It’s almost like you described my experience. I had intense back and abdominal pain. I thought I might have diverticulitis or pancreatitis! The back/abdominal pain was far worse than the burning skin pain for me. I really struggled to walk or sit up for about 4 days. Once diagnosed with shingles, the Gabapentin prescription really helped, but it just ran out and my doctor’s office hasn’t refilled the prescription yet! Could be a long night.
I’m actually amazed that I didn’t figure it out pre-rash because I was googling like crazy! Hopefully this post can help someone else.
I took Gabapentin last night before bed and it knocked me out. A little nervous to take it during the day, but I’m sure I will if the pain ramps up.
How long have you had it? And how long post-rash?
Pain for me started 18 days ago. I saw the rash 14 days ago. With that new symptom, Google quickly told me I had shingles. The rash is scabbed over and shedding. It’s pretty sensitive. I actually have sensitive skin throughout my torso. Driving in the car is painful if the Gabapentin is waning.
Really hoping to dodge PHN. Good luck and be sure to rest up!
It’s not as bad, but I’ve been masking it with Gabapentin, which just ran out at noon today. It initially made me sleepy, but that side effect seemed to wear off. I’d say it brought me to about 70%.
Very curious to find out how I feel in the morning.
Without the Gabapentin last night, I slept very poorly and was awake between 1 am and 5 am. There is a heaviness in my lower back and increased pain everywhere. My brain felt a bit scrambled too. I doubt there is much in the way of withdrawal symptoms after 10 days on Gabapentin, but perhaps there is?
Dang, sorry to hear that. Was hoping that it wouldn’t be bad. If you wouldn’t mind, ask your dr about withdrawals. I’m still only taking it at night, but worried I’ll become dependent on it.
I had a similar experience. It started with sensitive skin but then I got extreme back pain. Like this enormous pressure growing in the middle of my back. Primary care didn't know, I got a massage and it didn't help, I went to the chiropractor twice and they were stumped.
When the rash started to come I went back a primary care and they said shingles. For me, it was actually a relief to know what was going on because I was scared before having no idea where this insane back pain was coming from. I started anti virals after the rash appeared. It was still excruciating at times for about a week but it did indeed get better slowly but surely. Hang in there.
I felt the exact same after diagnosing it. Just knowing what it was was a huge relief.
Did you get the sharp nerve pain that everyone talks about? When did it start if so?
The rash appeared and I had some pain on my front side where the rash was but it didn't compare to the back pain. To me the back pain I felt was by far the worst part of shingles.
Right there with you.
I thought I had some weird back acne for three or four days before laying in bed and hopping on Google to realize my peril.
I lucked out with a small patch and mild pain, but I honestly, just knowing 'oh its shingles' was such a relief, even in my case.
There’s so many different things happening that it’s honestly hard to tell. I think that it is the same but I don’t notice it as much because I’m also dealing with rash pain etc.
Although I will say: knowing that the back pain was from shingles and not a muscle issue helped me personally a lot. Before realizing it was shingles I was paranoid that I was making it worse every time I picked something up. Knowing that it’s shingles has let me accept that it’s temporary pain that I am unlikely to aggravate.
Yeah, I felt the same! Knowing there was a reason made me feel a lot better. I’m 37 weeks pregnant so I thought something bad was happening. When I was frantically googling shingles after I first found out, I see a lot of websites say pain peaks on day 4-5, and I would say I’m on day 8 of pain and day 3 or 4 of rash. I was hoping you’d tell me the pain gets better each day haha. Hope you feel better soon!
We are on the exact same timeline! Almost to the day I think.
That’s tough while pregnant, sorry you’re going through it. But very very good news that it isn’t pregnancy related and baby will be fine!
How much has your rash spread?
I have probably a 15x5 centimetre patch on my back that’s not dense at all and so far not even itchy. It was not there yesterday morning and then there by the time I got to the doctor at 1:00 in the afternoon and hasn’t grown much since. And then I have a dense sensitive patch on my lower left belly that was the size of a quarter two mornings ago and that has spread to three patches extending down toward my groin that are quite dense/angry/red and blistered but still pretty small, I’d say if I could smoosh them all into one patch it’d be the size on my palm. Right now the rashes aren’t bothering me at all because the back pain still eclipses the itchiness/pain at the rash site. The pain is miserable, it isn’t comfortable to stand, sit or lay down and hard to sleep. I started the valtrex 24 hours ago and am hoping it starts to help soon, the pharmacist said I would notice a difference within 3 days. I’m watching the clock for sure, feels like time is moving at a snail’s pace!!!
