I am getting a strange rash on my right side. It was brought to my attention that they might be shingles. Has anyone had shingles and the RA?
I had shingles about 8 years ago. After I delivered my son I went into premature menopause. A few months later I was shopping with my Aunt. I asked her to look at my back, because it itched. She said ,"oh you have a rash that looks like little blisters." I went to the doctor and it is the dormant chicken pox. It does however, grow painful as the blisters grow and then form sores. So do go to your doctor as there is a cream that you need to put on them. My doctor insisted that I stop breastfeeding my son so I could go on the medicine. If you don't they can spread. It is brought on by stress and immune problems. Of course none of us would know anything about that. Ha. Best of luck, keep them bandaged and dry.
Kim
Hi Kim, Did you also have the RA at that time? SaraSara,
Yes, I did. I do not know if that made a difference in the course of the illness or if it helped bring it on. My doctor at the time gave me a topical cream for that reason. I did not orally take any meds. I wish you the best. Don't be surprised when the sores turn painful. Mine were not that painful as compared to my joints, but they were uncomfortable and annoying. Other people I talked to who had it thought they were very!!! painful, I thought they were painful but certainly not the worst I had ever felt. Let me know if I can help in any way.
All my best,
Kim
Believe it or not, my best friend who has RA got shingles shortly after her kids got their chickenpox vaccine. whether it was related or not i dunno. i do know she was on MTX at the time. my son's pediatrician thought i was crazy for asking everytime he got shots if there were any live viruses. but i was on mtx and wanted to watch rather than be surprised. Hello All! I am recovering from shingles now. The rash broke out over 5 weeks ago. It is very important to get to a doc within the first 72 hours of the rash appearing especially if you are taking any meds which affect your immune system. You will probably be prescribed an anti-viral med. If the rash is on your face, eye or ear, they can cause lots of damage and demand immediate attention! I had to stop taking my methotrexate and Remicade though they left the daily prednisone. I lived on pain meds and tricyclics. They both made some sort of living possible - I was able to continue grad school. I still can't wear anything besides overalls with the sides open and a jacket or overshirt. Good thing Target has them for /pr. (nice material too.) Apparently the chicken pox virus lays dormant in the spinal column until it is reactivated. They used to think that it was caused by nerves but it affects nerves along bands of sensory neurons (dermatones) distributed along the skin. Most lucky people have the sensation of the areas covered by the rash screaming obscenities at them. Then there are others who have enough neuritis that it also effects the motor neurons. It's kind of in that category of, "yes, I have heard that can happen". Proof positive it does. Most clears up and goes away depending on getting the anti-viral going within that 'window of time'. But, the older one is, or the number of dermatones involved, or the worse ones immune system is in, the chances of it extending the damage to the nerves increases and you get something called Post-Herpetic Neuropathy (not good). PHN can last for weeks, months, years, decades, and that's a whole other topic. Good luck! From all that I could gather, it doesn't seem to matter how you take care of it, such as plenty of rest, lots of chicken soup and being weighted on hand and foot. It seems to come down to how much you can stand, and how much you can be stood by those around you - there have been days when I could not have said a decent or nice word to anyone. One evening I would have started tearing my skin off to get ride of the pain and 'crawling' sensations and muscle spasms. By the age of 80, you have a 50% chance of getting it whether you are healthy or not. Long enough! /jen thanks for letting me wail and whine.Hi Jen...OH BOY HOW TRUE!!! Thus far I've done everything right. I've broken out in five spots one which got bad. On my breast of all places!!! I went to the Dr. two days after it broke out, Easter weekend. Had to go to walk-in clinic but I got what I needed. I haven't even told my Rheumatologist yet...Probably should do that as I take Humira shots and he might want to hold off on them for awhile. It looks like they are starting to clear up, however, I don't trust that. On top of my meds I keep itch cream and Bactaban cream on them. Seems to have worked well. Feel free to e-mail me at: andrews1225@msn.com we can share our wailin and whinin!!!/Sara