Know Their Stories | Stop Shingles

IT WAS LIKE SOMEBODY TURNING A SCREW INTO MY BODY.

The pain started off with a three and then it moved on to a five on the pain scale. At its peak, it moved to about an eight or nine. I couldn’t have a restful sleep at night. The shots of pain would come every couple of minutes. And then I would just pray that it goes off quickly. I would say it is like somebody turning a screw. It was really painful. Despite the fact that my dad experienced shingles twice and my mom had it once, I did not heed the warning signs. I did not opt for preventive measures. Do something about it before it's too late.

Mr. Lee, 56 y.o.
Patient diagnosed with shingles

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BETWEEN THE TCM, SPECIALISTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE, IT COST ME ABOUT $2,000 A MONTH IN TREATMENT.

Once the doctor declared me free from shingles, I really thought my ordeal was over. But sadly, the pain persisted, up to a stage which was so bad that my family had to call an ambulance to get me to hospital. The diagnosis was postherpetic neuralgia. My granddaughter also signed me up for a TCM acupuncture session in between my trips to see the neurologist. Between the TCM, specialists and everything else, it cost me about $2,000 a month in treatment. Due to budget constraints, I had no choice but to go back to government care, and I realised there’s no such thing as a magic cure.

Mr. Sulaiman
Re-telling of the shingles story of Mr. KT Ng, diagnosed at 83 y.o.

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SHE SAYS THAT THE SHINGLES IS STILL PAINFUL. EVEN NOW, 10 YEARS LATER.

My mom had it about 10 years ago. She was about 77 years old then and I was about 38. She described it as starting with a sudden sharp pain on her right side. Of course, we were worried about whether it could progress to any other complication, and what we could do to make her cope better. We went to the GP twice before we got the diagnosis of shingles, and a lot of GPs and specialists to manage the pain later on. We had to find out where they were based and make the 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.

Ms. Chia, 49 y.o.
Carer of a patient diagnosed with shingles

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