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Nerves And Shingles


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Hi! I have so many questions for all of you! I am trying to pace myself! Has anyone on here ever had shingles before? Also what were your chickenpox like when you were young?-- caused by the same virus. What's interesting is that after you get over chicken pox, it lies dormant in your nerve cells and can reactivate for unknown reasons. I had shingles on my face when I was around 12. The doctor said it was not only abnormal in placement (most are on the waist but also in age because most people don't get it til they are older. I am told I had the chicken pox really bad though. Was wondering if anyone else had this or a rough case of the chicken pox?

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My sister and I had really bad chicken pox when we were kids. I haven't had shingles but my sister got it when she was pregnant. The Ob/Gyn told her that it is not uncommon for pregnant women to get them because anything that makes you immunosuppressed (including pregnancy) will allow them to pop up again. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that people on this forum hav ehad to deal with shingles given our questionable immune systems.

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Hi, I didn't really have a rough case of chickenpox but I know I had them as a child and about a year ago I had shingles. I wasn't sure what it was until afterwards. I actually gave it to my son who came down with the chicken pox two weeks later (perfect incubation timing) and nowadays they have the vaccine for it but because he wasn't even one yet, he had not had the shot. I felt horrible. My case of shingles was small but nonetheless painful and itchy and bothersome, uncomfortable for awhile. It was on my side/lower back area. I have never heard of it being on the face.

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I had bad chicken pox when I was little and also had the varicella vaccine. I have not had shingles but interestingly enough when I first got sick with dysautonomia my stepmom and her friend came down with shingles at my dad's house where I was staying at the time. They say shingles cannot be spread but they both had it and took antivirals and got better. I never got it but I got really sick with my autonomic nervous system going all crazy. My dad (who is a internist/doctor) still questions whether me getting sick was related to them getting shingles. He thinks I could have gotten it but instead of presenting like a rash it could have presented like an autonomic reaction. He told this to a doctor a vanderbuilt who was consulting with my family doctor and they took note of it. Just thought I would throw this out there cause it related to your topic.

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Jackie- it must be nice to a certain extent to have a dad who knows.so much about the human body! I feel like his is the problem with a lot of health care providers--no imagination, its nice that your dad is one who does entertain possibilities, we could use more like him. It's like todayvi had to explain to my doc why I wanted a liver panel done--because of the association I have recognized. I think that probably a lot of people who do have anxiety go into Dr.s offices and worry about the what its by asking for really wonky things. But at the same time you go to the mayo clinic, or vanderbilt, or Cleveland and they actually do entertain feasible ideas.

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Okay I did some more research and here are the links. Very interesting!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/11371229/

Says that chicken pox stay in nervous system, and that people who get shingles can have something called posrherpetic neuralgia. It can feel like electic shocks (sound familiar?) And it can last from months to years. Wonder if this has anything to do with peripheral neuropathy?! Also, someone else has wondered this in correlation to free and oh! The link is here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19520522/

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Very interesting....I had an outbreak of shingles on my forehead last summer, which returned on my back and later around my eye. (just coudn't get rid of them) I took acyclovir and finally they went away. Same pain and problems again this fall, back on acyclovir, but this time I found out my immune system was severely comprimised. (very low CD4 and CD8's). I am now on low dose Acyclovir all the time now as a preventative.

I do have 5 high intensity areas in my brain, that the neurologist thought was related to migraines, but did not increase in number even tho I had several severe migraines , so I don't think they are. The dr finally said might be related to small blood vessel problems.

I do have severe muscle pain and weakness, migraines and vascular problems with rashes. Makes me wonder if this might be the trigger for my POTS as well.

Thanks for posting the info.

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I got shingles on the left side of my chest and back in january 2009. I had just come back from doing autonomic testing at the Cleveland Clinic for POTS and found out I had strep throat. A week later, I woke up with shingles. I was soaking my bed with sweat every night, could barely wear a shirt, in alot of pain. It was awful. I have since been diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome and while my hematologist said a lot of people get shingles, he said the combo of all of these things blasting my immune system probably brought them out. I also had terrible chicken pox as a kid...my mom said they were in every nook and cranny of my little body.

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Jackie, this sounds like you also, sister without rash. http://www.nejm.org/...200003023420906

yes, those articles are very interesting and hopefully eventually they will find a link. I was never sick in childhood or anything so I think my dysautonomia is virus related plus the neuroendocrinologist I go to diagnosed my case as a neurotropic virus but he did not know specifics. I agree that a lot of doctors do not think outside the box and many of them do not understand pots or dysautonomia. When I first got sick I went to the ER twice and the doctors kept saying it was panic but my dad knew otherwise so we kept investigating. Many doctors have never heard of dysautonomia so they will not be familiar with the symptoms and will try to say you have something else. It is very important to be persistent no matter how crazy they think you are.

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Okay I did some more research and here are the links. Very interesting!

http://www.ncbi.nlm....ubmed/11371229/

Says that chicken pox stay in nervous system, and that people who get shingles can have something called posrherpetic neuralgia. It can feel like electic shocks (sound familiar?) And it can last from months to years. Wonder if this has anything to do with peripheral neuropathy?! Also, someone else has wondered this in correlation to free and oh! The link is here http://www.ncbi.nlm....ubmed/19520522/

Oh my gosh, thank you for posting that! My sister has CFS and had shingles, but it all started for her with trigeminal neuralgia. I have had EBV and CMV to kick this all off, but I also get the 'electric shocks' that you mention. Wow, it's so interesting to see something I kind of suspected confirmed (or at least a connection shown) by research!

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Yes, I have shingles and other herpes constantly - since I was 19 (in my 50's now). I've had my immune system analyzed by Dr. Klimas, ME/CFS immunologist from U of Miami and I have endless active mono, six types of herpes and coxsackie and other viruses that are constantly active. And like most ME folks, no natural killer cells.

Mayo Clinic has diagnosed me with autoimmune autonomic neuropathy, subset of hyperadrenaline POTS. So seems like shingles would be expected in POTS patients that came down with a "post viral" dysautonomia...or the viruses are ALWAYS ACTIVE and were never "post." In other words, folks with damaged immune systems and perhaps a constant viral cause of their POTS.

Good luck - shingles had me unable to sit/stand without syncope - massive brain fog - and more for two months this fall, i.e., a very bad M.E. flairup. And my POTS is still screwed up afterwards.

My sympathy on the shingles - it's ****.

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  • 1 month later...

I had chicken pox like crazy (still have some little lumps/scars where I scratched too much). Got them when about 7. I was caring for little niece overnight when she broke out with them (and I was pregnant at the time). She was about 6. Then DS got them all over the place when he was 6 (I was room mother for his valentine's party at school that he had to miss). I am immunocompromised and now on gamma globulin. I cannot take shingles vaccine. I surely pray I don't get shingles as they can be extremely painful, debilitating and in some cases, very serious.

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