Thursday, June 28th, 2007

[cougarnurse]

Good morning, all! It's a brand new Thursday, and I hope you all are doing great. Got some more needed rain yesterday....lots of thunder, and a nice half hour of rain. The humidity is down.... :houra:

So, what is everyone else doing today???

'Cat'

[AmandaWIRN]

off to bed now, then off to work tonight (again.....)

have a good day!

[cougarnurse]

Get some sleep for me, Amanda; must be the long days/short nights.....I just can't sleep.

[ravenpaperdoll]

Hello!! I was reading through some information and they said that Shingles was on the rise. If you had it once can you get it again? My sister had it when she 18 months old and I was unsure if she would get it again if its going around. Also, I noticed that someone posted this college porn thing in the general nursing discussion area.. not good? I am here filing and spending a little time at work before I finish moving. We just have to have all this rain when I have to be out by tomorrow.. Hope everyone has a great day and great weekend!

Kristy

[Aaron C.]

Kristy,

I don't know if it is on the rise, but I do know that you can get it more than once.

I've had it nearly every year since I was in the 3rd grade.

It comes in almost the same spot every year, moving slightly along a nerve in my neck.

The first time was by far the worst. It's never been more than probably 4 inches across though, and hasn't been bigger than 2 inches across in probably 10 years.

I'm very lucky to have never had it really bad like many elderly or immunosuppressed people.

I have no idea why I get it every year, but it always comes around my first sunburn or trip to the lake right at the beginning of summer.

The local aspect of the shingles themselves don't bother me at all. It itches and burns a little but that's about it.

It's the headaches and the shooting nerve pains that suck.

I take valtrex in the spring before I start getting out in the sun to prevent it from occuring.

I would just tolerate them, however the doctor has warned that reoccurring outbreaks have shown to cause nerve damage and other long term negative affects. She told me that it may not be bad, but over time, getting them every year could prove to be a big problem.

My only REAL concern is what happens when I'm old and my immune system is weak? I don't want to be getting shingles over half my body every year. It scares me quite a bit.

I seem to be a pretty rare case though, getting them often like I do.