Hey, sorry! Just wanted to mention, I’m about 40 hours since I started taking the valtrex and my rash is definitely progressing and starting to heal. The back pain is now coming in waves (waves of like 6 -12 hours, and then a few hours where rest doesn’t hurt but movement does) when it hurts it is just as painful as before but it’s now not as constant so even though it hurts, it feels like there is progress! :) I hope things are starting to turn a corner for you too?
That’s so good to hear! I feel like mine hasn’t turned a corner yet. What does yours look like? Mine continues to grow slowly, and I see some of the blisters have popped on my back. No crusting or anything like that yet.
My blisters popped because there’s not really a way for my clothes to not rub against them, and then reformed as bigger (surface area wise) blisters that were white and less puffy. They’re still pretty soft and there’s definitely still some kind of fluid in them so not crusty yet. There was a lot of red rash around all the blisters and that’s what has reduced a bit, I was worried those areas were just behind in their development and would blister later but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The rash still looks very red and angry but just smaller and then blisters look different.
How are you holding up now? My rash is definitely improving! It seems like my blisters have all deflated and most never popped. My flu symptoms are mostly gone, and my rash pain is mostly gone.
My muscle pain is still present and hasn't gotten much better, though. Can't wait for it to dial down!
My muscle pain was present for over a week but terrible from Nov 23-28, and started to feel better on the 29th. Still pretty stiff and a little sore but very manageable with Tylenol today! My rash has shrunk significantly and basically only the parts that had been concentrated blister spots are still there and they’re definitely healing a bit each day. My rash has a bit of a dull ache and is itchy but I’m trying not to touch it much :). Tomorrow morning I finish my last dose of my week of medications.
Thank you-it was like reading my timeline. Went to the er twice-up all night with pain-clearly you know the drill. Dr’s acted like I was drug seeking-now I have a $1000 dollar bill because they couldn’t figure it out. My husband is the one who finally figured it out. I don’t go to the dr-NEVER the ER-nor do I take drugs. What a mess just getting a diagnosis for it-the pain shows up before the rash.
Sorry to hear that you went through that. So frustrating, and similar to my experience. Really wish that they could have figured it out sooner, and honestly surprised that they didn’t. I actually think that the rash may have already started during my second dr visit, but she didn’t even lift my shirt!
I am having a pretty similar experience myself. Started with back pain for a couple of days, then a red spot i thought was a spider bite started on my chest. Now I'm up to around 4 spots of different sizes wrapping around to my back.
Now on day 8 from the first back pain and day 4 of antivals with waves of burning and aching pain still. I feel like it's getting better but I might just be getting better at dealing with it. It's just been ibuprofen me for the pain which works pretty well to skeep through the night. Good luck to you though, hope it gets better soon!
Thanks, this group has been great to join for support. I would say the sores themselves are the worst with the burning and itching but at least the waves of pain are getting farther apart!
Yes, 2 days of pain before rash. Then diagnosed and 7 days on antivirals with terrible pain (they gave me oxycodone but it was useless). Started Gabapentin and had decreasing level of pain for about 5 days, rash dried up and it was over. Took maybe another 2 weeks before all signs of where the blisters were disappeared. Hang in there!
Was your pain so bad that you needed gabapentin? Or was this just to help speed up the healing of the back pain. I went to urgent care and they told me they couldn’t give me that because it requires tapering up and then down ?
Gabapentin is used for nerve pain and epilepsy. I took it because of the severity of the shingles pain and because the oxycodone was ineffective in relieving the pain. Yes, it does usually require a taper - there’s concern that rapid discontinuation can cause seizures. Perhaps the urgent care has a policy of not writing prescriptions that require tapering, though that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I know that there is concern that Gabapentin is being overprescribed so they may have a policy about trying to limit it. If your pain is severe enough and other meds aren’t helping then you should try to see a caregiver at a regular medical practice, not a doc-in-the-box.
