All Shingles Symptoms But NO Rash?
May 5, 2016
I had classic shingles symptoms but never got the rash (and my doctor diagnosed as shingles). Left side only, numbness, itching pain on one side of my neck/shoulder. Antivirals reduced pain and itchiness but I still remain totally numb there and occasionally having itching or slight pain at 8 weeks out.
Now my lips and the end of my tongue feel different...not numb or painful but just different enough that I notice it. I am trying not to be a hypochondriac...but it worries me that it is not Shingles and something more neurological- MS...etc... My gut tells me this is all related to the shingles but....
Has anyone else had a similar experience with symptoms like these?
My understanding that blood tests are fairly inconclusive..
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For the past week, I have had pain in my side...about the size of an apple. The skin is extremely sensitive to touch (even getting goosebumps makes me wince), and am getting sharp stabbing type pains. I went to my local emergency department. The nurse who looked me over first asked me many questions, and said that she believed I have shingles, although I don't have a rash. I have had shingles before, and it does feel the same...but when the Dr. came in, he said he has no clue going on, but that it can't be shingles without the rash. He didn't do any bloodwork, nothing. I know for a fact that a person can have shingles without a rash. What is even more confusing is that he prescribed me a muscle relaxer, some Naproxen, and a script to go to physiotherapy. Why would he do this if he doesn't know what it is, and why would he rule out the shingles without any tests?
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I'd like to give you a synopsis of my last few days. I woke up Friday feeling sick with what I thought was allergies, which caused tons of sneezing fits, and body aches. I've been sleeping on my couch because my dog had surgery and cannot make it up the stairs. Anyway, Saturday I woke up feeling like I slept funny and had the start of a stiff neck. Over the next day or two the pain got progressively worse and seemed to originate by my spine on the left side. My skin is sensitive to touch on that side from my spine to my left breast. I have a deep agonizing pain in that entire area as well and the sensation goes down my arm. I noticed what I thought was a bruise on my back where the pain seemed to originate and I was having pain with every breath I took. On Tuesday I went to urgent care thinking maybe I fractured a rib from my sneezing fits because what else would have caused a bruise on my back when I had no falls and didn't bump into anything ?! In the urgent care the dr said I had shingles and had another dr come in to confirm it. I was put on antivirals and pain meds (which doesn't even touch the pain). Yesterday, Wednesday, I looked at my back and the bruise/rash was gone after only 3 doses of meds but I am still in intense pain. Basically my question is is it truly shingles with the mark going away so soon and is the pain of shingles so deep in the muscles that it hurts to walk, sit or move? Should I be getting another opinion?
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For about two weeks I was experiencing pain on my right side, around my rib area to under my breast bone. It was an odd pain, nothing like I've had before, it felt as though someone punched me really hard. I thought it was just a muscle strain from so much coughing as I had pneumonia, but the pain didn't go away when the cough did, the pain got worse, and it was constant and would not respond to over the counter pain meds. It got to the point I was crying from the pain. All I can describe it as if someone beat the s**t out of me and left me there, or a car ran over my side. I had no burning, no tingling, no rash. It is a scary pain.
Nonetheless I was still diagnosed with shingles, and given antivirals and pain meds. Within a week I felt a lot better, now the pain is mostly gone, thank God.
Shingles also makes you feel lightheaded, faint, weak, unwell in yourself, not right. Before I got the pain I had a few days of feeling really weak and not right and thought I was going to pass out. Funny that as I remember a day before I got Chicken Pox, years ago, I felt really off.
Terrible thing to get. Now fearing getting it again so will look into a vaccine.
Just wanted to post this in case there are any of you who are wondering if its possible to have shingles without the rash. Yes, it is. Not common, but possible. It is also possible for the band of pain to shift, rather than just stay in one place. In my case my pain started on my right side, then went to my left side, same area of my rib/breastbone.
Hope this helps some people - if this is you, go to your doctor, the anti virals really work fast and the pain meds make it bearable. Paracetamol is not enough for this. Neither is co-codamol. You need either a med that dulls the nerve endings, or an opiate.
