shingles

[comanchero]

Hi Cat3 My GP would only give me painkillers which are no good have now been told I have Post Herpatic Neuralgia which you get as a result of shingles any ideas? with thanks

[cat3]

Hi Comanchero. The usual drug for the relief of shingles pain, once it's established, is Amitriptyline which is supposed to relieve the nerve pain and calm the itching symptoms. It may also help to reduce the symptoms of neuralgia as that's also a nerve-ending problem.

However, neuralgia for me was agony compared to shingles. The sharp, stabbing pains would strike suddenly & repeatedly in my jaw and stop me in my tracks. So I would suggest Neurofen as a pain killer which you can take in combination with CoCodamol (as they're quite different drugs). I'm not sure whether it's just three doses per 24 hours for Neurofen, but for CoCodamol it's maximum 4 doses per 24 hours

A cautionary point though ; If you're prone to gastric problems the Nurofen mightn't suit you but, otherwise, it's an efficient pain-killer.

But try to take as few as possible as, believe it or not, lower doses can actually be more effective for long-term pain relief. But if the pain is extreme, you should take the maximum doses for the first few days.

GPs are generally not helpful when it comes to pain, but if you can't get reasonable relief maybe you could go back and ask for something stronger. If you're not allergic to Aspirin or Ibuprofen there are other pain-relieving drugs which can be prescribed.

Please come back any time if you think I can be helpful further.

Regards Cat x

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I think they can give famciclovir or equivalent which is like the anti cold sore stuff, but you have to take it at the first sign of rash, I used to also be given gabba pentin, but I've just read it's also a seizure medicine so I don't know how it would work combined with a BI, for pain I generally take codeine, avoid tramadol with a BI as it's not recommended. Of course the shingles is an opportunistic thing and usually rides in to town on the back of immunosuppression caused by being low, so I also tend to take a lot of vitamins, minerals and echinacea as a prophylaxis. Oh yea and avoid stress lol, I laugh because as BI PATIENTS avoiding that is pretty damn impossible. There is a vaccine for shingles but I'm not sure if it works if you already have it.