Mary asks…
Can you have shingles without a rash?
I am only 21 and I went to the doctor yesterday for an intense pain in my left arm that went up to my shoulder and into my back. I could not touch my skin because it was so sensitive to touch for 2 days and hurting for 2 days. Only my left arm was achy and I was fatiged and weak still only on one side. Yesterday my doctor examines me and says he is almost positive I have shingles but he cannot diagnose it since I do not have a rash anywhere. He put me on a seven day course of acyclovir. Is it possible to have shingles without the rash and if I caught it early, will the medicine prevent the rash from coming at all? My symptoms have gotten better since yesterday.
admin answers:
I have had shingles outbreaks several times and i have never had much of a rash at the outset. A few tiny blisters and the rash have typically developed a week or more after the pain began.
Donald asks…
Anyone have Shingles without the dark red rash?
I think what I might have is shingles. Six weeks ago during a very hot spell while working in the yard I got a tingling and sharp, burning pain in my lower back just to the left of the Spine, about the size of a small fist. The pain didn’t radiate so I knew it wasn’t an ongoing back problem I’ve had for years.
The sharp, burning pain lasted for hours. It reoccured daily for the next week, calming only if I sat or laid quietly.
A week later it appeared that I had been bitten by a flea a few times in the same area…4 little itchy bumps. I still have the sharp, burning pain during the day if I’m even a little bit active. Doctor said it could be shingles but feels more that it is a pulled muscle and he wants me to let it go for a couple more weeks to see if it subsides. I’ve never known a pulled muscle in the lower back to burn. And the little red flea bite-type bumps…coincidence?
Can anyone offer any insight as to pulled muscle or Shingles?
I will greatly appreciate any responses.
I want to thank each and every person here who responded to my question.
I have an appointment with an MD on Tuesday and I’ve copied all your responses so that I can take them with me.
I want to be as informed as I can be and I want to be able to ask all the right questions.
Your responses provided me with the ammunition to do just that.
After a very painful few more days I still had the strange itch with slight burn on the surface of the area and the stabbing hot pain just under the surface of the skin so Friday morning I started my search for a new doctor who would take new patients.
It wasn’t an easy task but after a couple hours I found a Dermo who wasn’t able to take me without a referral but he did refer me to a doctor that would take on a new patient.
Thank you everyone, so very much.
Your advice, opinions and concern helped me more than you’ll ever know.
Lady M
admin answers:
Shingles does not cause a dark red rash. It caused red blister like spots usually in a line. When you have shingles you can almost always see the familiar look of shingles spots as the run along a nerve line. You didn’t mention having those familiar spots so I tend to feel like your doc that it is not shingles.
Laura asks…
Severe skin pain without a rash, itching or redness?
This is actually fairly reoccurring on me, but I currently have a patch of skin on my left front of my thigh from the hip to the knee that hurts and burns really badly when i touch it, or when clothes touches it, and at the moment, without either stimulus!
It feels like my entire muscle is deteriorating in there, even a little breeze makes it hurt. There is NO rash, no bumps, no redness, it’s not warm to the touch.. i haven’t changed detergent, used different soap, shaved recently, gotten into any chemicals.. ate foods i normally don’t eat.. nothing!
It really hurts a lot! i just took some tylonel pm.. so hopefully that helps..
this has also happened in both of my arms and legs before, i feel like its dissolving my flesh, then will go away after a day or so? any ideas on causes? None of the times in the past has it ever broken into a rash and its been going on for a year, so i don’t think its shingles or anything.. hmm?
admin answers:
If this has been going on for a year, i think its long enough. You need to talk to a doctor, and find out what is really wrong with you. This sounds really painful, and why suffer needlessly? Go and see him, ok?
Mandy asks…
can u have internal shingles without the rash on outside of skin?
my husband has tingling, burning and pain on his right side and we cannot find out what it is
admin answers:
You don’t mention how long your husband has had this pain. The first sign of shingles is often one-sided burning pain; after several days to a week the blisters may then appear.
Yes, the pain may be present without the appearance of blisters!
Read about shingles, their causes, and how to treat them at
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shingles/DS00098
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/shingles.htm
Michael asks…
if you present with an early sign of shingles ex. pain in upper back and around waist headache etc but have no
rash at that time and take antivaral meds does that prevent the rash from forming, has anyone experienced shingles without a rash?
admin answers:
Have you been diagnosed w/having shingles? This is very painful. The rash can be anywhere on your body, even on your scalp. Alot of other things can present the same symptoms, hope you’ve been to a doc.
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