Shingles?

[Guest BERNESES]

Hi Everyone- This weekend I developed two small but painful bumps on the scalp behind my right ear. I can't see them but my sister said they looked like bug bites. OK. Hurt to brush my hair in that spot but I figured they'd go away.

Tonight in class I developed a headache and another huge, hard bump behind my right ear. Right on the bone. It hurts!

I called the doctor and he said could be shingles so I'm going in tomorrow to get checked out. Anyone else had this? I did have chicken pox as a child and I know that's a prerequisite. I'm kind of scared. Thanks, Beverly

[Carriefaith]

I've never had it, but my grandmother had it and it wasn't too bad for her.

[morrigan]

Besides shingles you might want to consider the possibility of DH. I am not familiar with your situation but I have DH and the bumps that I get on my head do not itch even though they are bothersome.

-Morrigan-

[Guest BERNESES]

That occured to me too. Boo hoo! Don't know which is worse

[Eliza13]

If the bumps are directly behind your ear, they could be your lymph nodes. If so, you are likely coming down with a virus (if it is your nodes). I am not a doctor, but I have had my nodes swell in the past and they hurt like heck.

[Guest BERNESES]

Yeah- it's definitely not a lymph node as it's on my scalp and the bone behind my ear near the hairline.

[elonwy]

Heres the thing with shingles: if you take care of them, you'll be just fine. If you think you're just gonna deal with it like chicken pox you're screwed.

My grandma was a tough little (4'2") old lady from Ireland who never went to the doctor in her life and had 9 children that lived. She got shingles at around 75, didn't do anything about it and ended up being bed-ridden and half-crippled for 6 months.

That scary admonition out of the way, you're going to the doc, if you have it, just take what they give you, even if it has gluten in it. They have plenty of stuff to deal with it now.

Here's hoping its just DH. I get little bumps behind my ears and on the back of my neck that act like big pimples that never do anything and itch and hurt like hell and that's my DH. The good news is, DH can eventually go away and they have antibiotics to make it go away faster.

Elonwy

[judy05]

  BERNESES said:

Hi Everyone- This weekend I developed two small but painful bumps on the scalp behind my right ear. I can't see them but my sister said they looked like bug bites. OK. Hurt to brush my hair in that spot but I figured they'd go away.

Tonight in class I developed a headache and another huge, hard bump behind my right ear. Right on the bone. It hurts!

I called the doctor and he said could be shingles so I'm going in tomorrow to get checked out. Anyone else had this? I did have chicken pox as a child and I know that's a prerequisite. I'm kind of scared. Thanks, Beverly

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I've had shingles several times. Before I break out I get pain on the surface of the skin, weird!. Then I get these real tiny red bumps, very itchy and painful. It usually occurs on my thigh. The skin Dr gave me an Rx for Valtrex to take before the eruptions and Domboro soaks to apply to the skin. They usually dry up in a few days. I agree about getting medical help because they can be very painful and hard to get rid of if you wait too long. Yours don't sound like shingles but get checked out!

[skbird]

I got shingles when I was 18 and it was not pleasant nor any walk in the park. I had a pink blotch on my spine at waist level and one on my side and I went to the campus doc and he said "oh, shingles! Take some tylenol and get some calamime lotion - you'll be fine." Two days later I was back in tears and they gave me some codeine. It was rough. Two days after that I went back to my parents house and they took me to a dermatologist who said if I'd been there the first day I noticed the blotches he could have given me a powerful antiviral that would have stopped a lot of the process... well, I guess going to an on-campus doc isn't enough.

Anyway, the whole thing too about a month to get over, and I actually got some scarring on my waist for life. If it's even suspected, don't mess around and get thee to a doctor post haste. It won't kill you but it is really uncomfortable. I just met someone who is recovering from having it on her face - she said every time she gets stressed out now it starts breaking out on her again.

I don't mean to scare you, but I have said this many times - I would not wish shingles on my worst enemy.

Take care -

Stephanie

[ponita]

Berneses,

I saw your post and see now it's been 24 hours, were you able to see you doctor? What was decided? I'm curious ...

I want to tell you that for 10 years off and on I've been breaking out behind my ears, then sometimes across my shoulders, in my mouth, on my arms. Some of the doctors said it was shingles, some would say they simply didn't know. When I found out that I have celiac, I researched DH and couldn't believe what I saw.

The only time I break out now is if I ingest something contaminated that I'm not aware of.

Keeps me motivated to stay as pure as possible!

gluten-free since June 2004,

The day of my dx is like a new birthday for me as I feel WONDERFUL.

Let me know how you're doing.

Melissa

[BRCoats]

I got shingles for the first time.....RIGHT after I went gluten-free. Weird, huh? I went for months, thinking it was eczema, so I didn't go to the doc. Then, when I went in for a checkup, I told him about it. He kinda freaked, spent a whole lot of time examining it, and finally decided it was shingles (it looked pretty nasty - and it was on my forearm, below my wrist). He prescribed me Valtrex, and a cream (basically a topical Valtrex). I didn't apply it until months later, because I didn't think going to get the expensive meds outweighed haing the rash (but it did burn and itch and hurt like crazy!!!). I'm stubborn, what can I say! Anyway....then I had someone tell me that it can go to your brain, if you don't get it taken care of. She had a friend that actually died of herpes encephalitis (shingles on the brain, basically). SO....needless to say, I ran out and filled that prescription! I never filled the oral, I just got the cream. And it worked like a CHARM!!! Great stuff. The bad news is that it cost me eighty bucks AFTER my insurance paid their part. And I have good insurance.

Anyway....the shingles are painful. Just get treated, and all will be well. I agree that you need to get it taken care of if it is indeed shingles.

HTH,

~Brenda

[Guest BERNESES]

Thanks everryone for your support! Saw the doctor today and she is 99% sure it's not shingles. It looks like Scarlet was right- it is some kind of pimple or bug bite rash that got infected and the hard lump behind my right ear actually is a swollen lymph node so they gave me Augmentin but I haven't filled it yet because I'm trying to find out if it's gluten-free. I'm so relieved that it's not shingles as I've heard horror stories! I'm still wondering about the DH thing though. I've had these bumps appear on my scalp before.

So, does anyone know if Augmentin is gluten-free? And how do I go about getting a DH diagnosis? I went to a derm recently who diagnosed me with dermatitis without even examining me (no lie! ). I used the stuff she gave me for my ears (which itch, crack and bleed) and it made them worse so I just stopped using it and went back to OTC hydrocortisone. Her quote, without even looking at my ears, was "It's definitely not related to Celiac's" Arrrgh!

[Kasey'sMom]

I had something like this and it was scary as well. My dh had the shingles and I've never seem him so sick. I'm glad an anti-biotic will take care of it for you.

I checked out Augmentin on this website and it looks like the tabs & liquid are gluten-free. Here's the website I got the information from

Open Original Shared Link

Healing Wishes!!!!

[Guest BERNESES]

Thanks so much- I started the Augmentin last night. Hope it does the trick- this hurts (but I'm sure nothing like Shingles!! Thank you all for your help, B