Sorry to hear that the Mrs has shingles; that is miserable. In 2017 I had a mild case that followed the nerve path from my shoulder to the base of my thumb on one arm. I was able to get gabapentin and some other medication from my doctor which is probably why mine was mild. I think you have to start the medication within 3 days of the first rash appearing for it to be effective. Having it in the eye sounds awful.
I've not had the shingles anywhere over my years, not yet. My mom when alive, had shingles over her right eye, and lower part of her forehead above that eye. Very painful for her and she suffered a lot. No treatment med was given her, I don't remember why.
That sounds awful. I have never had shingles but an aunt was simply miserable with it, and she didn't have it in her eyes.
that is a tough area to have the shingles, may I ask if your wife has been prescribed any meds to help her along..
If I may ask, were you vaccinated against it? I've had both Shingrix and then the new one that came out after it (I think it was in that order), and wonder if you think it helped.
I had Shingles 40 years ago one area on my back & one on my chest. I was married at the time & my wife insisted on seeing a doctor; neither one of us knew what it was; I thought it was a spider bite. It was painful for a few days. The doctor told us what it was & there was no cure & it would likely go away.
No, I was not vaccinated. I actually thought I'd never had chickenpox so I "thought" I was safe from shingles.
Shingles of the eyes is not good at all from what I have read. My youngest daughter at Shingles at age 10 down her back. My mother had a small patch on side of her leg at one time. For various reasons I should have the shot but, never have, I just hope for the best and move on.
Shingles in my eye was the start of things to come for me and sadly the doctors just treated the eye with antiviral. THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH! Shingles in the eye is a sign that the virus is in the nerves of the head and can lead to some life altering damage. I had it years ago in my left eye. Let me suggest that she gets on valacyclovir and stays on a small daily dose twice daily for life. The antiviral they put in the eye is necessary, but it won't stop the varicella zoster from damaging the trigeminal nerve and possibly the vestibular nerves. I suffer daily from partial numbness on the left side of my face. I have had the shingles virus, zoster, in my left eye, on top of my head where it blistered, in my left trigeminal nerve, left inferior vestibular nerve, and also on my torso where it blistered. It caused me to have glaucoma in my left eye, left side facial numbness and occasional pain, balance loss requiring therapy, deafness in right ear, and general body pains from nerve damage and loss of the myelin sheath on brain nerves. Shingles is nasty dangerous stuff. It is easily treated with acyclovir with valacyclovir being the best because of its 12 hour protection compared to 8 hours on the acyclovir. Getting the Shingrix vaccine is also a good idea for anyone over 60. Of course avoiding stress is always a good idea, but not so easy to do. Is Ms Cooper on antiviral eyedrops?
My doctor was slightly miffed when I asked him to test me first, because I did not recall having had chicken pox and I heard that you should not get the vaccine if you have not had chicken pox.
If I had reason to believe that I had ever had chicken pox, I might get the singles vaccine, but I don't think I have.
The only way you can get shingles is if you've had chickenpox first. You can get chickenpox as a senior. If someone has shingles and is at the blister stage when contagious, he or she could transmit the virus to you—but you would get chickenpox, not shingles. Shingles actually refers to the blisters and the virus is the zoster. If you have had chickenpox and never had shingles, you can still get nerve damage from the virus that causes the shingles blisters and that virus is zoster. It can damage nerves without ever appearing as blisters. Bells Palsy is an example of the zoster at work that never breaks out. Many times a doctor can't see zoster in an eye. By the time they saw mine it had already caused damage and scarring once treated and arrested. You cannot kill either the chickenpox (varicella) or the shingles (zoster) virus, you can only block it from replicating which is what the vaccine and acyclovir does. Zoster in the eye is never good and a sign that an antiviral regimen is necessary.
Getting the shingles vaccine would protect you from getting chickenpox. It is just a bigger dose of the chickenpox vax. I see no reason to get it if you haven't had the pox unless you are around grandkids with pox blisters or someone that has singles blisters and then it would protect you from getting chickenpox.