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Is anybody aware of any drawbacks to using Aloe Vera. Gel on their shingles rash? I am in the midst of a bad attack of shingles and the itch and burning has been driving me mad! A friend brought me some Aloe Vera Gel to try instead of the calamine cream prescribed and already it feels slightly less
painful. Would like to continue to use it if no drawbacks to it.
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First I had a severe pain in my back, well up near my shoulder and under arm. Not stinging or burning, but achy, achy, achy. Go to doctor, and she thinks its shingles. I now have a rash across my chest, both sides. This can't be shingles right? Rash is suppose to be where pain started, I thought. I'm not having any burning or stinging pain. Help!
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i suffer with bouts of shingles about twice a year. i have the usual, sweating, tiredness, swollen calves, familiar burning in my left calf, and then the rash, which gets infected by the 3rd day then slowly goes down within a week. they dry off and leaves a permanent reminder.
I'v always gone to my gp who have looked at it in the stages when its infected and told yes it is shingles, and was also told that i can get it when my immune system is low or if i'm very stressed!
Going to my gp today, i saw a locum who looked at it and said that it were'nt shingles, as shingles does'nt come up on your leg and is localised to your midriff!! So i asked what it could be, and he said he did'nt know!
He gave me the usual anti viral cream but refused to give me the anti viral tablets i've had before, just incase it harmed me!!!
I do not fall in the catergory of over 60, i dont have hiv/aids, im being checked for diabeties, im not on any treatment for cancer or anything, im waiting to get my hypaparathyroid out, could this be causing my shingles? I just dont know.
How can so many doctors tell me its shingles and 1 locum tell me its not because its in the wrong place, i've looked up shingles and it states shingle can be anywhere on your body. So what do i do??
Has anyone else had the same or similar?
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I had successful hip replacement last September.
Around mid November I began to have chills and tingling in random places all around torso above waist and below neck and only in upper arms
Several doctors, a physiotherapist, a chiropractor later I paid to see a neurosurgeon who said it was nothing serious - he is arranging an MRI scan.
Three days ago I started with a rash with swelling about 4 cm by 2 cm on upper left side of my head accompanied by uncomfortable sometimes feeling around my left eye and a strong headache between the two area.
I am controlling it with Gabapentin cocodamol and ibuprofen.
We have been in Tenerife for three weeks and go back to UK on 22nd March- I've booked to see GP on 24 tha want to ask for check for herpes zoster virus.
Can anyone out there say what is going on?
We're due to celebrate our daughter in laws birthday next Friday..... Should I stay away to avoid co tag ion?
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20 days after exposure (I received and given oral (with precum in my mouth) to man) I have pretty huge rash on my left arm and leg.
6 days after exposure I had sore throat. And 16 days after exposure I had a runny nose and fever (37,3C – 99F) for 3 days.
Now my temperature is 36,6C – 97,8F and a red huge rash on my left arm leg.
Does HIV rash stays and appears in new places when all other symptoms are gone?
The man I had sex with says he tested before 4 months and he was negative.
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I thought I had been bitten by something from my upper abdomen around to the middle of my back, but now I'm not sure. I have about twelve round red "bites" that are growing and itching and very sore. They are now odd shaped but I have no blisters. I'm having a shooting pain in the back. By the way, all of this starts from the middle of my abdomen, between my breasts, around the left side to the middle of my back. The two or three in the back are the biggest and the most painful. I can't wear a bra without pain, although I do it. I've put calamine on the ones I can reach. I live alone and I'm a 58 yo woman. I did have chicken pox at the age of 6. The places are bright red and on the big one in front, a part of it is almost numb if I rub my finger across it lightly.
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I have been taking Levothyroxine for about 8 months now and since then I seem to be suffering from increasing allergies. I already suffered with Hay Fever during the months of May and June but suddenly I started being allergic to my rabbits. I knew I was allergic to their hay but not the rabbits themselves. The doctor gave me an inhaler for when I needed to use it if I inhaled some of the rabbit fur as I found I was struggling to breath. I then started to be very sneezy at night and in the mornings sometimes sneezing up to about 15 times which is quite wearing. Then my skin started to start feeling really itchy all the time. I went to the doctor and he said that it should not be down to the levothyroxine and prescribed me some antihistamines to take to see if that settled the allergies. I am now getting a heat rash which seems to appear when I exert some energy. I am not talking about a great deal of energy though just a brisk walk or so and the rash starts on my chest and raises up past my ears. Today the rash was even on my legs and my fingers swelled so much that I had to quickly remove my jewellery. Has anyone else experienced this?
