Shingles twice?? Lucky me.

[schmalts]

Schmalts, look up "Pleurisy", in 2019 pre- Covid, one afternoon I experienced sharp pains in my left side. It all started around late afternoon and by 3 am my wife was taking me to ER. We thought for sure I was having a heart attack. The ER docs ran all kinds of tests and could not figure out what was going on, they called in the cardiac team and ran a bunch more tests on my heart and they all came back normal. My blood pressure was normal, everything checked out normal. Every time I took a breath I felt a stabbing pain on my left side near my heart. The admitted me into the ICU and 3 days of testing and observation with no conclusion. Finally on my 3rd day they had a "traveling" Doc come in to see me and he suggested I might have "pleurisy". In a nutshell, Pleurisy is an inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs and line the chest cavity. The result is a sharp pain while breathing. In my case they finally gave me a steroid that attacked the inflammation. I was better within a week.
I have never had Shingles so I can not compare but your brief description matches what I experienced.
Best of luck, let us know how everything works out.

Pleurisy is what he said was the cause of the pain from that lung lining on the ribs being swelled. But he said his best guess is it is because of a shingles bout without a rash. He put me on a week of prednisone and after the first day I felt like 80% better with the pain. No way to know 100% the cause but this doc said he has seen this situation many times in the ER and Urgent care and writes it off as a shingles related thing. I tend to agree with him as the pain had 2 weird things, you could barely duplicate it by pushing or poking anywhere, and secondly the pain many times shot out all the way from spine to almost sternum. The shingles virus attacks the nerves and comes out from the spine so it sounds logical. No other good explanation I guess.
I have also heard the vaccine can kick your ass pretty hard from co-workers

 

[noharleyyet]

The vaccine wasn't too bad on me...

 

[BuzzH]

Anyone else here get it more than once? I had it 4 or 5 years ago. Did not get the vax after because they said chances go way down after having it once. Started having pain in my rib cage a week ago and 3 days later I felt like i had 3 broken ribs and could hardly breath in. Kind of freaking out as I did not injure myself. Went to urgent care and doc said he has seen it many times and said it is probably shingles without a rash. Anyone else ever have this pleasure? I am sure getting the vax now....

No, I listened to my Doctor and got the shingles vaccine.

 

[schmalts]

No, I listened to my Doctor and got the shingles vaccine.

Have you listened to him about your weight?

No, I listened to my Doctor and got the shingles vaccine.

You should listen to him about more things

 

[BuzzH]

Have you listened to him about your weight?

You should listen to him about more things

Yes, he said I can out hike any turd from Wisconsin, with ease.

 

[jbseamus83]

Dangerous aree to have it...

My FIL also had it on his forehead as well. Made him lose his balance and he fell a couple times. He was totally miserable until it cleared up.

 

[noharleyyet]

My FIL also had it on his forehead as well. Made him lose his balance and he fell a couple times. He was totally miserable until it cleared up.

The eyes are the big concern...

 

[schmalts]

Yes, he said I can out hike any turd from Wisconsin, with ease.

Laughing on that one

 

[BuzzH]

Laughing on that one

Yeah sure, I pack more elk in a month than you do in 10 years...tuffie.

 

[The Hedgehog]

What Are Risk Factors for Shingles?​

A weakened immune system might wake up the virus. After you’ve had chickenpox, you’re more likely to get shingles if you:

• Are 50 or older CHECK - You're pushing 60.
• Are under a lot of stress CHECK - You're worried about hunting deer in CO in a Honda civic.
• Have cancer, HIV, or another disease that lowers your body’s defenses CHECK - You know how you picked that up.
• Have had a serious physical injury CHECK - A missing thumb is pretty serious.
• Take long-term steroids or other medicines that can weaken your immune system CHECK - That hormone therapy can't be helping.

But many people who get shingles don’t fit into any of these categories.

 

[schmalts]

What Are Risk Factors for Shingles?​

A weakened immune system might wake up the virus. After you’ve had chickenpox, you’re more likely to get shingles if you:

• Are 50 or older CHECK - You're pushing 60.
• Are under a lot of stress CHECK - You're worried about hunting deer in CO in a Honda civic.
• Have cancer, HIV, or another disease that lowers your body’s defenses CHECK - You know how you picked that up.
• Have had a serious physical injury CHECK - A missing thumb is pretty serious.
• Take long-term steroids or other medicines that can weaken your immune system CHECK - That hormone therapy can't be helping.

