Just realized that I completely forgot to update about my whole shingles ordeal. You need to get that shot. Just get the shot. You do not want to know shingles.
Holy greaking hell does shingles hurt- and I had a mild case! Seriously, the area of skin that itches, burns, stabs and just hurts nonstop goes beyond the area that has the rash. I had the most adorable little rash ever, it was exactly 3 tiny little disgusting yellow weeping pustules and it was GROSS. Except, the pain felt like I had crashed a motorcycle and removed all the skin off my side and half my back. It was crazy. The muscle spasms came and went with the shingles, so I am thinking that perhaps they were related. I do know that the chiropractor did nothing for the muscle spasms. Nothing was broken from the little trip in the woods, because I did go to the orthopedist who took X-rays and suggested I see the physiologist, and also told me she thought it was shingles. Then, once I got the pustules, I cancelled my appointment with the physiologist because there is a chance of being contagious and I would crumble with guilt if I passed this on to anyone, and as the shingles died down so did the muscle spasms. Eventually I ended up pounding OTC pain killer around the clock because I was so over the pain, and once I did that for a few days in row the pain never got as bad- but- the itching and burning? Yes, still in the area where the rash was, just south of my left armpit. And, this is not area one wants to scratch raw, you know? Forget about bras. As if they weren’t unbearably uncomfortable enough after not wearing one for the first 3 months of the pandemic, can you even imagine wearing one with a baby shingles rash underneath? Yeah, not my favorite moments of the day.
I’m all healed up now, less itching and pain every day and more convinced than ever that signing on with the husband’s doctor was a huge mistake. I called him on the Friday that the orthopedist told me she thought I might have shingles and he did me wrong! He did not prescribe an antiviral, and by the time he did I was on the road to recovery so I didn’t take it because it only helps if you take it early on and also because the side effects sounded kind of gnarly, and I asked the pharmacist how likely I was to have the side effects and he replied “Oh, you’ll get them.” and I said, F that, I don’t have time for nausea. vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, dizziness etc… I already felt bad enough!!
An interesting symptom of shingles is nausea, and I actually have some food aversions that took hold during the shingles hey day which I can’t seem to shake and tragically, the thing I instantly feel queasy when thinking about is mushrooms. MUSHROOMS!! I literally have hundreds of dollars of both dehydrated and good quality gourmet frozen mushrooms and the thought of them all makes my stomach flip flop. For real. I could live on toast right now.
Also, because I just bask in this sort of thing, let me report hat the pharmacist asked me when I would turn 50 when I told him I had shingles, and I, feeling as ragged out as I ever feel, was so shocked that I didn’t look like an old hag was speechless and couldn’t even answer him. I don’t know how much longer this could possibly last for so I am soaking every second of looking younger than I am. I am not lying when I tell people to gain 100 pounds and they can make their own wrinkle filler.
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