6/26/15 11:11 AM

headache started 2 weeks ago, and I was finally diagnosed last Saturday. Eyes were swollen shut, breakout on forehead. still have headache.

I tried to get the Shingles shot several years ago and insurance would not pay until I was 65. I should have paid out of pocket. Note that the current shot is only about 50% effective, but I like those odds better. There is a new vaccine in the works but may be over a year away.

I hope to feel well enough to do a very easy ride Sunday. Being self employed, I've lost thousands in wages to this.

6/26/15 11:44 AM

Brutal, hope you get past the episode quickly. Best!

6/26/15 12:29 PM

Good luck, Dan. I know that is unpleasant, to say the least. And my sympathies as a fellow self-employed working stiff.

Dan

6/26/15 7:56 PM

Speedy recovery, I wish I had a tip to help.

6/26/15 9:38 PM

My wife broke out in shingles a couple of years ago, wasn't very pleasant, the three kids all got a mild dose of chicken pox from it (they were all vaccinated) and I got adult chicken pox as had never had the disease or immunization when young, that wasn't a lot of fun either.

6/27/15 5:44 PM

quote:

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adult chicken pox

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6/27/15 8:17 PM

As one who suffered through a shingles outbreak many years ago, I can sympathize with the nerve discomfort.

Also, as one who suffered through a years-long pmr episode in this decade, I can testify that shingles was comparitively but a brief interruption to my college-years comfort.

You never know what sort of syndrome might be around the corner. These things just happen, increasingly as we age. Lucky for me I was not afflicted with the pmr before prednisone became available, or I would be just one of the old folks who were simply crippled by "rheumatism", "senile rheumatic gout", "secondary fibrositis" or "periarthrosis humeroscapularis" as this poorly-understood auto-immue affliction was variously described in the old days.

Does your shingles hinder your ability to get out and ride?

I had no idea that there was a vaccine for shingles.

6/27/15 9:41 PM

PMR?

Wikipedia article for Polymyalgia rheumatica

Glad you have recovered, it sounds bad and protracted bad. Is there any permanent damage in your case? How much of your pre-infliction health did you recover?

I predicted this year was going to be a stressful year so I got a shingles shot in January. So far so good but the stress level is only beginning to ramp up.

6/27/15 11:00 PM

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Last edited by Tim123 on 7/1/15 7:15 PM; edited 1 time in total

6/28/15 8:58 PM

My shingles was nothing compared to yours. Mostly it just wrapped around my side, so was how my doc diagnosed so easily, as it followed known nerve highways.

I also had the lymph nodes at my armpit, I remember thinking I must have cancer at the time!

The polymyalgia rheumatica did actually cause an abdominal breakout as an unexpected effect, but that effect has long since cleared.


daddy-0 wrote:
"... sounds bad and protracted bad. Is there any permanent damage in your case? How much of your pre-infliction health did you recover? "

I don't know of anything permanent, but at 1.5 years I am still needing low-dose prednisone, but an extra year of need for treatment is common.
PMR without prednisone is like being 100 years old, but mostly in the morning.
I still do all the riding, somehow never stopped, and even did a couple of races last cx season.
The lowered dose does bring back some symptoms including some afternoon fatigue, but I've quit caffeine so am not getting the feeling of low b.p. any more.
I ran into another mid-'50's pmr sufferer today, also an athlete, so makes me wonder whether there is some correlation there or not. His seems to have dragged on for a few years already.

6/30/15 6:53 AM

I got it last year, it sucked big time.
I was off the bike for 7 weeks.
I am also self employed and had a tough time with work for that same amount of time.

7/26/15 3:14 PM

So it took 8 weeks to start feeling right again. I've ridden the last 3 weeks but suffered like a dog riding 12 mph on a flat rail trail. It was as if it was 150 degrees and I was riding up a steep hill.

Until today. Rode 20 miles, had good power, and feel fine now after the ride.

Get the Shingles shot.

7/26/15 3:19 PM

8 weeks! OMG, and triple yikes!

Glad to hear you have come around..

7/26/15 4:25 PM

It's coming around. I haven't had it, but I know it sucks. And I also know what it's like to try to ride and feel like you're in quicksand.

I heard a great quote recently, I was watching the U.S. Track and Field championships, and at the end of the women's 400 I think, the superb (IMHO) sprint colorman Ato Bolden said one runner "looks like someone just handed her the refrigerator." I've had that feeling.

Keep it rolling!

7/26/15 4:35 PM

My wife and I have both had the shingles vaccine a few years ago and, as you said, 50% is a lot better than 0%. No problem with the insurance paying for it as 65 has come and gone a while ago.

My daughter came down with shingles last year at age 44 so it isn't just an older person's disease. Her case wasn't real bad but bad enough. She had chicken pox as a chile which was before the vaccine was available so maybe my grandchildren will avoid both.