But many people who get shingles don’t fit into

Gotta go right for the shocker impairment don’t you?

 

[schmalts]

Yeah sure, I pack more elk in a month than you do in 10 years...tuffie.

Interested concept to judge toughness. So since Kaitlyn Jenner never packed an elk he would never stand a chance of winning a foot race with you. For some reason I'm still putting the money on the prettier one even in heels. But I still love you more.

 

[BuzzH]

Interested concept to judge toughness. So since Kaitlyn Jenner never packed an elk he would never stand a chance of winning a foot race with you. For some reason I'm still putting the money on the prettier one. But I still love you more.

You've convinced me that you're an expert on all things Kaitlyn Jenner...on that we agree.

 

[ashersdad]

Got the vaccine two days ago. Hope you get feeling better schmalts.

 

[schmalts]

You've convinced me that you're an expert on all things Kaitlyn Jenner...on that we agree.

Is this the first time? It's a start.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Sorry to hear @schmalts that sucks

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Correct

Had shingles in my mid 30s. I'm 52 now just received the vaccination. Its a two part ordeal. I use that word because it generally makes you feel like hell the day after. I'd recommend getting each shot on a Friday and going into a weekend you have nothing planned.

Thanks for the reminder! I'm 65 and headed in to town today to get my first vaccination for shingles.
I've heard you should plan for an "off-day" the next day.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

Anyone else here get it more than once? I had it 4 or 5 years ago. Did not get the vax after because they said chances go way down after having it once. Started having pain in my rib cage a week ago and 3 days later I felt like i had 3 broken ribs and could hardly breath in. Kind of freaking out as I did not injure myself. Went to urgent care and doc said he has seen it many times and said it is probably shingles without a rash. Anyone else ever have this pleasure? I am sure getting the vax now....

Did you get the COVID vac?

What is the connection between shingles and the COVID-19 vaccine?

Is there a link between shingles and COVID-19 vaccines? Read on to learn more about the possible association and if the vaccine can trigger a flare.

www.medicalnewstoday.com

 

[Bluffgruff]

Anyone else here get it more than once? I had it 4 or 5 years ago. Did not get the vax after because they said chances go way down after having it once. Started having pain in my rib cage a week ago and 3 days later I felt like i had 3 broken ribs and could hardly breath in. Kind of freaking out as I did not injure myself. Went to urgent care and doc said he has seen it many times and said it is probably shingles without a rash. Anyone else ever have this pleasure? I am sure getting the vax now....

You might well develop a rash. Sometimes there's a pretty good lag between onset of pain and eruption of the rash. However, pleuritic pain seems atypical for zoster, and is caused by a wide variety of things. The one I was most worried about until you said you felt better was a pulmonary embolism. Did you get any chest imaging? Xray, CT? If it isn't gone in a few days, or gets worse, and no rash develops, I would consider checking back in with the doc for a more thorough eval if you didn't get much of a workup the first time around.

 

[schmalts]

You might well develop a rash. Sometimes there's a pretty good lag between onset of pain and eruption of the rash. However, pleuritic pain seems atypical for zoster, and is caused by a wide variety of things. The one I was most worried about until you said you felt better was a pulmonary embolism. Did you get any chest imaging? Xray, CT? If it isn't gone in a few days, or gets worse, and no rash develops, I would consider checking back in with the doc for a more thorough eval if you didn't get much of a workup the first time around.

Xray was clean. Feeling pretty good now. The onset of pain was during my usual mountain bike ride and all the sudden a bit of sharp pain. Still biked 2 days later with more pain but no performance problems with legs and cardio so me and doc agreed no heart problems as my mountain bike rides are pretty strenuous and if a cardio problem was culprit something would have been off.
3 days later pain much worse and then the doc appointment is when I got the steroids that killed off the pain. Weird deal. I'll never know for sure if it was shingles if I get no rash, I'll just have to go with what doc said. Busted ass today working in the woods. All is good it seems