Shingles Rears Its Ugly Head During MS Awareness Week

Sure, wasn’t it MS Awareness Week in America last week? Sure, didn’t we begin the week the way I have over the past several years: by blogging about something about which people with multiple sclerosis (MS) might not even be aware? Sure, didn’t multiple sclerosis have a little help from another friend last week? From a Feeling of Foreboding … I knew something was wrong — the way only we can know something is wrong — on Wednesday, but I couldn’t quite put a finger on it. There was a cognitive lag, an unusual mild headache, and a general physical foreboding of something to come. I went to bed early and hoped for the best. One of several awakenings during the night (for either one of the dogs or me to pee) told my groggy mind that things were getting worse, not better. It felt as if the fasciae of my whole body were searing like the silver skin of a poorly trimmed steak on a hot pan. Moving, walking, breathing — even thinking — seemed to cause bright, blue-white pain. … To a Telltale Rash When I woke, I noticed the telltale beginnings of a rash on my right wrist, and I knew what was happening: shingles. As if painful, itchy, ugly patches of skin on my forearm and hand weren’t enough, the immune reaction knocked on the door of my MS, which was more than happy to open up and join the party. I concluded MS Awareness Week being very aware that I had MS. Three Days I’ll Never Get Back I knew, of course, that it was a pseudoexacerbation of symptoms, no...
Source: Life with MS - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: multiple sclerosis awareness Everyday Health life with MS Living with MS MS Blog HIstory MS Sleep MS symptoms trevis gleason Source Type: blogs