DH has shingles!

[wendibird22]

Ugh. So DH noticed a small rash on his back the other day. It hasn't gotten worse or better so he decided to go to the doc this morning. Shingles. Doc said it is stress induced (since he's not elderly) and needs to take it easy. Stress?! He's got stress?! Yeah right! Just glad that a)he doesn't have any other symptoms...like pain, so he won't be (or shouldn't be) a pathetic sicky and b)DD got her chicken pox vax this summer so I don't have to worry about her having pox right now.

Good grief!!!

[Tondi G]

A friend of mine just got Shingles. She is in her 30's and had a 4 month old baby she was breastfeeding. She was so scared to even feed him for fear of him touching her and contracting chicken pox.... everything turned out just fine though!

[mommylamb]

My DH had a mild case of shingles last year before DS got his CP vaccine. We didn't even realize what it was until well past when DS would have been able to catch it. No problems though.

[g-mama]

I had it two years ago (at age 37) and it didn't hurt at first but after about a week, it really hurt BAD. My oldest ds (6 at the time) got chickenpox from it (since then, they began giving the vax 2x because of breakthrough cases like this) and my youngest was 11 mos and got chickenpox from me because he hadn't yet gotten the vax. My middle son didn't get it.

The pain lasted about six weeks and I had to wear these patches on it that delivered pain meds directly to the site. It could go on much longer than that - even forever, they said! - so I guess I was lucky.

Hope he's okay and that nobody else gets it.

[wendibird22]

I guess the doc said not to worry about DD because she could only get the pox if she came in contact with the rash, which is only on his back and is very small. So, let's hope she's right.

g-mama: did you take an antiviral when you had it? He's been given one to take and hopefully that will keep it from getting worse. I think he caught it early.

[o_mom]

The chances of her getting it are small, but keep an eye out and get it documented if she does so she won't have to have a booster dose later.

DS2 got CP when DH had shingles. He was 11 months at the time, so no vax. DH's was on his face, so most likely there was indirect contact - DH touched it and then touched DS2.

[1964pandora]

Strange that in my childhood and early adult life I only heard of ONE person who had shingles and now I hear about people with shingles on a weekly basis.

[g-mama]

g-mama: did you take an antiviral when you had it? He's been given one to take and hopefully that will keep it from getting worse. I think he caught it early.

No, I think I went to the doctor too late for an antiviral to be effective. I have eczema from time to time and I thought that's what it was for a few days til my dh made me go and get it checked out. Mine was on my shoulder and it was at the end of the summer so I was wearing tank tops around the house and my kids did come into contact with it. You know how kids are always hanging on their moms and jumping on our backs, etc. I felt horribly when I realized that's what it was and I'd exposed them to it.

[ilfaith]

I had shingles last fall...when I was about six weeks pregnant. I suppose I had a fairly mild case, because I had heard horror stories, and I didn't really have intense pain...more like moderate discomfort. I did take an antiviral (Valtrex...the one they advertise for herpes) so that may have prevent my case from getting worse.

I have friend who also had shingles when she was pregnant several years ago. And when I mentioned on my Facebook page that I had it, at least a half dozen friends said either they or someone else they knew around out age had it. So much for it being an "old person's" disease.

[maestramommy]

I got shingles when I was in my late 20s. The doc was pretty surprised and said it was probably stress induced. This before I was even married, let alone had kids. I had chicken pox as a baby too, so it was a surprise.

