Swollen glands (lymph nodes)

You may also have pain, muscle weakness, and a rash involving different parts of your face if shingles affects a nerve in your face. The symptoms may include:

• Difficulty moving some of the muscles in the face
• Drooping eyelid (ptosis)
• Hearing loss
• Loss of eye motion
• Taste problems
• Vision problems

Exams and Tests
Your health care provider can make the diagnosis by looking at your skin and asking about your medical history.

Tests are rarely needed, but may include taking a skin sample to see if the skin is infected with the virus.

Blood tests may show an increase in white blood cells and antibodies to the chickenpox virus. But the tests cannot confirm that the rash is due to shingles.

Treatment
Your health care provider may prescribe a medicine that fights the virus, called an antiviral drug. This drug helps reduce pain, prevent complications, and shorten the course of the disease.

The medicines should be started within 72 hours of when you first feel pain or burning. It is best to start taking them before the blisters appear. The medicines are usually given in pill form. Some people may need to receive the medicine through a vein (by IV).

Strong anti-inflammatory medicines called corticosteroids, such as prednisone, may be used to reduce swelling and pain. These medicines do not work in all patients.

Other medicines may include:

• Antihistamines to reduce itching (taken by mouth or applied to the skin)
• Pain medicines
• Zostrix, a cream containing capsaicin (an extract of pepper) to reduce pain

Follow your health care provider's instructions about how to care for yourself at home.

Other measures may include:

• Caring for your skin by applying cool, wet compresses to reduce pain, and taking soothing baths
• Resting in bed until the fever goes down

Stay away from people while your sores are oozing to avoid infecting those who have never had chickenpox -- especially pregnant women.

Outlook (Prognosis)
Herpes zoster usually clears in 2 to 3 weeks and rarely returns. If the virus affects the nerves that control movement (the motor nerves), you may have temporary or permanent weakness or paralysis.

Sometimes the pain in the area where the shingles occurred may last from months to years. This pain is called postherpetic neuralgia.

It occurs when the nerves have been damaged after an outbreak of shingles. Pain ranges from mild to very severe. Postherpetic neuralgia is more likely to occur in persons over age 60.

Possible Complications
Complications may include:

• Another attack of shingles
• Bacterial skin infections
• Blindness (if shingles occurs in the eye)
• Deafness
• Infection, including encephalitis of sepsis (blood infection) in persons with a weakened immune system
• Ramsay Hunt syndrome if shingles affects the nerves of the face or ear

When to Contact a Medical Professional
Call your health care provider if you have symptoms of shingles, particularly if you have a weakened immune system or if your symptoms persist or worsen. Shingles that affects the eye may lead to permanent blindness if you do not receive emergency medical care.

Prevention
Do not touch the rash and blisters on persons with shingles or chickenpox if you have never had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine.

A herpes zoster vaccine is available. It is different than the chickenpox vaccine. Older adults who receive the herpes zoster vaccine are less likely to have complications from shingles.


Alternative Names
Herpes zoster

References
Cohen J. Varicella-zoster virus (chickenpox, shingles). In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman's Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2011:chap 383.

Habif TP. Warts, herpes simples, and other viral infections. In: Habif TP. Clinical Dermatology. 5th ed. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby; 2009:chap 12.

Update Date 11/24/2014
Updated by: Daniel Levy MD, PhD, Infectious Diseases, Lutherville Personal Physicians, Lutherville, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Isla Ogilvie, PhD, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.

Good God George, don't you know? Haven't I made it plain to you.
Your one of the hero's of my life.
You've endured poor health that would have buried me and then sung psalms over me.
We each and every one of us carry both our pain and some of the pain of others. We can not take their pain from them.
But we must share in that pain if we love.

You have have endured more than I will even allow myself to imagine.
That I stand in your good graces...
Allows me to think of my self as a "good man."
Thank you George. You made my day.

Going to see the pain clinic at 2 today. Well see how this all shakes out.