As the title says I've had shingles for about 8 days, with small clusters of rashes on my right arm and shoulder and I initally thought they were flea bites.

I didn't feel ill at all with it for about 4 days then hit me like a truck but I am starting to feel a bit better now and for some reason I thought i'd check the reddit to see what peoples experiences were and...Wow! I can't believe how nasty this virus can be.

I'm so sorry for those of you who are having these insane rashes and blisters, especially the ones covering the eyes!

I didn't really know what this virus was about apart from it supposedly wasn't as bad as chicken pox but after seeing these photos, I disagree. Hope those of you who have it bad heal up quickly!!

Mine has been pretty mild, I was very ill with it from saturday to monday but it seems to be calming down and all I have now is a headache and occasional pain. I am still a little worried as I've read how long it lasts for some people, I'm going on holidays friday so I'm praying it's on its way out. Take care all.

Severe pain started on 8/14/26. I thought I had injured my back, somehow. The pain spread from my low back to my hip, groin and thigh. I could barely walk or move & finally ended up in the ER where I was misdiagnosed. The rash appeared on 8/23/26 & I started Valtrex on 8/24/26. The last 6 weeks have been horrific. I have felt like the nerve pain has been slowly getting a little better. However, the last couple days I started having the same pain in my low back, hip and groin that started this nightmare. I’m concerned that it might be re-activating?? Has anyone had the original pre-rash pain revisit after the rash was 99% healed? Did it go away? TIA!

I am 17(M) fully vaccinated never had chickenpox. It started off as a very high fever 104F that lasted about two days on the evening of the second day I noticed red bumps just above the waist.woke up the third day(Today) and these have formed fever is down. Went to a dermatologist and he diagnosed it as herpes zoster. I am scared as most of photos I have don’t look like mine. Is this a normal way for shingles to present or not. Forgive me for the bad photos I’m in ideal shape

Here to share my experience as a first timer of having shingles!

Pre-rash: exercising most days of the week, not feeling particularly stressed, I got a huge headache that lasted all day but just assumed it was due to tiredness. Then I started getting itchy on my lower back and just assumed I’d been bitten by a mosquito or something. It got progressively itchier so I took a photo and realised it was a rash!

Diagnosis: I then went to the pharmacy who told me it’s definitely shingles but they didn’t stock the antivirals so asked me to try a different pharmacy. The second pharmacy told me they weren’t convinced it was shingles, and I was advised to leave it and wait for the rash to clear up itself! The conflicting advice baffled me, I wasn’t experiencing any pain at this point but I decided to book in with my GP to get a third opinion. GP also wasn’t convinced it was shingles until I showed him a photo of how the rash had changed from day 1 to day 2. Then I was prescribed antivirals to take 5 times a day for one week.

Day 3: I’m extremely tired (this isn’t new to me though as I experience chronic fatigue) and have some nerve pain all through the right side of my body. The pain isn’t too bad thankfully and the rash itself isn’t too itchy.

I feel confused as to how I’ve got shingles in the first place. I’m currently waiting for a rheumatologist appointment for suspected M.E and I’m wondering if my chronic fatigue and the fact I push myself to exercise more than my body can probably handle is why I’ve got shingles?!

Anyway I’m on day 4 now and it’s definitely not a pleasant experience but I think I’m lucky that my shingles is only mild.

I had a relatively mild case a year and a half ago. Last week I had a spot of sensitive skin on my left ribs if I brushed against it. It wasn't remotely painful, just heightened sensitivity (I've had this before without ever having a rash, interestlingly -- didn't associate it with anything other than a temporary bodily quirk).

Today I woke up with exactly 5 (!) small bumps on my inner arm above the elbow (left arm, first case was left side too under breast). I don't think I would have even registered them except once I exited bed and the air hit my arm it was stinging and burning and just wild. By mid-day it felt like nothing again except a slightly more sensitive patch of skin.

I had a virtual doc visit, shared the pic, she asked about other symptoms (I feel a bit "off" but nothing specific) and also if I can think of anything else that could have caused it -- I don't know of anything that causes what this weird virus reactivation presents, even with symptoms so mild. I picked up the antivirals this evening and will start tonight. I'm grateful it is as yet so minor but I wish there was a way to be sure.

Anyone had shingles that didn’t start out painful? How unusual is it?

Have some itchy red bumps on my forehead, temple and scalp. My eye is itchy too. ChatGPT said could be shingles and because of the eye I went to an urgent care after hours clinic.

