My mom had it about 10 years ago. I was about 38. It started with a sudden pain, a very sharp pain on her right side. We didn't know what it actually was and so I just took her to a GP and she couldn't find anything wrong with her. A couple of days later there was a big blister that came out on her right side. So then we went back to the GP and she was diagnosed as having shingles. Before a diagnosis, we went to the GP twice, and then a lot of GPs and specialists to manage the pain later on.
There were so many trips to the doctors, so that took up a lot of time. The medicine did not remove any of the pain symptoms, so we had to visit the doctors again. At that point, she was a little younger and more active. But we were still worried about whether it could progress to other complications, and what we could do to make her cope better. She would ask why is the pain still there? How come it keeps coming back? Isn’t there a way to cure it?
“WE EVEN TRIED TO DISTRACT HER, TO HELP HER FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE WITH IT.”
After a while, we gave up because it seemed like it was all the same thing. We were quite helpless at that time. We had to seek out all these doctors, find out where they were based and make appointments. I had to shift my schedule to fit the doctor's availability. It was really difficult. And since then, till now she still has pain on that side that comes and goes. Even now, 10 years later. I’m aware now what shingles is and that there are treatment and prevention options for the condition. I hope that everybody actually can know more about it so that you don't need to go through the stress of trying to figure out what actually happened, like to my mom.
