Shingles and PCA

[CBurnett]

So now he has shingles? Thought is was a protruding bone met... but it is shingles. Pain 😔 Anyone experience this? What helped?

[Glsn10]

Get to your general practitioner. That's what I did. The Dr. can prescribe a medication that for me reduced the pain and cleared them up in a couple of weeks.

I don't recall the name of the pills but it did work.

[CBurnett in reply to Glsn10]

He lucked out today as his palliative care doctor didnher house visit. Looked at his back which he thought was a bone met and diagnoised shingles but very early. Prescribed him and antiviral medication and have the go ahead to increase fentenol patch if needed. Already on naproxen for inflammation. Hoping it passes quickly. Poor man.

[bhammel]

Been there, had them, time is the only thing that helped. Do as little as possible.

[Frank_M]

Valaciclovir is better than standard Aciclovir - better absorbed. There is a case report of 2 patients who saw a dramatic drop in PSA after a course of Valaciclovir.

~ Frank

[tikusis]

When first diagnosed with PCa I was started on trelstar and Docetaxel. After the first dose of chemo, five days later, I came down with double pneumonia and shingles. Took me awhile to recover.

[CBurnett in reply to tikusis]

Did you find anything that worked best to relieve you of the shingles pain?

[tikusis in reply to CBurnett]

Actually, nothing seemed to help. Doctor put me on Valaciclivar. I tried capsaicin roll on to try and numb pain, but that burned and had to wash it off quick. Then I tried Lidocaine cream that I use on my port and that kinda worked but very temporary relief. A cold ice pack wrapped in a fine cloth towel seemed to help probably the best. Thank The Lord it slowly went away after a month.

[tikusis in reply to tikusis]

Important to wear very loose T-shirt. No tight cloths.

[Darryl Partner in reply to CBurnett]

Nothing was helpful for relieving my shingles pain. Not knowing when the pain would end was also bad. There's not anything positive to say about the shingles experience except it does get better, eventually.

[pjoshea13]

The emergence of shingles indicates that the immune system is weak, IMO. My wife had it beginning 16 months ago, a month after being diagnosed with a second plasmacytoma. GP prescribed a very short course of an antiviral, but 3 weeks later she was in the ER & admitted for pain management (4 days). A combination of Gabapentin & Hydromorphone eventually controlled it enough for her release.

Oncologist put her back on the antiviral at a much bigger dose for >6 months.

But, after getting out of hospital, my son suggested astragalus for its immunomodulatory effects & the response was amazing. Pain suddenly stopped & hasn't returned.

Oncologist said that a third of his patients get shingles & it can linger for 6-8 months in that population. Antivirals evidently not terribly effective.

-Patrick

[Hidden in reply to pjoshea13]

For those of us still selecting treatments, "The emergence of shingles indicates that the immune system is weak" is one of the reasons I chose Leibowitz's chemotherapy protocol, which strengthens, rather than weakens, our immune system.

[ritchiek]

Herpetic neuralgia is a burning pain. Usually regular Gabapentin or Pregabalin will reduce the pain after several days as it makes the nerve endings less sensitive.

[Darryl Partner]

I had shingles across upper chest and back. Pain was constant and extreme for about a month, then took another two months to ease off. It gets better but takes unpredictable amount of time. Hope yours abates quickly

[CBurnett]

Thanks everyone. Seems like medreleaf Midnight Oil has helped and yesterday killed the pain. Will try more today.

[westseraph]

Doctors are often prescribing antivirals even if too late to stop shingles symptoms per se. This is to prevent or minimize the pain syndrome that so often follows shingles. The pain syndrome can last much longer than the shingles condition itself.

[Booklover7]

Why not opt for a shingles vaccine shot before beginning treatment?

[CBurnett in reply to Booklover7]

Sad thing is is he asked and they said no.