Earlier this year I had the thought that maybe I should get the Shingles Vaccine. It’s called Shingrix and that’s not really helping my brain. I really regret not getting the Shingles Vax, truly. It is the pits. Going on for four weeks and I’ve done so little. I am trying to get something done every day, but that something is often nothing. My brain is mostly on hold, so much on hold that every time I thought about ‘shingles’ the word that came to mind was ‘shillings’. Not much difference, really.
I’ve spent a lot of time in bed, sometimes sleeping and sometimes either reading or watching stuff on YouTube of on SBS onDemand. I totally recommend Bones & Crows. It’s a Canadian series about the Canadian First Nations and how they were totally downtrodden. Really nicely done, fairly similar goings on to Australia, America and other countries with colonialism. I’ve also been enjoying King & Conqueror set in 1066 and leading up to the Battle of Hastings. I’ve no idea if the history in this one is accurate, but it looks fantastic. I’ve also discovered someone on YouTube has uploaded whole episodes of Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).
I’ve also read a lot of books. There are three more I started but I couldn’t finish, two went straight to the op shop box and the other I’ll have another look at when I’m well. I’ve just counted and there are eleven books on the pile. That’s eleven books (and two in the op shop box) that are no longer on my TBR Pile! That gave me the opportunity to rearrange the shelves a little. I was able to put all the TBR books from the fourth shelf and scatter them around the other three shelves. And that gave me the prompting to look at the back of the shelf. I’m now reading through some books from the back. It has made me feel a little productive.
Back to my winge about Shingles. If you get to the doctor which three days of the start of the rash then you may be eligible for the antivirals. The problem with the antivirals is that they gave me insomnia. Two nights where I’d get a couple of hours at the beginning of the night and a couple at the end. That’s on top of a number of nights where I couldn’t get comfortable, or I’d wake up in pain. Or I’d just wake up extra hot. We did change from the doona to blankets, but that only helps somewhat.
I suspect the heat is my normal symptoms and nothing to do with shingles. The pain comes and goes. It’s not like period cramps, I mean similar because it passes, but different because it’s very different pain. I’ve experimented with pain killers. Ibuprofen worked well for the first few days, but it’s not recommended long term. Celebrex seems to help if I take it when I wake up in the middle of the night. But what helps the most is an ice pack. I’ve no idea if this is medically sound, I’ve not bothered to ask anyone with more medical background than me. It helps me with both the pain and the itches.
What really annoys me about the itches is the number of people who told me not to scratch the rash. No-one gave me any other advice about the rash. Until today, that is. I asked at the chemist because I’d really like to be able to put something topical on it. It’s quite a large rash. Apparently it’s following the nerve. It starts a little to the left of my belly button and goes right the way round to my spine. I think it stops there, but I can’t actually see so can’t be sure. And it’s several centimetres high.
Worse than the rash is the numbing. I would never have realised that the shingles rash causes numbing. I hate touching it as I can’t feel anything where I’m touching. I can feel it with my hand, but that’s where it stops. Take a finger and touch your arm. You should be able to have sensation with your finger and also with your arm. I only have sensation with my finger, there is no sensation when I touch the rash or the rest of the numbed area.
The rash is starting to recede, but the numbing is increasing. It now stretches beyond my belly button and further up the front of my torso. I’m hoping the Solosite recommended by the chemist will help, but it does hurt when I put it on. And I really don’t understand why I have pain or itches when my skin is numb.
There is one bonus. It’s accelerated my weight loss. I’m going off my diet until I’m well. I’ll then speak to my doctor and re-evaluate how much more I want to lose and when to start that up again. I’ve lost four to five kilograms in less than four weeks. Just a tad too fast.
I’ll try and create a video tomorrow to show off the books I’ve read. I’ve just glanced at the description of one title and I don’t remember that at all. I’m hoping that when I go to scribble some words about it the magic will happen and I’ll remember enough to write coherently. It’s happened on many, many occasions.