Crohn's and Shingles Week 4: Thanksgiving and Itching

Well my shingles has slowly been subsiding.  As you can see the red marks on my body are gradually fading. I attached a picture to show how it looks. When I told people I had shingles they are said "Oh that must be pretty painful". Honestly, the whole process hasn't been too bad. The only thing that bothers me is lifting up my shirt and seeing all this redness on the left side of my stomach. Over time I would thing the marks will fade and could possibly leave some scarring. I have been using Mederma scar cream to reduce the possible effects of scarring and seen a little bit of improvement with that. The only thing that is a pain is there is one spot on my stomach that sometimes itches at night which is a pain. I put some calamine lotion on it which helps a little bit in terms of stopping the itching. I might pay a visit to my dermatologist to see if there is anything I can do do reduce the redness of my skin.

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving (ate way too much-but it was all delicious!). I am honestly thankful for being in remission with Crohn's and not having to worry about pains in my stomach or going to the bathroom. It is nice to be able to live an active and healthy life. Although, I have been feeling tired for the past few weeks with work, family issues, and just year end always seems busy. I noticed I had gained some wait and have been working out recently and dropped a few pounds. My weight has been running around 168 (of course this was before Thanksgiving).

All in all I am glad the shingles is slowly fading away and think it will continue to improve. I was worried that I would have pain for longer than I did. The only annoying thing still is the itching on the one part of my stomach but that seems to have been reduced some. Honestly, I have so much to be thankful for this holiday season.

Crohn's and Shingles Week 2

This week my shingles seems to be improving. The skin has seemed to crust over and starting to peel away. I am curious to see what it will look like once it is all gone. At this point the shingles are either a dark red color or have faded. Earlier in the week I had minor pain near my left breast. It felt tender and warm (somewhat like a sunburn). I also had some minor pain in my lower back but that has seemed to resolve itself quickly as the shingles as faded away.

I have my annual physical scheduled for later this month and my doctor will evaluate my status. I will be curious to see how my doctor thinks my skin is progressing. Also I noticed I lost some weight during the shingles. Right now I weigh roughly 170 pounds.

Never in a million years did I think I would get shingles at 31 years old. Then again I never thought I would be diagnosed with Crohn's either. I think life is a reminder of how unusual, random, and interesting things can be. However, I believe the adversity has made me a stronger person overall.

Crohn's and Shingles Week 1

As you probably saw in my prior post this past week on Monday I went to the doctor who diagnosed me with shingles (I was unable to hand out Halloween candy). My doctor prescribed me Valtrex and a week's worth of Prednisone to calm down the inflammation. My parents reminded me that I had chickenpox twice growing up. Honestly, I have heard people (including my grandmother) say there were in lots of pain while having shingles. For me the pain is more of a mild sunburn that looks like a bunch of acne.

The prednisone kicked in around Wednesday (after starting it on Monday). Prednisone has always given me energy, makes me feel warm, and makes me quite "goal oriented". The Valtrex I have to take for a full week (3 times a day) and should wrap that up by the end of this weekend. When I woke up in the morning I would have some slight pain but it honestly wasn't anything I have seen before. I think having lived with Crohn's for so long I have lived through periods of extreme pain which makes the shingles pretty manageable. The rash on my left side and back have seem to subside and now look more like a scrape the anything else.

Things seem to be improving which is a good sign and I am hoping to be back to 100% within another week or so. This again is a minor set back but I have been many through many of these before and know that it will pass and I will be back to normal (which should never be taken for granted).