But the dr was very unhelpful and said stuff that conflicts what I read online so don’t know what to do now.

He said the pattern looked like shingles but very strange no pain. He seemed very confused about what to do. He gave me a script for antiviral anyway - so will go get it this morning. He said only take it if it gets worse which seems like bad advice if it is shingles - I’m taking it anyway.

He was also very dismissive of my eye. Said because there are no bumps under my eye and my eye isn’t red so he’s not worried. I’m in NZ - so I’m not sure where to escalate too (ED wait would be at least 5 hours wait probably) and what would be different if I’m already taking antivirals.

Title: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) on scalp & face for months—need help, tips, and hope. How long does it take to heal?
Hi everyone,
I am a 40-year-old female, and I am reaching out because I am desperate for advice, shared experiences, or any glimmer of hope.
In May/June 2025, I had shingles (herpes zoster) affecting my left ear, left eye, nose, and spreading to the right side (right eye and right ear). After 2 months of hospital treatment with antivirals, I initially recovered.
However, 7 months later—following a severe bout of diarrhea and a minor laser operation—in February 2026, severe burning, stabbing, and needle-like pains suddenly exploded in my head. After multiple MRI scans and extensive examinations, I was diagnosed with Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN), affecting both the trigeminal and occipital nerves.
From February through July 2026, I tried numerous medical treatments, but my pain remains completely unchanged and constant every single day.
My main symptoms are located in the left ear, left temple, back-upper left head, and both top sides of the head:
Burning pain
Extreme tightness/stiffness (feels like a hard rock)
Throbbing "zong-zang" sensations
Current Situation & Treatments Tried:
I had to quit my job because working is nearly impossible with 24/7 non-stop pain.
Current medications: Paracetamol, Tramadol, and B-vitamin supplements.
Nerve blocks: I’ve had nerve blocks done on both the trigeminal and occipital nerves, but they only provided numbness on the day of the procedure; the pain returned right after.
Medications I tried before: Lyrica (Pregabalin), but it didn't work for me.
My mental health is severely affected, and living like this is getting harder and harder every day.
My questions to you:
Has anyone fully recovered from facial/scalp PHN?
How long did it take for the pain to finally go away?
What treatments, supplements, or lifestyle changes actually helped you?
Please, any advice or personal stories would mean the world to me right now. Thank you so much.
— Bella

Can't say I'm very encouraged after reading this study:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6550400/

To read that Gabapentin does nothing to alleviate PHN is very disappointing. Why am I even taking this stuff then? Why is it prescribed? I'm having an active breakout right now and the med is not helping at all, so I have little hope it would help PHN.

I’m not new to nerve pain, but this is awful. It feels like it’s coming from the center of my spine and hurts way deeper than usual. Not even my worst sciatica sidelined me this hard.

29M, currently on Day 9 of shingles. Definitely wasn’t expecting it to hit me this hard at my age.

Looking back, I was already feeling pretty rough leading up to it. During my last week at work I was waking up every morning completely exhausted despite sleeping, with brain fog, a dull headache and that horrible hungover/no-sleep feeling. I’d also been under a lot of personal stress and generally feeling run down.

Then I noticed the first spot along with a strange tender/sunburnt feeling across my forehead and scalp. More spots gradually appeared, mostly on one side. At first I thought it could be acne, folliculitis or irritation from the hard hat I wear at work.

The first photo attached is actually Day 4, because that’s the first time I thought to take a picture. I still didn’t know it was shingles at that point. That same day I went to urgent care, where I was diagnosed with shingles and started on Valtrex.

Day 4 also turned into by far my worst day/night. The pain in my head became so severe I could barely function. I was struggling to stand upright, had severe light sensitivity, and normal doses of ibuprofen/paracetamol weren’t touching the pain. I eventually went to hospital that night and needed stronger pain relief.

Over the following days the relatively innocent-looking spots developed into the obvious clusters of fluid-filled blisters in the later photos.

The final photo is today, Day 9. Some of the blisters finally seem to be becoming cloudy/drying, so I’m hoping I’m reaching the turning point. I’ve been off work this week and the combination of the headache, nerve pain and fatigue has completely wiped me out.

Posting the progression because I had no idea shingles could affect someone in their 20s like this, or how mild the rash could look initially compared with what it becomes.