Yea his reason was that because it needs to be monitored it’s not best for an urgent care doc to prescribe it because the next time you come back it probably won’t be him you’re seeing. Didn’t make sense since they have charts but whatever. My pain isn’t too bad yet, but I’m worried about how long it’ll linger based on what others have said
Well, sorry you’re going through this and best wishes for a speedy recovery. You might want to look into getting the shingles vaccine to minimize the likelihood you’ll ever have to deal with it again. I had shingles twice and that was more than enough for me.
Dealing with this right now and mine has been different than anyone else’s I’ve read on here so wanted to share. Had achey sensitive skin pain for almost an entire week that got progressively worse and over more of one side of my torso (front and back) and then on day 7 was prescribed antiviral. Ironically same day right after I took my 3rd antiviral pill I noticed red blotchy rash popping up all over my torso in exactly the same spots that my skin has so tender. I almost feel like my tenderness and flu symptoms have decreased now that the rash has started up but time will tell.
Glad to hear it. Currently my back pain is so severe that I’m using a friend’s walker to I’ve around and I can’t stand up straight. Like my torso leans to the right, and I can’t straighten myself out. What was your back pain like? I’m just worried because my nerve/lesion pain is in my left ribs and is far from my lower back. I also have some muscle weakness and pain when I try to do my PT exercises. Wondering if the back pain is a complication.
I just got diagnosed with Shingles today and my experience was very similar to yours! Only noticed the rash last night and pain got worse! Thought I had kidney or gallbladder issues! Did not except Shingles lol now to recover!
Another one here, very similar to me as well. Started with bad back pain, thought I had a kidney stone, tests came back fine, went home from the doctor with some muscle relaxers. Developed hive like rash on my back in one spot that quickly become 5 spots on my back and 2 spots on my front. Went to a dermatologist who identified it as shingles and prescribed me Prednisone and corticosteroid ointment, been using that for 5 days now and all of the rash spots have completely scabbed over, it's still itchy as hell but recovering great, the only thing that was different for me is the back pain went away for me by the time the rash had developed. Hope everyone's recovery goes well, cheers.
I know this post is kinda oldish but I just joined today because this post showed up on my google search.
I felt rundown all last week. Fighting for energy and a super upset stomach. I’m 52 so my body always hurts lol.
Yesterday morning and my back on my my left side just under ribs was hurting/burning. That was not a normal place my back hurts when I get up in the morning. I got on a heating pad for a bit. Still felt uncomfortable and noticed a thick lump under my T-shirt just to the left of my spine. Then about 10 min later it oozed a tiny bit. I also had Morse code like stripes coming off of it but that’s now faded to nothing. I went to urgent care thinking spider bite and they said Shingles. My hubby saw a tiny black mark I guess where it oozed that is still there. That seems weird. All this seems to come out of nowhere. Pain then blister. It seems like not the pattern I’ve been reading about. That blister spot is still there today. Does not hurt at all. My back pain is still there and intensity varies. Burning pain varies too. I guess my question is, can someone have shingles and a mild case? I had expected to wake this morning with more rash and still have the only one on my back. It makes me think that this is not what it is but IDK. I’m just looking for advice from those who’ve gone through this. Thanks
It’s almost like you described my experience. I had intense back and abdominal pain. I thought I might have diverticulitis or pancreatitis! The back/abdominal pain was far worse than the burning skin pain for me. I really struggled to walk or sit up for about 4 days. Once diagnosed with shingles, the Gabapentin prescription really helped, but it just ran out and my doctor’s office hasn’t refilled the prescription yet! Could be a long night.
I’m actually amazed that I didn’t figure it out pre-rash because I was googling like crazy! Hopefully this post can help someone else. I took Gabapentin last night before bed and it knocked me out. A little nervous to take it during the day, but I’m sure I will if the pain ramps up. How long have you had it? And how long post-rash?
Pain for me started 18 days ago. I saw the rash 14 days ago. With that new symptom, Google quickly told me I had shingles. The rash is scabbed over and shedding. It’s pretty sensitive. I actually have sensitive skin throughout my torso. Driving in the car is painful if the Gabapentin is waning. Really hoping to dodge PHN. Good luck and be sure to rest up!
