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Every Time I Get A New Flashback, It's Followed By Shingles Outbreak

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I'm on daily Valtrex to try prevention, but even taking Valtrex, I am still having Shingles in the same places, and very sick, a week and a half later.

Always within days of a major FB, Shingles outbreak. The more fearful and painful the FB the worse the Shingles.

Drugs not helping.

What do I do?

I get FB and Shingles about 4-5 times per year. My husband sees a pattern and thinks there could be anniversaries.

I don't know. I want to get off meds, but this is the pits. I could go blind from having them on my face near the eyes.
 
I think you should see your GP about this. And if you're seeing the same GP and getting the same treatment each time, try a different GP. It's not widely available, but there is a vaccination available to adults to prevent shingles. A referral to a dermatologist might help...

My (very poor) understanding is that shingles are caused by the same virus that causes cold sores, which, if you get cold sores, can be stress related because the stress is taking a toll on your immune system. If that's right, then the stress of these flashback episodes could be the connection.

I know that there are people who could recommend naturopathic remedies that might help, but I'm way out of my league there, and personally, I'd be starting with a dermatologist.

Lord knows that an outbreak of flashbacks is more than enough to deal with on their own.

I get (read: I think it's quite common, based on other threads) a bad breakout of flashbacks around anniversaries, so that could be it. But I also get non-anniversary related cyclical phases where my flashbacks increase in both frequency and intensity. The phases pass, but I'm pretty much a complete invalid, barely able to keep up the basic self-care during those weeks. Those cyclical ones I think are more related to my brain either saying "You're ready for new stuff", or "You really are overdue to deal with this old stuff". Personally I find that if I can write the problematic flashbacks down and share it with my T, that alone is sometimes enough to change the channel a bit in my brain and give me some relief (albeit temporary relief).

It's pretty awful, so I'm feeling for you:(
 
Apparently Manuka Honey is good for shingles outbreaks (applying it on the sores). They are natural antibiotic and antibacterial properties to the honey that help it tons. The question would be, to my way of thinking, what the underlying problem is. If it is anniversaries, then that is a good thing to know. I wonder if you can plan something around anniversary times that are exciting.... not sure if that would be enough but it may be worth a try.

I agree with Ragdoll, immune system responses to stress can be wicked. I get pink eye .... not sure what the trigger is but I get it often enough (and did as a child) to see that there is something there. Sorry I am not being more helpful. Sending you much warmth Muse.
 
The body/mind connection is something that the medical profession really do not take seriously, it really needs to be studied better I think.

I am always stunned by the physical reaction my daughter has to stress, and it always leaves me wondering which is the cause and which is the symptom.

She gets terrible terrible indigestion and I now know whenever her stomach problems start, we will be I for a rough 3 months.

Interestingly my Mother was here a few weeks ago describing her latest anxiety about having to move and mentioned that her stomach was constantly in knots and feeling ill.
I gave her some of Kays nexium to take home and when I spoke to her next she said it cured her anxiety! Wtf?
This woman's been on anxiety and depression meds for 20 bloody years and an indigestion tablet cured her ANXIETY?
Beats the hell out of me.

As a child I suffered constant reoccurring bouts of tonsillitis that would be resistant to anti biotics, eventually leading to more serious infection and once even became pneumonia. I had 9 months off school my first year in high school (incidentally this period was also when my trauma was peaking) due to throat infections.
My doc was about ready to rip my tonsils out when I ran away from home, and magic happened! No more abuse/stress and having my Father prosecuted, end of problems with my throat.

Now i always know when I've been bottling things up and need to seek assistance because ill get throat infections.
Last year when my marriage problems were at their worst, pnuemonia.
About 8 years ago when my kids Dads drinking was at its worst, bronchitis.

The medical profession misses a huge diagnostic tool here, for sure.
 
There is a ton of research on this right now. This gut/brain link. And although shingles is not seen as a 'gut' issue, many of our diseases do start in reaction to things that are going on in the gut.... but just present themselves otherwise (rashes, blood disorders, etc).

Link Removed
 
@Muse

I'm pretty sure that here in the USA you can just walk into a pharmacy and get the shingles vaccine, no referral needed unless of course it's required by your insurance. I'm surprised that your doc has been dragging her feet about this and not encouraging you to get it.


@Ragdoll Circus

The shingles vaccine is actually widely available here in the USA. It's advertised all over the place. I'm not sure why it's not widely available in your country. Then again, what's available in one country and widely used often isn't available elsewhere due to drug relguations.
 
@Muse
ME TOO!!!!! I took the vaccine and have only had two episodes in the last year but I was getting them every couple months. It sucks! Felt terrible all the time and it was painful. I would start with the vaccine and then talk with your doctor about using something temporarily like lyrica or something to help deaden the nerve pain. I never used anything except Valtrex but I hated to go to the doctor and was embarrassed I chronically had them. I just tried to bare through it.... Rough stuff.. Hang in there.
 
Shingles is very strongly linked to stress / it's super common for outbreaks to occur in response to stress (opportunistic buggers, most viruses).

The physiological reason for this is 2fold; first off/most basically; the body shuts off the immune response in response to stress (does no good to survive pneumonia if you've been eaten by the bear), as well as several other systems when it's converting from the parasympathetic (rest/digest) to the sympathetic nervous system (fight/flight). Secondly, the body has a natural order of stress response that varies from person to person (hives, high blood pressure, nausea, etc.), that are all part of that first bit: the systems that the body shuts off in order to free up energy for use in an emergency. Under extreme stress it shuts them all off, hard and fast (you'll void your digestive system, heart rate will skyrocket, breath rate ditto, immune shuts off, etc.), under lower stress it tends to shut them down in a certain order. (But that order changes for everyone. Which is why some people get ulcers while other people have high blood pressure).

Since you get shingles outbreaks during short extremely high bouts of stress? I can almost guarantee you either get sick, or struggle with allergies, on a fairly regular basis during periods of lower stress. Meaning that the system your body throws offline first is your immune system. If not? If, instead you get GI tract issues (loss of appetitie, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), or insomnia, or muscle fatigue, or, or, or? Then that tells you your body saves shutting your immune system down for fireworks, and instead steals energy from one or more of these other systems.

It's really common for people who suffer from regular shingles outbreaks to A) be given an Rx of 5-15 pills anti-anxiety meds to keep on hand, or B) to pick up a short script for things like weddings to be used in conjunction with a prophylactic dose of antivirals, or C) just to do the prophylactic dose alone.
 
@Muse I hope that you can get some relief. This sounds so serious and it probably messes with your mind as well I am guessing.:hug:
 
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