Self Diagnosed with Shingles, Ouch!

The three worst physical pains in my life so far, in order:

1. Dry Sockets

2. Shingles

3. Shattering my shoulder

I thought very hard about 1 and 2. Which was worse? The pain of dry sockets was worse but there was a quick solution. Shingles was a VERY close second on the pain scale and lasted longer with no quick solution. So overall, shingles were worse.

I’ll start from the beginning. I woke up one morning about 2 weeks ago, right after I posted about attempting Ramadan traditions, with an enormously aching shoulder. I tend to have pain in my right shoulder if I sleep on it wrong because there’s metal in there from previous surgery, but this aching seemed too much. Almost my entire arm all the way to my neck.

When I went to change my clothes for the day I noticed a few little bumps right on the edge of my shoulder. It must be bed bugs or ants or something. Weird, their venom made my whole arm ache. I didn’t care. Or think twice. Bugs adore my beautiful scent & bite me all the time out of affection so I understood these bites and took no bother to them <– Flattering really.

Next morning. More bumps.

Ok, now this is annoying. Especially because later in the day I noticed the bumps were filled with liquid. Great. So I looked up what ant bites and bed bug bites look like. The only weird part was that they didn’t itch at all, only burned when touched. And how did these little bugs know to bite the same part of my body every night? Ignored it.

By the end of the day, I had to leave work from the burning pain. This had to be solved right away. These damn bugs.

When I got home I put on a sleeveless shirt so I could really examine the area.

These were not bug bites, no way Jose. The rash went from my upper arm to my neck. It must be an allergic reaction I was told. But I kept thinking, to what? I haven’t done one single new thing that would cause this. And usually when I have allergies to something I itch really bad. My mouth itches, my skin itches and turns patchy red. Allergies didn’t seem right in my head but I liked the sound of it so I agreed.

Then I went to my doctor, cancer curing friend Juliana, in the States. Ok, she’s not a doctor, and she hasn’t cured cancer… yet. But she likes stuff like this and randomly knows everything. I took a couple photo’s, explained my symptoms and she said, could that be shingles? It’s only common in older people though so that would be weird.

I looked it up and immediately thought, yes! This is shingles! These symptoms are EXACTLY the symptoms I’m having. Pictures match. Everything. And that was the beginning of the most painful week of my life.

For the sake of not grossing anyone out, this is the most pleasant photo I have of the rash. This was day 2. It eventually covered my right shoulder. — *For the sake of not grossing anyone out, this is the most pleasant photo I have of the rash. This was day 2. It eventually lined my right shoulder.*

I never went to get doctor approval that this rash is shingles. Maybe because I didn’t have money to go, didn’t trust the doctor, or maybe because I was scared I was dying quickly and would rather do that in peace? Anyways, I didn’t go. But I went to the pharmacist who took a look & confirmed to the best of her knowledge it was a viral rash growing on my shoulder. Apparently, the clumps of blisters gave it away. She gave me some antiviral medicine.

In my doctor playing skills and attempt to cure myself without prescriptions, I started drinking garlic juice. I read somewhere garlic was used back in the day as medicine. Apparently, garlic is antiviral and antibacterial. You could say I drank about two bulbs? Bulbs is what you call the entire bunch of garlic right? Not a clove. A bulb. I drank probably 2 bulbs a day. I smelt really bad, but I felt really great. Right away. I’m so serious. And I’m so serious, I know how ridiculous I sound. Laugh all you want, but I owe garlic a big hug. Garlic with some apples, lemons, and ginger in juice form. Just like having a spaghetti meal dinner 🙂

Garlic-As-Medicine

Long story short, I couldn’t participate in Ramadan fasting. I had to eat with the medicine I took every four hours for a week and of course drink my garlic juice. I won’t be able to write another post about my beautiful month-long fasting experience because the past couple of weeks have been the closest feeling to torture I can imagine. But I still have a week to hop back on the Ramadan fasting train and experience it while I can. I’ll be able to report back on that… Hopefully, the next few weeks will be better than the last.

Moral of the story = do not stress out and drink garlic juice!

If you’ve ever had shingles OR used garlic for your own medicinal purposes please share!