[Aarohismom]

I got shingles the day I gave birth to my dd. It started on my back. It gave me a mild pain in my chest. When I complained about the chest pain they ordered CTScan for me. I broke out with hives and stareted vommiting on the scan table because I was allergic to the IV dye. They found nothing on the scan. Then they ordered echocardiogram, found nothing. When the rash started spreading on my arm I thought it was the reaction to the IV dye and so did my OB. When the pain couldn't go away my OB put me on Prilosec and antianxiety meds and told me that I was thinking too much about it because of the pp anxiety. :32: I was sent home with no diagnosis. The horrible part was, I was bfing my newborn and holding her all the time in my left hand where the rash was, which now had started burning. Fast forward to the 5th day pp, I had made an appointment with my PCP and my dd had an appointment with the ped. The first was a ped's appointment and she noticed that horrible rash on my hand and told me on the spot to make an appointment with my Dr because she thought it was a case of shingles. I thanked god and my lucky stars that nothing happened to my pc but the horror and pain of the entire episode I still carry with me. :cry:

[ThreeofUs]

Wow, that's got to be scary for you guys! Are *you* okay and vaccinated against it?

[SnuggleBuggles]

I had it last summer- while I was nursing my then 6m old. I was only a tad nervous about passing it on. We caught it soon enough that I was able to take the meds and I think that really helped keep it from getting bad. Ds2 never caught it (nor did ds1 who, before we knew what it was, touched the shingles). I hope he recovers well.

Beth

[wendibird22]

Wow, that's got to be scary for you guys! Are *you* okay and vaccinated against it?

I had a raging case of the chicken pox when I was 2 (even had sores in my mouth) so I am hoping that will protect me. I'll be changing the sheets on our bed tonight for sure! And keeping an eye on DD...she's in a HUGE mommy clingy phase so she's touching me far more than DH so hopefully she'll be fine.

[wendibird22]

I got shingles when I was in my late 20s. The doc was pretty surprised and said it was probably stress induced. This before I was even married, let alone had kids. I had chicken pox as a baby too, so it was a surprise.

Seriously! If anyone should have shingles from stress it's me, not DH!

[AngelaS]

Last week when I was researching the chicken pox vaccine I learned (from the CDC website) that the number of shingles cases is going up and will continue to--because of the chicken pox vaccine.

The way I understand it (and I know, if I'm off, someone will set me straight. ;)) is that if you get chicken pox as a child and then the virus remains dormant in your system. Every time you get exposed to CP again, your body makes titers in your system and you do NOT get shingles. If you go too long w/out being exposed to CP, the number of titers drops and when you DO get exposed to CP, you will break out in shingles.

Apparently this was one of the concerns when the vaccine came out was that by limiting the number of naturally occurring cases of CP, the chances of exposure drops and then the number of people getting shingles will go WAY up.

It seems to me, that getting chicken pox is a lot less serious than getting shingles and a lot less painful. :(

[1964pandora]

Last week when I was researching the chicken pox vaccine I learned (from the CDC website) that the number of shingles cases is going up and will continue to--because of the chicken pox vaccine.

The way I understand it (and I know, if I'm off, someone will set me straight. ;)) is that if you get chicken pox as a child and then the virus remains dormant in your system. Every time you get exposed to CP again, your body makes titers in your system and you do NOT get shingles. If you go too long w/out being exposed to CP, the number of titers drops and when you DO get exposed to CP, you will break out in shingles.

Apparently this was one of the concerns when the vaccine came out was that by limiting the number of naturally occurring cases of CP, the chances of exposure drops and then the number of people getting shingles will go WAY up.

It seems to me, that getting chicken pox is a lot less serious than getting shingles and a lot less painful. :(

This makes me really mad that I'm probably going to get shingles because I'm not going to be able to be exposed to chicken pox! I'll betcha that the next thing we hear about is adults looking for chicken pox parties for THEMSELVES!

[BabyMine]

A great product to use if you do get shingles are Lidoderm patches. A husband came up with the idea after he saw his wife in pain from the shingles.

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd-vac/shingles/dis-faqs.htm

From what I understand about shingles is that if you have ever had chicken pox as a child you are at a higher risk of getting shingles.

Here is another article that reads that the vaccine is not as stong as having chicken pox it is less likely to cause shingles. There still needs to be more studies.

http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/commoninfections/a/shingles_4.htm

[DebbieJ]

My DH had shingles about a year ago. Yes, stress induced. He said it was very painful. And the meds were $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.