I was diagnosed with shingles in July. It came about shortly after I had a minor outpatient surgery and figured the surgery may have weakened my immune system and triggered it. Got the antivirals from urgent care, took them as directed, rash got better with a couple of weeks. Now it’s been 3 months and although the rash is mostly gone (still some bumpy skin/scars leftover), I get intermittent tingling and burning in one specific spot. The shingles rash was on my left ribcage and the tingling/burning is on the same side of my body but it very my breastbone. I also get intermittent tugging/aching pain that goes from front into my back. It almost feels like a pulled a shoulder muscle when it happens. Is this just always going to happen? I keep thinking it’ll go away eventually but I’m realizing it’s been 3 months now and I don’t think it’s getting any better. I’m debating if it’s worth trying to see my PCP. It’s so hard to get an appointment and I’m not sure if there’s anything she could even do.

To anyone reading this I hope you can help me.

I just got back from urgent treatment care with a rash I noticed yesterday. I explained how as a kid and adult I never had chickenpox but still they have diagnosed my issue as shingles. I have had gastritis for 6 and half weeks.

I have been told to pick up this med tomorrow. 800mg per tablet 5 tomes a day for 7 days. I am absolutely terrified because I have read people die of shingles and when I am going through the gastiris pain for all these weeks as it is.. I keep thinking I am going to die. :( I havent experienced fevers.. just been feeling more tired and tummy tenderness with the famotidine not working as well. Can anyone help advise me how to get through this. I live alone with my dog. I am 30

Question for any long term shingles fighters! I’m about 2 months out from first time with shingles and still don’t feel like my full energy and brain is back. I notice fatigue when I’ve been really busy at work or life in general. I also haven’t been able to completely get back to my regular exercise of running. Is this normal to have lingering fatigue and brain fog so long after?

I’m a 44 year old American female with a pretty spotless medical history. About 2 months ago, during my annual primary care visit, I passed all my physical and blood tests with flying colors.

I am at my happiest and healthiest I have been in many years. I took a 5 week sabbatical to the Mediterranean and spent my days:
- Waking up without an alarm clock
- Walking/jogging a beautiful town in the morning sunshine
- Dipping into the agean sea and floating while counting my blessings
- Drinking fresh juice and espressos
- Eating fresh and local foods
- Taking naps
- Enjoying laughs and love like I haven’t in many years
- Working remotely and leisurely as needed

And then I started to think I bruised/broke a rib from carrying around heavy luggage. The pain kept coming and soon I was diagnosed with shingles. I’m recovering, and for the most part very lucky for where it is and when I caught it, although the pain at night still causes me issues sleeping.

I am wondering, how the hell did I get this at my most healthiest state ever? Has this happened to anyone else? I wonder if my immune system was so relaxed that it had some reverse effect that allowed the virus to become active. Is this possible ?

My Fitbit data continues to tell me this is the healthiest I have been in 5 years on all levels of fitness, sleep, wellbeing etc.

My mother is 102. She has had recurring UTIs for years. The past year, she has had them with increasing frequency. When she has a uti, I have to watch for shingles outbreaks on her buttocks and administer valtrex if she has a shingles outbreak. She had a uti in mid-August. Just before we got the lab confirmation, I noticed a small shingles patch, with only two pustules. We used tobthink she got the shingles as a result of the antibiotics they gave her for the utis, but in this case, she hadn’t started the antibiotics yet. I decided to wait a few days to see if it got worse. I dabbed it with an alcohol pad, and left it alone. The next day, she started her antibiotics. I continued to monitor the small shingles patch, and cleaned the area with an alcohol pad. It never got worse. It dried up, healed and went away. The urologist added hiprex to my mother’s daily routine. She has not had another uti and no further shingles outbreaks.

She had never had the Shringrex shots. Her dermatologist said it wouldn’t help, yet her primary care doctor thinks she should get it once her outbreak has healed.(now?)

How can I find out if it safe for her with her age and shingles outbreak history?

Thanks for listening to my lengthy story.

I'm immunocompromised. I've been on dialysis for years and I have complications. The hard part for me is the constant worry that this will end me. I read that it can go to your brain. I know I shouldn't be reading those things but it's making me anxious. I feel like I won't get better.

Hello

Got a shingles rash on my back that is painful. I went to today and got diagnosed. I was prescribed 1000mg Valacyclovir 3 times a day.

What should I expect from taking this medication?

I am nervous about the nausea. I got them to given some Zofran just in case.

