Shingles

[rogerc]

I wrote a month ago thinking I had GCA again but it isn’t. I have had several possible causes including Bells Palsy and Ramsey Hunt Syndrome but doctors have settled on Shingles. I have had a rash in a line from temple to chin. Also pain,itchiness and numbness in and around the ear and in the mouth (teeth, tongue and gums). I have read other posts on here saying that they had Shingles started 12 days after their 2nd COVID jab which is when my problems started with ear pain. Do the knowledgable people on here agree with docs that it is probably Shingles. Pain and itchiness waking me every 1 to 2 hours during night every night. I’ve had antibiotic, anti viral and steroid courses during month. Hope experts on here can shed some light. Thanks in advance.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Sounds very shingles-ish - and of course any influence on the immune system can lead to either a relapse of GCA or shingles to develop with the reactivation of the herpes virus in the nerve end. Even the shingles vaccines can trigger an attack of shingles!

What a shame it took them so long to decide - the anti-viral medication works best when started within 24 hours of the symptoms starting. Hope it improves soon - unfortunately the nerve pain can go on a lot longer than the shingles itself.

[rogerc in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for reply. It started with ear and temple pain hence thinking it was possibly GCA returning. Rash didn’t start for about 4 days so I didn’t think about shingles type problems.mouth problems started after about 3 days so got teeth checked at dentist and he said they were ok.

[Zareda]

I had the exact same symptoms as you and was diagnosed with Ramsey Hunt form of shingles. It was a nightmare. The itching and tingly in the face lasted more than a year, along with super sensitive teeth, numbness in half of my tongue and slight hearing loss in the affected ear. Luckily it has now all subsided…..two years later. Mine occurred 4 months into prednisone treatment for PMR. I hope you make a much quicker recovery.

[rogerc in reply to Zareda]

I hope it goes a lot quicker than yours. So far luckily My hearing is fine. It is the pain & itching inside the ear where I can’t get to it that gets me down as well as the numbness and pain in the mouth and tongue which stop me eating normally. I’ve already lost 8 lbs from my regular weight which is normally very constant and healthy. I did lose 2 stone when I had jaw claudication with my GCA and don’t want to get there again.

[JackyGT in reply to rogerc]

My husband, Griggser on this site, developed Shingles (3 months ago) in his right eye 14 days after receiving his first AZ jab. It was and still is horrendous. It wasn’t diagnosed for about 10 days so anti virals were administered too late really. He ended up in hospital for 6 days on intravenous pain killers and had a brain scan, which fortunately was clear. Unfortunately he now has post herpetic neuralgia for which we are still trying to find the right drug combination to give him some relief and he still has separate drugs for his eye as he still has inflammation and soreness there.

I’m sorry this post doesn’t offer you much comfort and do wish your condition improves more quickly than my husband’s.

I just wish we had been more aware of these types of possible side effects of the Covid jab as we might have been able to get treatment quicker with more effect but we never saw anything like this mentioned. I was sent a photo of a section of a recent article in the Times (about Shingles being a possible after effect of the vaccine) … a bit late we think. I’ll try to upload it.

[rogerc in reply to JackyGT]

Sorry to hear about your husband it seems awful. My problem started 12 days after the 2nd jab. No problem at all after 1st jab. Everyone on here seems get a reaction to the AZ jab, but I had the Pfizer one. They won’t admit that the jab is at fault. Trouble is you don’t realise soon enough that there is real problem as for 2 days all I had was an ear pain before everything else emerged over the next few days.Hope your husband gets better soon.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to rogerc]

It isn't that there is "fault" to be laid at the door of the Covid vaccine specifically - any vaccine could have a similar effect on the immune system and trigger flares or development of something like shingles. Even the SHINGLES vaccines seem able to trigger virus reactivation and cause shingles to develop!

[JackyGT]

Here is the photo of the article

Short newspaper article