Back in late October 2016, my department was laid off. A short time later, my cat of 16 years died after a "Saddle Thrombosis" in his leg and my having no choice but to put him down... I made that heart-wrenching decision. He already had Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, Hyperthyroidism, and Kidney and Urinary issues. Lastly, for a few weeks (before the layoff), I had been experiencing pain in the back of my shoulder which I had supposed was attributed to a pinched nerve.
It is the last item which I wanted to write about here...
So this pinched nerve, I made an appointment with a chiropractor to work out the pinch or whatever it was. The doctor was great and responded to my urgent need to relieve pain by opening her office on a day it is not normally open.
After a few appointments working on the area with ultrasound and other techniques, she came around to look me in the eye. That day, I explained the pain as feeling like a sunburn when fabric drags across the peach fuzz on your skin. Epiphany! I would NEVER have suspected the proposed diagnosis! I was shocked! "Teri," she said, "I think you have shingles." I remember thinking 'WHAT?! I'm not old enough!' I didn't have a rash. We talked through a couple of things and she mentioned a supplement called L-Lysine. (more on this in later posts)
After I left her office I called my GP and made an appointment. Unfortunately, my GP wasn't positive that it even WAS shingles. It is pretty scary not knowing what is wrong with you. She was really stuck on the fact that I didn't have the typical rash associated with shingles. But, I had every other symptom..just not the visual one. She gave me a prescription for Valacyclovir. Later due to the lasting nerve issues (more coming on this later), I had a blood test to confirm it was at least in my body.
Shingles is horrible. I had people tell me they thought it was this or that. There is so much more that I want to share, but I feel like I could write a book and it would be better to segment my posts. I still have shingles nerve issues, but they are subsiding. Shingles is scary and very, very painful. It can be so painful that you cannot sleep and it can make the most pain-tolerant person cry from the level of pain felt. If someone tells you they have been diagnosed with this or anything else and are in pain. Be sympathetic. Listen. And if they want to talk about it, be there for them.
That's all for now. Talk soon! Thanks for reading.
Teri