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Hello! I am a 34 year old woman who has just been diagnosed with shingles. I have had them for about a week and am quite uncomfortable, but not miserable. I have had some stomach pains for a few days that I believe are associated.
One problem I have is in all the information on the net and from doctors they stress the point "you can NOT get shingles from someone with shingles"... well, I disagree. My mother is a non-hodgkin's lymphoma patient who was diagnosed with shingles about two weeks ago. I live by her and help her and I find it hard to believe my shingles didn't come from being exposed to her!
Just wanted to let others know.
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I've just been diagnosed with Shingles. I have been told you can't get Shingles from Shingles, only chicken pox from shingles. But I am the third person in work in a week to come down with Shingles. If you can't get Shingles from shingles, how come so many people in work have it?
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I admit I have had multiple Anxiety attacks, I am a cashier at Walmart, I usually get them if I had rude customer like after I had a nasty customer who came down from self-check to customer service towards me, I was in tears before that, then my manager told me to hide behind the Customer Service desk. My worst anxiety attack I had a lady who's coupons would not work, I took the coupon price off the items she could not understand that and told me to take the items off period and demanded I give the coupons back to her, I already did. My brain got foggy so I asked her if she wanted me to take the items off, she said yes so I kept doing it, suddenly I wasn't feeling to well, I went to go see my manager to ask for help when I started hyperventilating, my manager had me sit down right there at the empty register. Another cashier was able to take over and finish it for me. My manager helped me over to the bench at customer service, where I suddenly lost feeling in my hands, they ended up curling up from the pinky in. I tried prying them apart using the metal bench but that didn't even work. That scared me, the same manager asked if I was okay I told her that I couldn't feel my hands, staring down at my fists. They finally unfroze after 10 minutes. The lady was so upset with me she left all of her items.
Anyway I will get dizzy, like it ranges from feeling as though I am spinning, I have to clutch on to something to keep from falling over, to the world tipping around me with every step, to not being able to see, not sure if that's exactly dizziness, but it started with dizziness. I'll get flushed randomly. I'll have PAC's. There have been a few times I have almost fainted, one time it was from not breathing, like I noticed that I wasn't breathing, my body was just like woah what's the matter you aren't breathing, I had to have a manager finish while I sat down. I was up and doing my job before I was supposed to so I did not feel well the rest of the day. My arms will also get exhausted suddenly if I have to lift them to head level, like I can barely do a pony tail without them being exhausted, the kinda feeling you get after a hard work out.
I've had the flushing and dizziness when I was talking to my mom and hanging out with my friends. My friends all know and are really accepting if they need to stop doing whatever so I can sit down.
My doctor originally thought it was POTS if anyone knows what that is, I'm getting a tilt table test in 2 weeks, now he seems to think it's anxiety. I'm sitting down while working just in case, it does seem to help slightly. It's just annoying, this has been going on for 3 months and I'm sitting down because of the time I have almost fainted also. Anyway people will say you're lucky you get to sit down, I don't consider everything and almost fainting lucky.
I'm not sure if it is anxiety since it is just physical symptoms, I've had no mental or emotional ones. Just feels like mental ones from fear of my physical ones.
I've done a stress echo and a holter monitor and blood work done.
