Shingles: Achim has been suffering for months – “When will it finally stop?”

His mother had contracted herpes zoster two years earlier, but Achim did not expect it to happen to him himself. 2022 is a very difficult year for him: family troubles take their toll, as well as grueling work weeks. All of this definitely helped him develop shingles in June last year, Achim says today in YouTube video.

When the first symptoms appear, he immediately goes to the family doctor. He diagnosed shingles — no surprise to Achim. He is familiar with itching in different parts of the body and blisters and burning skin from his mother’s course of the disease. However, what unexpectedly befalls him later on and will affect him severely in the next few months is the pain that grips his body.

The blisters go away – but the pain remains

His family doctor prescribed cream and tablets and after about four weeks the itching, blisters and burning disappeared. The pain remains. Especially with certain movements, such as tying your shoes or taking folders out of your office locker, nerve pain radiates to the lateral abdominal region. He continues to go to work and tries to avoid bending or reaching movements whenever possible.

He describes the pain as a kind of “side stitch”. “It’s just a difference if you have a stitch for ten minutes or a stitch for the next three hours,” he asserts. It’s annoying, be aggressive. At best, no one talks to me anymore.

When will you finally stop? Did this ever stop? He asks himself these questions countless times a day. At some point it strikes because of the severity and duration of the physical complaints on the psyche. On weekends he is exhausted and needs to rest instead of spending his free time in nature and with friends as usual. Finally, having shingles has a limiting effect on his social contacts and partnership, he feels isolated.

In order to break this process, at one point Achim decides to take an extended vacation. He is able to relax and begins to see a light at the end of the tunnel. An adapted lifestyle half a year after the onset of shingles finally leads to the long-awaited health success.

Today, his daily life has returned to normal, but he still remembers the unpleasant experiences of the past year. He concludes, “I never thought I might one day contract herpes zoster myself, and I advise everyone to get information from a doctor about possible preventative measures against shingles.”

What does he want to give people his way? Go to the doctor as soon as you recognize the first symptoms.

Watch for early symptoms

Therefore, pay attention to the symptoms that appear in the early stages, that is, before the rash, and if you have any doubts, talk to your doctor about them.

About a week before the blisters appear, the following are possible:

• Extreme fatigue and poor performance
• mild fever
• Lymph node swelling
• headache
• The pain can be very severe and radiate from the back to the front, that is, in the affected area. This neuralgia arises from the path of the virus on the nerve fibers because the pathogens can damage the nerves. Many sufferers describe this pain as burning, sometimes severe.

Two to three days before the blisters form:

• An area of ​​skin suddenly becomes sensitive to the touch, and some compare it to the sensation of brushing stinging nettles. These sensitivity disorders can be very different.
• You may feel tingling, stinging, itching in the skin area.
• The skin area is reddened, slightly raised, and then blisters form – it’s time to see a doctor.

One in three suffers from shingles

Like Achim, many people underestimate their personal risk of shingles. One in three people will contract the virus during their lifetime. This is not caused by infection, but by reactivation of the chickenpox-varicella-zoster pathogen.

More than 95 percent of people over the age of 60 carry the pathogen after contracting smallpox – most of them in childhood. Because of age-related weakening of the immune system, people over 60 years of age are at particular risk of contracting herpes zoster. Up to 30 percent of patients experience complications in the form of persistent neuralgia, the so-called postherpetic neuralgia.

The Standing Committee on Immunization (Stiko) recommends shingles vaccination

• All persons over the age of 60
• All people over the age of 50 whose immune system has been weakened, for example by disease, after a bone marrow transplant, an organ transplant, or suppressed by treatment
• So are all people over the age of 50 who have a serious underlying disease of the lungs, kidneys, intestines, etc.

However, because younger people are more often affected by shingles, either due to stress or as a result of a serious infectious disease, many experts generally recommend vaccination against age 50 — but especially those with a weakened immune system.