Thank goodness for the rash

I had fully intended to go to the gym today, but spent another sleepless night trying to get comfortable and failing. I'm good with two ibuprofens and a bottle of Red's Apple Ale. Then I can sleep for a couple of hours, But at 4 am, I'm rolling like a log trying to find the least painful way to sleep. This isn't like normal sciatica where you can change your body position and relieve some of the nerve pain. There's intense throbbing pain deep in my shin, like someone has repeatedly kicked me. And my inner thigh still hurts. Last night I discover a weird U-shaped set of red bumps on my lower knee. There are more red bumps sporadically scattered on my calf.

This morning I find two more "rosettes" and my husband wonders if I've gotten bitten by something weird. The naproxen doesn't work for me so I'm back to two ibuprofens in the morning with my coffee. The red bumps scare me so I make a call to my primary. I'm in luck! She can see me in half an hour and I skedaddle right over. I walk with a noticeable limp now because I still have pain inside my hip radiating down the inside of my thigh. Coincidentally, there's a cluster of bumps there too.

The doc listens to my history because this all started a week ago with just pain and is now progressing into something that feels much worse than sciatica. Sciatica doesn't make your shins throb and your bones ache. She sees the "rash" and says, "You have shingles." What?! She can tell from the rash. It's classic rosette pattern along the nerve pathway on one side of the body. Pain usually starts a week before the rash shows up. Pain can range from burning, tingling to throbbing aches. I've got all of that. My shingles virus must be hopped up on vitamins...Thank goodness I'm the type to drag my feet most of the time, so I didn't even think about an MRI, which not only would've cost me Out of Pocket money due to the ridiculous health insurance deductible, but is the recommended diagnostic tool for certain types of sciatica. Except the rash proves it's not sciatica. Thank goodness for the rash. Some people actually never develop the telltale rash so I don't even know how they get diagnosed.

I'm relieved that it's something so common, but upset that I have it because I thought only old people with compromised immune systems got it. I haven't even caught cold this winter. No flu, no flu shot either. I feel pretty healthy, but clearly I'm mistaken because the herpes zoster virus has found this an opportune moment to seize control. Ugh. Well, at least I know it's not the RDLs or the cardio. But I'm not going to be able to work out at full-strength until I get a handle on this flare up. Some people suffer from postherpetic neuralgia, pain that lingers long after the rash and blisters are gone. Blisters? Ugh... so these tiny red bumps are going to bust and scab over as well? Gross...

My doc prescribes an anti-viral (acyclovir) in giant horse-pill size, and a nerve agent for the pain, especially at night. It's gabapentin, and I realize that it's the stuff I used to give my dog for his busted CCLs. She tells me that it's okay to take up to 3 capsules of ibuprofen 3x a day, and if having an Apple Ale takes the edge off the pain, that's perfectly fine. I'm always cautious with meds and alcohol because I've read so much about liver toxicity, and being Asian, my liver is particularly sensitive to alcohol.

My son has a Boy Scout service project to work on for an Eagle Scout in his Troop tomorrow. It's at the ball fields near our house. Maybe I'll drop him off in the morning and go to the gym to do a little cardio? Once a gym rat, always a gym rat, and a little shingles isn't going to change that.