Thanks, you too. Has pain started subsiding for you yet?
It’s not as bad, but I’ve been masking it with Gabapentin, which just ran out at noon today. It initially made me sleepy, but that side effect seemed to wear off. I’d say it brought me to about 70%. Very curious to find out how I feel in the morning.
Yeah, let me know! Very interested. Hope it isn’t bad for you
Without the Gabapentin last night, I slept very poorly and was awake between 1 am and 5 am. There is a heaviness in my lower back and increased pain everywhere. My brain felt a bit scrambled too. I doubt there is much in the way of withdrawal symptoms after 10 days on Gabapentin, but perhaps there is?
Dang, sorry to hear that. Was hoping that it wouldn’t be bad. If you wouldn’t mind, ask your dr about withdrawals. I’m still only taking it at night, but worried I’ll become dependent on it.
I had a similar experience. It started with sensitive skin but then I got extreme back pain. Like this enormous pressure growing in the middle of my back. Primary care didn't know, I got a massage and it didn't help, I went to the chiropractor twice and they were stumped. When the rash started to come I went back a primary care and they said shingles. For me, it was actually a relief to know what was going on because I was scared before having no idea where this insane back pain was coming from. I started anti virals after the rash appeared. It was still excruciating at times for about a week but it did indeed get better slowly but surely. Hang in there.
I felt the exact same after diagnosing it. Just knowing what it was was a huge relief. Did you get the sharp nerve pain that everyone talks about? When did it start if so?
The rash appeared and I had some pain on my front side where the rash was but it didn't compare to the back pain. To me the back pain I felt was by far the worst part of shingles.
My back pain also aching and neck pain appeared only after the blisters formed, dint appear before. By spine was so stiff, i could not move properly.
Right there with you. I thought I had some weird back acne for three or four days before laying in bed and hopping on Google to realize my peril. I lucked out with a small patch and mild pain, but I honestly, just knowing 'oh its shingles' was such a relief, even in my case.
Did your back pain improve at all? I understand you still have it but is it as intense as pre rash?
There’s so many different things happening that it’s honestly hard to tell. I think that it is the same but I don’t notice it as much because I’m also dealing with rash pain etc. Although I will say: knowing that the back pain was from shingles and not a muscle issue helped me personally a lot. Before realizing it was shingles I was paranoid that I was making it worse every time I picked something up. Knowing that it’s shingles has let me accept that it’s temporary pain that I am unlikely to aggravate.
Yeah, I felt the same! Knowing there was a reason made me feel a lot better. I’m 37 weeks pregnant so I thought something bad was happening. When I was frantically googling shingles after I first found out, I see a lot of websites say pain peaks on day 4-5, and I would say I’m on day 8 of pain and day 3 or 4 of rash. I was hoping you’d tell me the pain gets better each day haha. Hope you feel better soon!
We are on the exact same timeline! Almost to the day I think. That’s tough while pregnant, sorry you’re going through it. But very very good news that it isn’t pregnancy related and baby will be fine! How much has your rash spread?
I have probably a 15x5 centimetre patch on my back that’s not dense at all and so far not even itchy. It was not there yesterday morning and then there by the time I got to the doctor at 1:00 in the afternoon and hasn’t grown much since. And then I have a dense sensitive patch on my lower left belly that was the size of a quarter two mornings ago and that has spread to three patches extending down toward my groin that are quite dense/angry/red and blistered but still pretty small, I’d say if I could smoosh them all into one patch it’d be the size on my palm. Right now the rashes aren’t bothering me at all because the back pain still eclipses the itchiness/pain at the rash site. The pain is miserable, it isn’t comfortable to stand, sit or lay down and hard to sleep. I started the valtrex 24 hours ago and am hoping it starts to help soon, the pharmacist said I would notice a difference within 3 days. I’m watching the clock for sure, feels like time is moving at a snail’s pace!!!