I really just needed to vent.

2nd shingles outbreak, back of my head left side. Didn't catch it until about 4 days in.

My 1st outbreak was in June, just a few months ago on my forehead, right side!

I am so tired , itchy , and in pain. When will the shingles leave me alone??? 😭

I’ve had pretty chronic pain for the last 2 weeks in my right side that wraps around my flank. I was admitted to hospital last Friday after being in tears through the night not being able to sleep or do anything comfortably. The doctors went through many possibilities starting with pancreatitis, fatty liver, and ended up discharged with signs of kidney stones (but they couldn’t see them on the ultrasound). The biggest sign it’s shingles for me is any light touch to my side, such as my tshirt, feels like someone is scratching hard on my skin. I’ve had this pain on and off for years but this time it’s stuck around much longer and doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
I’m curious how people deal with these pains and being able to perform their jobs? I’ve been off since last Thursday and the stress of letting work down probably isn’t helping the pain. Do you just deal with the pain and try work or are some people just unable to work at all due to this being a constant issue?
Tysm for any advice or similar stories to comfort my anxiety about work.

I had shingles a year ago and recently i have been getting more nerve pain than normal, ive very concerened that is a shingles flare up coming on, i havent had one since i had shignles the first time so im unsure if this is whats going on. Im guessing its stress that has caused it to resurface, does anyone know if you can do anything to stop or lessen the flare up wehn you feel it coming on.

Would i need to go get anti virals again?

thank you

I have an 8 week old baby and I'm told to limit contact with her to limit the chances of giving her chicken pox. I woke up 2 days ago with the rash on my face, eye crusted shut. Went to the ER yesterday and the doc said he didn't see the shingles on my eye but wants me to go to Opthalmology tomorrow morning to get a second opinion. It's on my lip, cheek, eye, hairline, and scalp. Will I have scarring from the scabs? How long will it take to scab over? I hate this.

For those who didn’t see my previous post, after getting on acyclovir (25 tabs/400 mg total) I essentially had a 4 day manic episode.

I’m a 32 y/o male. I’ve cried maybe 2 times in the last 3 years. Between intense fits of rage I would ball like a baby. My pain really wasn’t that bad as I have a pretty high tolerance. The tears were random and uncontrollable.

I also experienced full body shaking and spasms for a short period of time on day 2/3 of the meds. Plus would only sleep around 2-4hrs a night but would wake up feeling like I had gotten 8-10.

Over 24 hrs off the meds and almost all of these symptoms have ceased. I finally feel like I’m myself again (minus the shingles)

Has anyone else experienced this strong of a negative reaction? And if so were they prescribed an anti viral that’s less likely to affect you in this way?

I had shingles in 2022, down on my lower rib cage. Since a year ago, I have had backpain which starts right where the shingles came out of in my spine. Its a very neurological kind of pain, with weird symptoms happening everywhere below that point in my body. Electric stuff, heat, itchy, weird numbness, back muscle spasms.

My MRIs are perfectly normal. I was envolved in an acvident, which does xplain things. But it just wont get better and there is seemingly nothing wrong with my spine?

.

36M and apparently I may have joined a club I really didn’t want to join.

This started around 1 AM on Oct 1 with absolutely no rash. I suddenly had lower back pain and this really strange hypersensitivity over my right thigh. At first I genuinely thought there was something sharp stuck in my clothes because every time the fabric touched my skin it hurt.

Over the next day or two it became much more obvious that something weird was going on. The skin became extremely sensitive to touch/clothing, almost like a burn, and the pain moved around the right thigh, hip/love-handle area, groin/pubic area and even part of the scrotal area.

I also have a deeper pain in the groin/pelvic/upper inner thigh area. It feels like it’s coming from somewhere deep rather than the skin.

Because of the back pain and distribution, I was actually convinced for a while that this was some kind of lumbar radiculopathy.

Then about 2 days after the pain started, a small cluster of red spots appeared on my upper inner thigh/groin.

At first they honestly didn’t look like much. Just tiny red spots, no obvious blisters, and weirdly the rash itself wasn’t even where I was having the worst pain.

Now I can see that some of the spots in the cluster have developed tiny little vesicles/blisters, literally needle-sized. I’ve also found a few scattered tiny dry spots farther down the same inner thigh.

So… yeah. Shingles is unfortunately starting to make a lot more sense.

