Postherpetic Neuralgia

[marybedford]

Hello, I am new on this site, ... I am a senior female,I had shingles 4 +yrs ago and I was very ill , I still have pain in my left shoulder blade and down my back where I had shingles, this is still ongoing, I do have painkillers co-codamol which helps but the pain never goes I wonder if it ever will !!! ?

[piglette]

There was an article in the Lancet about the possibility of a drug for chronic pain after shingles. I cannot remember what it is called and I don't know if it actually went on the market. I believe research was being done with Imperial College London. I believe the drug company involved has been taken over by one of my company's clients! Novartis, the company was Spinifex.

I had read that codeine was not much use for chronic pain after shingles, but if it works for you carry on taking the co-codamol. If you have nerve damage you may find that you are stuck with the pain.

[grace111 in reply to piglette]

there are certain drugs that you can get specificallly for nerve damage. i find co codamol give me joint pain and headaches and also make me sleep to much.,its good that they are helping you though. however im sure if your still in pain and the pain never goes away then you must need something different that will give you relief.iv heard shingles is very very painful. so im sending you lots of love and hope that you find something to give you more relief for your pain, xxx

[johnsmith]

You may have shortened muscles. Shortened muscles need to be stretched out. Before stretching out they are painful. After stretching out the pain goes away. You need to find a massage therapist who can help stretch those muscles. Stretching shortened muscle can be painful.

Hope this helps

[Terotech1]

My mother had shingles pain until her death, at the age of 94...some 10 years after contracting the condition. The local hospital has a special 'pain clinic' but the only effect of the treatment she was given was to make her hallucinate, so was stopped.

My GP [a friend] held out no hope for relief, he told me of actual severing of nerves, and other 'desperate' treatments which hadn't helped.

My mother was a strong woman, who had gone through tough times, but was often reduced almost to tears because of the relentless pain.

I contracted shingles a couple of years ago, but immediate {within a day or two} diagnosis, and treatment, {and this is I believe IMPORTANT!} cleared the symptoms, and left me, thankfully, without pain.

Ian Colley.

[ndstephens49]

Yup. Post herpetic neuralgia since shingles 3 yrs ago. Looks likes London is the Mecca for APS. I envy you.