To ask you how you managed the pain of having shingles

[Allelbowsandtoes]

I'm lying here unable to sleep and my face is an itchy, painful mess. Holding a cold, wet wash cloth to the area is providing a tiny bit of relief but genuinely, this is horrible.

Is there anything that eases it 😭

The shingles on my face came at Christmas so I couldn't get the antiviral drugs for a few days. When I got them it turned the pain off like a lights.

It's a horrible pain, I do feel sorry for you and it's so miserable making too, I felt very down.
Try to treat yourself really well with lots of things to cheer you up - nice films, hot chocolate, staying cosy, a good book and some rest. Hope you feel much better soon.

It's grand now thanks. The tingling only really happens when I'm really stressed weirdly. It runs on the nerve pathway down one side of my forehead and my eyelid. Makes me feel like Harry potter

Worst pain I ever had. Agree re amitriptyline for the pain. Definitely get your eyes checked, my gp fast tracked me to the eye centre to get them looked into. I didn’t have any within my eye but I was told it could cause blindness if there was and the gp was very concerned that it should be checked

Oh brilliant that sounds like a good recommendation, will see if I can get any metanium near me. It is really burning and itching so hopefully that will bring some relief!

Awwww thanks, yes it is horrible isn't it! I've been drinking lots of nice hot drinks and plowing through books in the last few days 😄

I agree , after having it twice on my torso once as a child then as a young adult my pain lasted for years ,i was not given antiviral meds -not sure they even existed then.
Not ideal i know but i got relief from going on a sunbed when i was having the worst pains ,this was years after i had shingles.
Over time mine thankfully has gone.

Have had it on my face multiple times. You need antivirals asap. The best thing I've found to take the sting and pain out of the rash (on top of painkillers obviously) is a medical grade manuka honey gel. Really works miracles for me, though very sticky so you might need to put a muslin cloth over it or something!

You have my sympathy - I had shingles on my optic nerve and all across my face - the pain in my eye and head was like nothing else. If it gets near your eyeball get thyself seen pronto.
I was misdiagnosed at hospital and the sores on my face were swabbed aggressively (don’t let anyone do that - the scar on my forehead goes down to the bone!). If caused havoc and my kidneys went haywire off the back of it too, I was in hospital for a week and no-one noticed it was shingles. When I eventually saw a consultant for my kidneys he spotted it straight away and gave the registrar looking after me a proper bollocking. By then it was too late for anti virals.
TLDR - get antivirals as soon as possible!

Never had it so no personal experience but a friend of my late mum was in a dreadful way, had tried everything available in the 1970's, pre anti virals.
She found almost instant relief with a combination of Amitriptyline and acupuncture.
Hope you feel better soon.

I had a a terrible pain 3 days before the rash appeared. I caught it within a few hours of appearing and was put on antivirals. Unfortunately the rash spread really badly from my spine right round my rib cage to my right breast. It covered a large area. Four weeks later I am still extremely sensitive on my stomach and wearing a bra is like having needles constantly jabbed into me. The pain even went down my right arm into my fingers, this has subsided a bit. amitriptyline and co-codamol haven’t really helped. I read somewhere about mixing equal amounts of castor oil and coconut oil and applying it to the area. I have been doing this 24 hours and so far it has helped eased it!!