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as much as i have search i can't seem to find any usefull info on this condition. i first noticed something was wrong when i woke one morning with a slight pain on the left side of my left eye. after one scary long week, two doctors, one optician and no real answers i had lost any useful sight in the eye, just a blur. took myself to A&E one sat morning , spent the next 7 days in King college hospital on a antiviral drip. that was 4 weeks ago and still no sign that i will regain my sight ,just a huge amount of floaters. having antiviral pills,9 a day ,plus steriods & drops. another 3 months of those i have been told. rare condition i have been told and the object of fascination at the hos. any one with the same experience out there? still wondering if i will ever see again.[
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A week ago I was diagnosed w pink eye and given polysporin drops. I used them and my eyes got better...then they got worse again. After a week, I went to the eye doc...(saw a regular doc first), and he said I was allergic to the eye drops and to stop using them. He also said the pink eye was gone and the redness and blurred vision was a result of the allergy.
He also said I had a 'rash' on my right cornea and gave me eyedrops to use. He said it should clear up in a few days. My question is, I don't know what he meant by 'rash'??? I should have asked him, but I was so relieved it wasn't anything serious, I didn't. I'm not sure if he just meant it was irritated, swollen or what.
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I had unprotected oral sex when she was menstruating (tampon used) and also received oral sex. I am not sure with how many people she sleeps with. for intercourse condom was used. Condom was tested for no breakage later.
Now after two weeks I have epididymitis inflammation and hence lot of pain on my left testicle. I have given urethral swab for test of chlamydia and also urine for test. I am waiting for results. I am taking ciprofloxacin and it already helped reduce pain on my testicle after two doses.
now i have been having mild fever (37.5 - 38.4) ever since i started having the pain (two weeks after the exposure). also i have 3-4 rashes , dark purple (only one of them is big to the size of a bed bug) between my shoulder and elbow on my left arm. rest of the body seems fine.
irrespective of the probability that I may have caught chlamydia, is there any worry for HIV?
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I got diagnosed with conjunctivitis tonight. Anyway after some research on conjunctivitis to see what causes it etc as I havent been in contact with anyone with it, it turns out herpes zoster can cause it. Anyway I am immunocompromised to the shingles virus
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I'm 21 and have had recurring shingles since I was 9... I used to get it about once a year but have had it 7 times in the last 2 years. It used to knock me for six for about 3 weeks but I'm getting better at recognising the early symptoms so that I can have my acyclovir prescription ready and waiting for when the spots come out! The first thing I notice is that I find it uncomfortable to wear my bra (I always get shingles on my side) and then I get that distinct "been hit by a bus" feeling... Absolutely knackered, deep muscle aches and a little nauseous. And then joy of joy, the shooting pains begin! This is the part I find most difficult to cope with, I get really sharp pains drilling down my side and a dull pins and needles like feeling that is continuous. I don't get alot of blisters, just one or two, but they are always inside a mottled rash about the size of a side plate.
I have seen numerous doctors about this who have all said that it's rare, esp for my age, but that's about it. I guess there's nothing that can be done.
The only advice I can give about recurring shingles is just try and get good at recognising it early! And then try and chill until it goes. Useless, I know, but that's all I've got.
If anyone's got some better advice it would be greatly appreciated!
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I have been diagnosed with shingles nearly 4 weeks ago ..
I have commented on this forum before giving my view on alternative options on medication.. Through diet , vitamins etc ..
I did not take any antiviral or strong painkillers as I am very hypersensitive and allergic to a lot of these chemicals ..
At the moment I am feeling a lot better still in some discomfort have my good and bad days .. The pain I had has some what subsided .. I have a little burning in my right hand side of my back and my tummy .. But nothing to the pain I have experienced.. I feel I am on the meant and hopefully make a full recovery .. And I just wanted to give some hope and reassurance to those still in recovery ..
But it would be great to know if anyone has NOT taken any medication for whatever reason and made a fully recovery or has not had a recurrence in the past few years...
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Can anyone tell me if this could be shingles. I haven't been well since last October. I have upper back pain, gnawing pain that moves around. My ribs are sore, sternum, aching neck and shoulders, loss of appetite and feeling itchy
I feel better than I did in October but still have the aches. Had an ecg, chest xray, echocardiogram, bloods which were all ok. Would shingles have been detected with these tests? I have also felt short of breath at times and spaced out. I have no rash. The doctor said it was probably viral and to take pain killers. I have diagnosed myself with costochondritis or fibromyalgia but am beginning to wonder whether it id shingles.
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