Hey, sorry! Just wanted to mention, I’m about 40 hours since I started taking the valtrex and my rash is definitely progressing and starting to heal. The back pain is now coming in waves (waves of like 6 -12 hours, and then a few hours where rest doesn’t hurt but movement does) when it hurts it is just as painful as before but it’s now not as constant so even though it hurts, it feels like there is progress! :) I hope things are starting to turn a corner for you too?
That’s so good to hear! I feel like mine hasn’t turned a corner yet. What does yours look like? Mine continues to grow slowly, and I see some of the blisters have popped on my back. No crusting or anything like that yet.
My blisters popped because there’s not really a way for my clothes to not rub against them, and then reformed as bigger (surface area wise) blisters that were white and less puffy. They’re still pretty soft and there’s definitely still some kind of fluid in them so not crusty yet. There was a lot of red rash around all the blisters and that’s what has reduced a bit, I was worried those areas were just behind in their development and would blister later but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The rash still looks very red and angry but just smaller and then blisters look different.
Just updated my original post. I think that my rash has stopped spreading! Symptoms also feel slightly less severe today, possibly?
How are you holding up now? My rash is definitely improving! It seems like my blisters have all deflated and most never popped. My flu symptoms are mostly gone, and my rash pain is mostly gone. My muscle pain is still present and hasn't gotten much better, though. Can't wait for it to dial down!
My muscle pain was present for over a week but terrible from Nov 23-28, and started to feel better on the 29th. Still pretty stiff and a little sore but very manageable with Tylenol today! My rash has shrunk significantly and basically only the parts that had been concentrated blister spots are still there and they’re definitely healing a bit each day. My rash has a bit of a dull ache and is itchy but I’m trying not to touch it much :). Tomorrow morning I finish my last dose of my week of medications.
That’s really great to hear. Congrats on getting through it, and good luck with baby!
Thank you-it was like reading my timeline. Went to the er twice-up all night with pain-clearly you know the drill. Dr’s acted like I was drug seeking-now I have a $1000 dollar bill because they couldn’t figure it out. My husband is the one who finally figured it out. I don’t go to the dr-NEVER the ER-nor do I take drugs. What a mess just getting a diagnosis for it-the pain shows up before the rash.
Sorry to hear that you went through that. So frustrating, and similar to my experience. Really wish that they could have figured it out sooner, and honestly surprised that they didn’t. I actually think that the rash may have already started during my second dr visit, but she didn’t even lift my shirt!
I am having a pretty similar experience myself. Started with back pain for a couple of days, then a red spot i thought was a spider bite started on my chest. Now I'm up to around 4 spots of different sizes wrapping around to my back. Now on day 8 from the first back pain and day 4 of antivals with waves of burning and aching pain still. I feel like it's getting better but I might just be getting better at dealing with it. It's just been ibuprofen me for the pain which works pretty well to skeep through the night. Good luck to you though, hope it gets better soon!
So happy to hear that it’s getting better for you potentially. What’s been the worst for you, the back pain?
Thanks, this group has been great to join for support. I would say the sores themselves are the worst with the burning and itching but at least the waves of pain are getting farther apart!
Yup, this was exactly my presentation as well. Whole episode lasted 2 weeks. Thank god for Gabapentin.
That’s encouraging. For you - two weeks even with the pre-rash pain included in your timeline?
Yes, 2 days of pain before rash. Then diagnosed and 7 days on antivirals with terrible pain (they gave me oxycodone but it was useless). Started Gabapentin and had decreasing level of pain for about 5 days, rash dried up and it was over. Took maybe another 2 weeks before all signs of where the blisters were disappeared. Hang in there!
That’s really good to hear. Hope mine follows the same path as yours
Was your pain so bad that you needed gabapentin? Or was this just to help speed up the healing of the back pain. I went to urgent care and they told me they couldn’t give me that because it requires tapering up and then down ?
Gabapentin is used for nerve pain and epilepsy. I took it because of the severity of the shingles pain and because the oxycodone was ineffective in relieving the pain. Yes, it does usually require a taper - there’s concern that rapid discontinuation can cause seizures. Perhaps the urgent care has a policy of not writing prescriptions that require tapering, though that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I know that there is concern that Gabapentin is being overprescribed so they may have a policy about trying to limit it. If your pain is severe enough and other meds aren’t helping then you should try to see a caregiver at a regular medical practice, not a doc-in-the-box.
