can a very mild case of chickenpox in childhood lead to bad case of shingles later in

Sissy92

I don't know if I can help with this or not. Do you presently have shingles? I do & it is bad. I have rash from my tail bone down to my knee on the right side. I recently broke my pelvis (Osteoporosis related) & the pain mimics the pain with this. I have pain so bad I can't walk a lot and shooting pain thru my groin area. I was put on acyclovir which is causing me more side effects than benefit I believe. Went to the ER last Fri. night & put on it then & 7 days later the rash is no better, maybe a bit lighter but the pain is still horrible. My stomach is all wacked up, have diahrrea everytime I take a dose of acyclovir and am unable to eat much, nausea!!! Report back if you are having a bout with shingles. S

bruce587

sissy,

Sorry you are experiencing a bad case of shingles. I'm in week eight of my outbreak, but it has been somewhat different than most in that my main lingering symptom is rib pain and nausea. The initial rash was not very large and disappeared after about two weeks. I had some sensitivity and pain, but nothing extreme like you are experiencing. I took Valtrex for a week after the rash appeared, but that is when the nausea started, so don't know if that contributed to the nausea. I still don't feel normal; am weak, but may finally be getting better. I have days here and there where the nausea subsides and the rib pain is decreasing. I know I had a very mild case of chickenpox when young and am thinking this may be why this virus has been so hard for me to subdue, but have not read that there is any connection. One thing I can tell you: the medical community doesn't really know much about this illness. I have found more useful information about shingles on these forum sites, where people discuss their symptoms, etc. Much of what I have read from traditional medical sites leads one to believe that shingles is no big deal and will usually go away on its own after a couple of weeks.

sorry I can't help you more, but hang in there and do not try to do too much. Get rest and take it easy so your system can recuperate.

B

Sissy92

Thanks for responding back re: your current situation w/shingles. It does sound as if your shingles are more mild which could be related to your chiken-pox being a mild case. I'll get better I'm sure, I've just had a lot of medical issues this past year. Hang tough and feel good. GOD BLESS AMERICA

BlondieLJ

Yes it can. None of my family remembers me ever having had the chickenpox as a child but in my 20's I developed shingles and my doctor told me that I had to have had chickenpox as a child. When I told him that no one in my family remembers me having it he said it could have been a very mild case. I was fortunate, they put me on medication early enough that my outbreak, though very painful did not last too long. (too long for me!)

knightshotter

In the mid-1990s in fact it was the day before my daughter's appointment with the pediatrician to get her chickenpox shot and it was actually the day that shot was becoming available was when she got chickenpox. Neither my husband nor I were very concerned although we laughed about the irony because she was supposed to get her chickenpox shot a few hours later. Within a half a day of my daughter being diagnosed with chickenpox; my then husband who had had the chickenpox when he was five years old all along with his five other siblings suddenly came down with very severe symptoms. He was taken to the hospital and we were told that he had chickenpox. We assured the hospital that he had already had chickenpox as a child but were told that it was probably very mild and that he may not have built an immunity. Because he was now 35 version of the chicken pox was extremely severe and he was hospitalized.

The next day I was at my gym working out and fell off of treadmill where I was running and was found unconscious. I was taken to the hospital where I was admitted and we later found out that I had a very severe case of shingles which apparently had been brought on by my exposure to the chickenpox by my family. Over the next 10 years I had I believe at least seven severe shingles attacks and was on one of the antiviral medicines for many years after that.

ccrook74

Unfortunately yes. I've had shingles numerous times, some pretty severe reain but not a large area affected then mild to severe but break out same place each time around my left waist side however you can get it on the face neck, can be one side of body most of time and large or small area yet can be extremely painful regardless. I've also had Parvo B Virus, Viral Menangitis (3x) & gout in my feet w/neuropathy. After all that I've been diagnosed w/not only Fibromyalgia but also Rheumatoid Arthritis. I tested positive with high amt on the very sensitive RA test, CCP as well as RF. Come to find out Shingles, Parvo which are also immune deficiency diseases are prerequisites to Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Then I broke my foot back in june,09 just stepping out of shower, ankle gave out which it has in the past 3-4 yrs. RA dr then did a Bone Density test and sure enough I also have Osteoporosis. This time when my ankle gave way i broke my 5th metarsal toe & still working on recovery because my bone wouldn't fuse back so they had to do surgery which the stress then flares up my RA & Fibro so it's a domino effect, constantly in pain. A lot of pain management involved. Stress is also a huge factor to shingles flare ups too. So let your dr know of your shingles breakouts, take the meds & pain meds check for Fibro which affects your muscles & so true, you just hurt all over like RA has trigger points, so tired. Have your blood test for RF (Rheumatoid Factor) which is an indicator of possible RA, if positive have dr do a CCP test to determine if you actually have RA. You may have to insist cause if you don't indicate trigger points & other RA and/or Fibro symptoms, he may not think necessary to do the test. This is exactly what happened with me, my dr did not think I had RA although i tested positive RF & my primary diagnosed Fibromyalgia which RA dr did too but fortunately i did not have to insist cause he went ahead on my 1st visit & did the CCP test just in case since i did test positive to RF. On my follow up, he couldn't believe the results, not supposed to be more than 5, mine was 50, yup your read this right, 10x the amt & he admitted he was very surprised. My RA has progessed fast, my fingers joints are now showing changes, very painful, can't write very long & even typing this on my computer keyboard my fingers swell after brief period and if I have my hands just resting over keyboard as we all do when scrolling and reading, they get locked in place, ver stiff. So after all this, YES, get checked, be pro-active. Hopefully you won't test positive and shingles w/be it. God Bless.