Side Effects Of Having Shingles

[Linotype]

Managed to contract Shingles nearly two years ago in the usual place (I know, I shouldn't have visited that place), what I meant was under the right arm, towards middle of spine and back around towards my man boob. It seems I have to live with the nerve-end pain for ever because I cannot find a pain-killer that really helps. FYI: I'm 66, do not have access to free medical aid (I live in Cape Town) and rely on pills called Syndol to get me through the day, but every couple of weeks I have to stop taking them for a week because they cause stomach problems. If you know of a pain killer that might work, I'll happily try them ... I might not be able to get them over here but my witch-doctor/pharmacist is pretty helpful and boasts a large tome of generic equivalents here in darkest Africa. Thanks in advance to the AB wise folk ...

[woofgang]

General pain relief is not great for managing nerve pain. I have known amytriptyline to be prescribed in the Uk for nerve pain, buy its probably a prescription only drug in SA too.

[gingejbee]

As above, I know two people who have amitriptyline at low doses to manage the residual pain associated with shingles...seems to work, too. You need a bit of trial and error to arrive at the most beneficial dose. I understand.

[Buenchico]

Try asking your pharmacist about separating the ingredients in Syndol into their generic equivalents. Syndol contains paracetamol, codeine, caffeine and doxylamine. It might well be the continued use of paracetamol that's causing your stomach problems, so dropping that from what you take (and possibly increasing the dosage of something else) might be worth a try.

However it's worth remembering that you're almost certainly NOT suffering from shingles itself. (It simply doesn't last that long). You've apparently been left with postherpetic neuralgia and it's that condition (rather than shingles) that you should be seeking to treat. See here for some suggested treatments:
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/postherpetic-neuralgia/Pages/Treatment.aspx

[Eve]

As said, you could try something like a protein pump inhibitor to reduce the effect on your stomach, you can get some over the counter if a prescription is difficult.

Gabapentin and Pregabalin can be used to help nerve related pain but they are expensive drugs I think, especially Pregabalin (Lyrica) as it is the newer version. I am on Pregabalin and it was marked up as an expensive item on my last prescription. Amytriptyline could be a cheaper alternative.

I've just had shingles and think I was lucky in already being on pregabalin to help reduce the pain.

[cupotee2]

I take Amitriptyline and Pregabalin for post hepatic nerve pain.

Untreated shingles is the pits. I had it 5 years ago and still get the pain tho not so often on the medication.

[andy-hughes]

The old wives' tale about shingles is that - if the rash meets around your body, you will die.

Having suffered, i can see the veracity of that observation!