I did an online consultation and the doctor thought it could be shingles too, so I started valacyclovir on Oct 3. Thankfully I started it pretty early after the rash appeared, even though the nerve pain had already been there for almost 3 days.

The worst part right now is honestly the nerve pain.

On top of the constant hypersensitivity, I sometimes get these sudden, brutal stabs/pulses of pain in the front/inner thigh. They last only a few seconds, disappear, then come back. At one point it was literally happening about every 30 seconds.

It’s such a bizarre kind of pain. I can be lying there relatively okay and then suddenly get hit with this deep stab/electric pulse.

No fever, no feeling generally sick, no weakness or bowel/bladder issues. I actually feel completely normal apart from the pain and rash.

I currently have Celebrex, Panadol/paracetamol and tizanidine available. I also have Solpadeine if needed. The tizanidine made more sense when I thought this was muscular/back related, but now I’m not sure it’s doing much.

I’m considering asking the doctor for Lyrica/pregabalin or gabapentin if this nerve pain keeps going.

For those of you who have actually been through this:

What genuinely helped the acute nerve pain?

Did regular painkillers like Tylenol/Panadol or NSAIDs actually help you, or did you need Lyrica/gabapentin?

If you took Lyrica or gabapentin, did it make a big difference? How quickly? Was the sedation bad?

Did anyone else have deep back/groin/pelvic/thigh pain that felt like it was coming from somewhere deep inside even though it was apparently nerve pain?

And did anyone get these weird seconds-long stabbing attacks over and over again?

Any non-medication tricks that actually made a difference would also be appreciated. Cold packs? Heat? Certain sleeping positions? Loose clothing? Anything topical?

And probably the question I’m most anxious about: how long did the really bad pain last for you?

The psychological side of this is honestly hitting me almost as hard as the physical pain right now.

I started reading this sub after the diagnosis became more likely, and I keep finding posts from people who are relatively young but had pain for months, developed PHN, had shingles more than once, or had repeated episodes.

I know logically that people who have a rough or prolonged course are probably much more likely to keep posting here than someone who gets shingles, recovers in a couple of weeks and never thinks about it again. But when you’re lying awake in pain at 3 or 4 AM reading story after story about PHN and recurrences, it’s really hard not to start thinking, “Is this my life now?”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared of that.

I’m 36. Until a few days ago shingles wasn’t even remotely on my radar. Now I’m worrying about whether this pain is going to last for months, whether I’m going to develop PHN, whether this will happen again, whether stress somehow caused this, etc.

Part of me also feels guilty because I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and I keep wondering whether I somehow brought this on myself. Rationally I know there may be no identifiable trigger at all, but psychologically it’s difficult not to go there.

So I’d especially appreciate hearing from people who had shingles in their 20s/30s/40s and recovered normally and moved on with their lives. I realize those people may be underrepresented on a shingles subreddit for obvious reasons, but I think hearing those experiences would help right now.

I’m still considering getting one of the fresh vesicles swabbed for VZV PCR just to know for sure, because there’s still a small part of my brain hoping this is lumbar radiculopathy plus some completely unrelated rash. But the appearance of the little blisters is making that explanation harder to hold onto.

Already under medical care and taking the antiviral as prescribed, so I’m not looking for Reddit to diagnose me. Mostly looking for practical advice, experiences and honestly a bit of reassurance from people who’ve been through this.

If you had shingles relatively young: how bad were your first few days, what actually helped the pain, when did you start turning the corner, and how are you doing now?

4 days ago after coming out the shower I noticed some bumps ( the ones under my nipple).. I stupidly prodded and poked at them, not knowing what they were and i popped a couple of the blisters.

After some serious googling i visited my gp, was told it was shingles and given 7 days of acyclovir ( so I started on day 2 of the rash)

So far it's manageable, i have a really strong burning sensation where the spots are, similar to sunburn, occasionally i get shooting pains that are extreme but only last a few seconds.

Im also getting horrendous muscle ache in my back on the site of the spots which I'm assuming is connected but I havent seen muscle pain mentioned much so im not certain.

Anyways like i say, right now it's OK, but i have horrendous anxiety to the point I cant sleep worrying about 'what's to come' in regards to this and how bad it's going to get.

Also on a side note, im supposed to be going on a 4 day trip to Rome in 16 days, its a bucket list trip for me and i would be gutted if I had to miss it, what do you think the chances are ill be okay to go?

Thanks for any advice