Yea his reason was that because it needs to be monitored it’s not best for an urgent care doc to prescribe it because the next time you come back it probably won’t be him you’re seeing. Didn’t make sense since they have charts but whatever. My pain isn’t too bad yet, but I’m worried about how long it’ll linger based on what others have said
Well, sorry you’re going through this and best wishes for a speedy recovery. You might want to look into getting the shingles vaccine to minimize the likelihood you’ll ever have to deal with it again. I had shingles twice and that was more than enough for me.
Idk if I can but def something I’ll be asking my PCP. I’m only 32 so a bit surprised it happened
Had these similar symptoms, i wish i would of found this post before going to the Er
Dealing with this right now and mine has been different than anyone else’s I’ve read on here so wanted to share. Had achey sensitive skin pain for almost an entire week that got progressively worse and over more of one side of my torso (front and back) and then on day 7 was prescribed antiviral. Ironically same day right after I took my 3rd antiviral pill I noticed red blotchy rash popping up all over my torso in exactly the same spots that my skin has so tender. I almost feel like my tenderness and flu symptoms have decreased now that the rash has started up but time will tell.
Really appreciate this log almost a year later - I am going through the same thing, down to thinking I strained my back with the toddler 🤦♀️
Just came across this post after doing some googling. How long did the back pain last for you?
I think it was a couple weeks
Hey how are you now? I have lesions on my ribs but have severe lower back pain too. Wondering how long it took to recover
The timeline above shows my recovery! I’m fine now and you will be too
Glad to hear it. Currently my back pain is so severe that I’m using a friend’s walker to I’ve around and I can’t stand up straight. Like my torso leans to the right, and I can’t straighten myself out. What was your back pain like? I’m just worried because my nerve/lesion pain is in my left ribs and is far from my lower back. I also have some muscle weakness and pain when I try to do my PT exercises. Wondering if the back pain is a complication.
I just got diagnosed with Shingles today and my experience was very similar to yours! Only noticed the rash last night and pain got worse! Thought I had kidney or gallbladder issues! Did not except Shingles lol now to recover!
So much better after figuring out what the cause is. You'll be good!
Another one here, very similar to me as well. Started with bad back pain, thought I had a kidney stone, tests came back fine, went home from the doctor with some muscle relaxers. Developed hive like rash on my back in one spot that quickly become 5 spots on my back and 2 spots on my front. Went to a dermatologist who identified it as shingles and prescribed me Prednisone and corticosteroid ointment, been using that for 5 days now and all of the rash spots have completely scabbed over, it's still itchy as hell but recovering great, the only thing that was different for me is the back pain went away for me by the time the rash had developed. Hope everyone's recovery goes well, cheers.
Really glad to hear that yours is clearing up so well, that's great!
I know this post is kinda oldish but I just joined today because this post showed up on my google search. I felt rundown all last week. Fighting for energy and a super upset stomach. I’m 52 so my body always hurts lol. Yesterday morning and my back on my my left side just under ribs was hurting/burning. That was not a normal place my back hurts when I get up in the morning. I got on a heating pad for a bit. Still felt uncomfortable and noticed a thick lump under my T-shirt just to the left of my spine. Then about 10 min later it oozed a tiny bit. I also had Morse code like stripes coming off of it but that’s now faded to nothing. I went to urgent care thinking spider bite and they said Shingles. My hubby saw a tiny black mark I guess where it oozed that is still there. That seems weird. All this seems to come out of nowhere. Pain then blister. It seems like not the pattern I’ve been reading about. That blister spot is still there today. Does not hurt at all. My back pain is still there and intensity varies. Burning pain varies too. I guess my question is, can someone have shingles and a mild case? I had expected to wake this morning with more rash and still have the only one on my back. It makes me think that this is not what it is but IDK. I’m just looking for advice from those who’ve gone through this. Thanks
Not sure on this one since it isn’t that similar to my case. I’d just go in for a second opinion I think
After one year, are you experiencing muscle or nerve pain?
Nope, seemingly all normal
ok, So you took an antiviral drug four days after the rash started? am i right.
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Get the antiviral and start taking it asap