Shingles and Breast cancer.....

Shelabela,

We're both in the July surgery group and I just noticed this thread. Yes, I had shingles. I had finished my rads in May of 2015 and in December of 2015 I came down with shingles. I had been having an awful backache for about a week before the rash broke out. I even went to the emergency room one horrible night. I was so afraid the cancer had spread to my liver or bones. The ER doc could find nothing wrong. Then on Dec 31, New Year's Eve, I broke out in the rash. I ended up going to an immediate care facility because my doctor's office was already closed. Pretty depressing - make it through chemo, mastectomy and radiation and ending up with shingles.

It does hurt. I feel for you. My primary doc gave me some pain pills which helped tremendously. He said it wasn't unusual to come down with something after all the treatments I had because my immune system was probably still compromised. He said there were drugs to help with the nerve pain during the healing process but I was fortunate to have a mild case and was able to avoid having to take more drugs. I had it on my back and side. The rash cleared up fairly quickly but the nerve pain took months to go away completely. It felt similar to the neuropathy in my hands and fee I had during chemo.

Hoping you aren't suffering too much. I'd offer helpful tips but, really, nothing but the pain pills and time helped. Wishing you a quick recovery.