Question:
Has anyone ever gotten shingles with their Fibro? Is it connected? I couldn't
fiqure out why I was getting a dry, patchy rash that burnt, itched, stung and
painful in the same spot on my bottom of my butt and arm, and always in the
same spots which has recurred 4 times. ( can be in differant areas of the body,
even your face and head!)
My doctor said it is "stress related" and is caused from the inside of my
body, not the outside. It is not contagious and can be very painful, but with
my FM pain it is hard to tell what pain is what! Anyone have this?? All I
need now is more pain and another disease! So, everytime I get very stressful,
I now get this new flare up and on top of my FM flare up, too! This is getting
too much!
Answer:
I get shingles. I've had them twice now. They are also called
Herpes Zoster - from the Herpes family, but not contagious.
There are caused by existing chicken pox virus that we carry in
our bodies if we've ever had chicken pox.
If your body's immune system isn't working up to par (because of
stress, pain, whatever) the existing virus in the body can
reassert itself and your immune system can't fight it properly.
As an adult you get Shingles, instead of more chicken pox. That
really sucks!
The best treatment I know of is strong acyclovir medication
within 72 hours of outbreak. If you've had them longer than
that, they may be harder to get rid of, and the pain associated
with them can stick around (post-herpetic neuralgia).
I just got over an outbreak - but I treated it really fast this
time, so they went away fast. Did your doctor give you a
medication that was really expensive? Mine cost $150.00 Canadian
for three doses - but it WORKED! AIDS patients get Shingles a
lot, and this stuff is covered by their health plan - but I don't
get coverage, because I don't have AIDS!
One time a doctor told me I MUST have AIDS or CANCER, apparently
because your imune system needs to be *really* debilitated to get
both Shingles and Thrush (yeast infection in the mouth) at the
same time. He told me this BEFORE testing for either. Then,
when all tests came back negative he said, NAH - just
Fibromyalgia!
Stress can make them appear again at any time, unfortunately. So
can a bad FM flare, since the body needs to work so hard at
healing THAT it has no immune energy left to fight that nasty
chicken pox virus you carry. So (I know - really hard!) try not
to stress and get as much rest as you can. Last time I got
Shingles I stopped reading the website posts altogether for three
days, and I'm a total addict lately. That should tell you I knew
I needed to get away from stress.
