My Battle With Shingles

It started with back muscle pain and I blamed myself for spraining it when I carried a 10kg detergent from the car boot.  For the next two days, the pain still persists and my colleague took me to one sinseh  for “nerve massage.”  This lady put some ointment on my neck and shoulders and rubbed all the way to my waist…for a 25 minutes job, I was charged RM45!  Ok, never mind… she told me to come for a few more times to loosen up the nerves but I decided not to… cos I still felt the pain the moment I stepped out of the door…

Went to General Hospital to get some muscle relaxant and painkillers  so that I could have a good night sleep and doctor advised me to put some hot bottle to “relax” the muscles.  Got a hot bottle from my sister and put it on my chair back and I leaned on it..  so comforting that I did it for two hours straight before I called it a night.  Then the “torture” began when I switched off the lights.  The pain was so excruciating,  I don’t know how to describe it, it was like  “burning sensation” at the back shoulders,  kept on burning underneath the skin and they came on like spasms…  oh gosh, I kept turning left, right, front, back…. I felt my whole back was on “fire.”  Did I “overheat” my own skin???

The next morning I was shocked to see five  red marks, few as big as “5 sen coin”.. horizontally from the right side back to the front...!  OH GOSH!  What are those, I wondered then…  then the word “shingles” came to my mind and needing some confirmation, I went to see Doc… one look at them, he confirmed that I had Shingles!  He wanted to give me a jab immediately (poe jum), he said my body resistance was low, either that, or I was too stressed up… hmmm… was I?  But I declined the jab and went to the pharmacy to get the shingles treatment as prescribed by the Doc. 

small as it seems but gives BIG pain!

Bought a course of 20 tables (400 mg) but to no avail.. the pain and the pokey marks were still clearly visible,  not working at all… then feeling helpless, I went to the General Hospital.  The doctor told me that my earlier dosage was definitely not enough,  it should be 800mg  (5 per day) and he also gave me some painkillers and ointment to apply.... 

bottom right: Lovir (Aciclovir) 800mg tablets (5 per day)
the other two packets are to "kill the pain"

This time I checked the Internet  (no joke, serious)  It says that the medicine works effectively if  taken regularly at every 4-5 hours, (I have to get up at odd hours during the night to take them)  No waiting till morning as I had done earlier… no wonder the pills didn’t work then!  And one more thing, must apply ointment every now and then , it helps to dry or shrink them and obviously they did after two days!

There is a Chinese saying... "Don't let the shingles (snake) spread (curl) round your body,  once it does, it will bring death."  (Isn't that scary!)

Well, today is 3^rd week…I have finished all the tablets …. The red spots are like small tiny pimples now… more or less dried or disappeared ... no more "gnawing" pain, now more bearable.... I can endure that….  And I guess the pain will slowly dwindle away in no time  (I hope)  it will depend on my body strength and mentality, I suppose....…

Yes, one more thing... shingles can be contagious indirectly!  You will not get shingles from me but you might be infected with chicken pox virus.... so meaning to say, if you have chicken pox before, then you need not fear getting shingles from me.. but if you have not chicken pox before, then stay far-far from me!  Unfortunately, my colleague who took me to the massage, she is now down with chicken pox.... so sorry for her, I didn't know that I have shingles then.... 

After experiencing Shingles Torture, I told myself that....
1)   I should eat more and not fear weight gain... (supplements too!)
2)   I must not stress up at work... I should retire soon!   LOL...
3)   I must not put off anything I love to do.... anything can happen anytime and there will be no time for regrets... 

In conclusion... Love Yourself !