My Back, the Conclusion
Hey, you know that inexplicable back pain that’s been plaguing me since Thanksgiving? The one that no remedies touch, that sent me to the ER, that hasn’t abated one bit? Well, guess what, my back’s not hurt at all. Turns out I have my second shingles outbreak, only this time without a trace of the redness or blistering that would have at least clued my dumb ass in. And guess what? One of the things they warn against with shingles is wearing tight clothing, but where exactly is the inflamed skin? That’s right, directly underneath my bra, right where the material clings tightest to my skin, and rubs whenever I move!
The best thing I can say about how I've handled this is that I haven't been scratching, mainly because it doesn't itch, it hurts. The doctor who finally diagnosed this gave me more painkillers, which will make me drowsy at work and possibly give me an ulcer, but don't do anything antiviral. And as we've already established, painkillers haven't been doing shit for the last month. Thanks, doc, I'll stick with my ice packs.
I guess I couldn’t figure this out myself because this outbreak coincided with the lower back pains I regularly get, or because my back still looks normal, or maybe because I’m just stupid. Come to think of it, this pain is in the same place I scraped my back when I fell down the stairs, and it hurt like shingles then, so maybe I did some damage to that particular patch of nerves, in a body that’s already going to be infected with shingles for the rest of my life, and now I’m paying for it.
I think I’m a fucking moron. I should have taken the time to learn everything there is to know about shingles as soon as I was diagnosed. Instead, it became an out of sight, out of mind thing - as soon as the pain and lesions from the first outbreak were gone, I didn’t think about it anymore, not until similar pain occurred. I should have known that, just like any other form of herpes, shingles can fuck with me whether there’s a visible rash or not. Crap, I don’t even know if I’m contagious if there are no sores and I’m not scratching! And I work with children!
Excuse me while I do some research while feeling like a diseased, terrible person.
The best thing I can say about how I've handled this is that I haven't been scratching, mainly because it doesn't itch, it hurts. The doctor who finally diagnosed this gave me more painkillers, which will make me drowsy at work and possibly give me an ulcer, but don't do anything antiviral. And as we've already established, painkillers haven't been doing shit for the last month. Thanks, doc, I'll stick with my ice packs.
I guess I couldn’t figure this out myself because this outbreak coincided with the lower back pains I regularly get, or because my back still looks normal, or maybe because I’m just stupid. Come to think of it, this pain is in the same place I scraped my back when I fell down the stairs, and it hurt like shingles then, so maybe I did some damage to that particular patch of nerves, in a body that’s already going to be infected with shingles for the rest of my life, and now I’m paying for it.
I think I’m a fucking moron. I should have taken the time to learn everything there is to know about shingles as soon as I was diagnosed. Instead, it became an out of sight, out of mind thing - as soon as the pain and lesions from the first outbreak were gone, I didn’t think about it anymore, not until similar pain occurred. I should have known that, just like any other form of herpes, shingles can fuck with me whether there’s a visible rash or not. Crap, I don’t even know if I’m contagious if there are no sores and I’m not scratching! And I work with children!
Excuse me while I do some research while feeling like a diseased, terrible person.