Hello i am just after some advise really, i am 34 and have had no health problems untill recently i started to experience some pains down one side of the body and in one eye, and it felt like i had a stroke! i then had a massive outbreak of shingles down this side of the body, my doctor said it was a really severe case, and im still experiencing nerve pains now. it is all mainly down one side of the face and body but have experienced tingling, electric shock pains all over more recently. Now i know u shudnt read up on the internet BUT I have seen that there sometimes is a link between these two, and im also worried because My mother was diagnosed with MS when she was a few years older than me, so ive seen the symptoms, so has she and shes worried too…
I havent presented this to my doc yet but do you think i have just cause to ask for further investigations based on the fact i have a parent with it? and i just THINK it feels like it?? feel like i might just get fobbed off to be honest, anyone else that was diagnosed after a bad shingles episode would give me some hope
I think you should talk this through with your GP. Maybe what you are getting is just post-shingles neuralgia, maybe it is something completely different and easy to fix - any road up, you are now worrying that there might be something serious going on, and that in itself is a more than good enough reason to get it looked into.
I undertand that EBV is currently a prime suspect as a viral trigger for MS in susceptible individuals. Like you, though, I have read that herpes zoster is thought of as a potential suspect too (I have no expert knowledge whatsoever here)…
For what it is worth, my first MS relapse came hot on the heels of a shingles outbreak round my waist, and started in the same area before moving on to affect much of that side of me. I will never know whether this was coincidence, but I have my suspicions.
Which is absolutely not to say that there is any more or less reason for you to worry - I am anecdotal evidence, and circumstantial at that!
But you are worried, and for the sake of your peace of mind I think you need to talk this through with your GP with a view either to putting your mind at rest or, if he/she thinks it necessary, getting some specialist advice.
I have sometimes wondered if there’s a link between MS and shingles… but very conflicting info on the net. I did get shingles in 2006 and couldn’t get my strength back after… which led eventually to an MS diagnosis in 2008.
However looking back over the years I was getting symptoms a long time before that (mild enough to ignore or put down to other things) and I think I got shingles because I was pushing myself so hard through fatigue. My body just said ‘OK that’s enough… here’s something that’ll really stop you in your tracks’!
As others have advised, you need to see your GP. Tell him/her exactly what you have told us. You should be referred to a neurologist who will then send you for an MRI to see if there is evidence of MS on your brain.
But right now hon it’s impossible to say… as Alison says it could be post-shingles neuragia. But don’t continue to worry… see the GP and find out what’s going on.
Hey I wanted to see if you have an update. I’ve been experiencing a lot of spinal pain as well as migraines and fatigue as well as multiple other symptoms since coming down with shingles 2 yrs ago. Doctors have been stumped about what is happening and I am going to have my doctor see if they can test me for MS because I have numerous people around me with MS telling me my symptoms sound like what they are going through. Best wishes!
