Postherpetic neuralgia PHN & shingles

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Lanny

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have been questioning my Neuropathy diagnosis for some time.

I was diagnosed with it in March 2017 by an A&E doctor after getting severe freezing sensations in my right leg & pins & needels in my hands, worse on the right, that wouldn’t go away. I had this for 2 weeks off & on with shorter intervals between. Until it was constant. There was nothing he could do but, he recommended GLA for nerve pain. Googled it & found it occurs naturally in Evening Primrose oil. Have been taking 1x1000mg capsule everyday & it dulls everything down.

I had chicken pox in my 20’s which left me riddled with scars, mainly in my bust, & tummy area. Over the years I’ve had bouts of shingles when my immunity was low, after a cold, run down & poorly. When the spot scars get ictchy & sore again. This happened periodically even before I was diabetic.

I never heard of Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) before I found it mentioned on an older post on the thread “Sore Skin”. I googled it & my symptoms seem to match that more than with Neuropathy. I read a thread where someone posted a reply, I think it was Northerner, about Neuropathy occurring equally on both sides of the body & it’s only on my right leg that I feel freezing. I kept feeling cold & not really knowing if I AM cold. But, learnt that if I AM cold both of my arms & legs are cold as opposed to only my right leg being cold. Both my hands tingle but, definitely the right more than the left.

For this last 5 days/a week my chicken pox scars are itchy & I’m scratching: hard not to. And starting Saturday night, 24/25/03/18, I was feeling a little ill & my sugars were staying high, around 10.0-11.0 all day Sunday.

Booked appointment to see GP. Phoned my hospital DSN for advice & put my Levemir up by one unit temp. Over next few days. Stick with Novorapid doses even if sugars are a little high as it wasn’t that long ago since I’d had a series of hypos.

Saw GP & I definitely don’t have Postherpetic neuralgia as that’s constrained to the same side as the spots; my are mainly on the left & the few on the right are not itchy. I told her this has flagged up a danger to me & asked if I could have a vaccine for shingles. She told me that unfortunately the NHS only offer vaccines for the over 70’s.

I DO have diabetic neuropathy, although it’s unusual for it to be mainly one sided. She thought I looked peaky & might be lacking some vitamins. She sent me for a blood test. It was after 17:00 & no blood tests are taken after that so, I went back today to get them done.

I’ll have to wait to see what I’m lacking, if anything, & take any supplements I may need.

Has anyone had Postherpetic neuralgia or the vaccine for shingles?
 
Pete (being 70) had his shingles jab at lunchtime today - was told he may experience a slight fever in a few days, no other advice.
 
I was feeling a bit hot & thought I was feverish too but, I’m not. I just have shingles now & that’ll pass.
 
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