Today is my three year anniversary from the date I got Shingles. My hip, knee and abdominal muscles on my right side are still fucked up from the nerve damage it caused.
I'm finally, as of about a month ago, down to a one 75mg pill a day of my nerve pain medication, after a high of 300mg a day for a long time.
Go get your shingles shot if you're eligible (ie 50+ or immunocompromised) and have had the chicken pox. Do it.
@casseagull I got shingles in the (3 week?) gap between my first and second shots for it! 11 weeks of misery, almost no sleep, unable to drive due to the pain in my shoulder and back (made wose by the angle of holding the steering wheel) and living on painkillers.
At the time I thought the pain would never end and my life would never return to normal (fortunately it did), but when I hear stories like yours of people suffering for years from shingles I realise I got off lightly. Good luck and I hope it ends for you soon.
Get vaccinated for shingles as soon as you're eligible and make damn sure your kids vaccinate their kids against bloody chickenpox so they don't have to suffer from this shit.
Cassie
Killa Koala