Holy crap! I thought you could only get shingles once in your life, but I guess I was wrong. If you do have shingles there is nothing to take but that antiviral and you will want it since they are painful!!! But I went through a course of it (and turned out to have poison ivy) however the antiviral didn't cause any side effects. The prednisone and antibiotics did though! Also heavy pain relievers are prescribed for shingles too. So you should do some google searching about shingles for sure and you will learn a lot. I did that but luckily I didn't have it. (But I have had poison ivy for 6 weeks and counting and scratch all night -so I guess it was 6 to one half dozen to the other ). BTW too if you have shingles on the right and left halves of your body it is NOT shingles as they can only be on one side and there is a blood test to tell accurately if it is shingles. GOOD LUCK and get better soon!!! P.S. Benadryl cream works the best for itching imho.
-------------------- IBS-A for 20 years with terrible bloating and gas. On the diet since April 2004. Remember this from Heather's information pages:
"You absolutely must eat insoluble fiber foods, and as much as safely possible, but within the IBS dietary guidelines. Treat insoluble fiber foods with suitable caution, and you'll be able to enjoy a wide variety of them, in very healthy quantities, without problem." Please eat IF foods!
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Re: Does anyone know anything about these itchy things?
If you do have shingles there is nothing to take but that antiviral and you will want it since they are painful!!! But I went through a course of it (and turned out to have poison ivy) however the antiviral didn't cause any side effects. The prednisone and antibiotics did though! 
Also heavy pain relievers are prescribed for shingles too. So you should do some google searching about shingles for sure and you will learn a lot. I did that but luckily I didn't have it. (But I have had poison ivy for 6 weeks and counting and scratch all night -so I guess it was 6 to one half dozen to the other 
). BTW too if you have shingles on the right and left halves of your body it is NOT shingles as they can only be on one side and there is a blood test to tell accurately if it is shingles. GOOD LUCK and get better soon!!! 
P.S. Benadryl cream works the best for itching imho.
