In 2022, the first ever Shingles Awareness Week took place from February 28th to March 6th. It was the beginning of a larger movement to spread awareness of the viral infection and its many medical risks and complications that came with the condition.
As I write this, it’s currently May 2025 and I’ll admit that I knew virtually nothing about Shingles in general until just a couple of months ago. I’ve heard of Shingles before, but I’d never had a reason to look more into it other than what I learned from the odd informational ad that I’d overhear. All I knew was that it had something to do with Chickenpox, and that the older one got – the worse it was for the person who ended up with Shingles.
I didn’t realize how bad it was until I witnessed a patient come into the clinic with Post Herpetic Neuralgia
That’s the official term for the excruciating pain that may remain after the body is done fighting off their case of Shingles.
Unlike Chickenpox, Shingles doesn’t appear like raised angry chickpeas scattered about the skin of the unlucky individual. Instead, it shows up as an unpleasant stripe of painful blisters that wraps around the torso. And unlike the average one to two weeks it takes to recover from Chickenpox, individuals who are diagnosed with Shingles will often find themselves with double that recovery time and exponentially more severe symptoms.
The problem with having Shingles is that the worst part may come after the recovery period. About twenty percent, or one in five of those who recovered from the condition found themselves with debilitating nerve pain.
That’s what our one patient had been dealing with for months after having Shingles. I remember how unwilling he had been, only there at the behest of his wife who had wrangled him in. When asked “what exacerbated the pain?” he growled out between clenched teeth:
“What causes the pain? Sleeping. Sitting. Walking. Breathing- at this point, what the hell doesn’t cause me pain?”
According to the National Library of Medicine, PHN symptoms can last for months or even years. When one talks about treatment, it’s usually about pain management.
For our patient, he was already on the strongest pain medications that could be safely prescribed to him.
Unfortunately, the best that those did was make it so that the pain was only agonizing instead of absolutely debilitating.
“There’s a difference between being alive and living. I’m in my 70’s, I know the difference. This level of pain, I barely count it as being alive at this point. I finally stopped working, I don’t want my retirement to amount to this.”
Dr. Irene determined that she could help.
“Post Herpetic Neuralgia is something that’s more likely to happen the older you get. It’s already a terrible experience on top of the other day to day challenges that come with old age.” Dr. Irene commented regarding the Post-Shingles experience. “Western Medicine doesn’t have a lot of answers for it that don’t involve more pain medications and attempting to wait it out.”
A tailor made plan was put in place, and regular treatments were scheduled. I recognized that this would be one of those cases that would take a while regardless. Anything involving nerves tended to do so.
Which meant that I was doing a double take at the man who briskly entered the clinic for his third treatment. This was the same patient who lamented the all encompassing pain of his situation just before his first treatment. His first two sessions required his wife to come with him because moving in general was an ordeal in and of itself.
“Oh? My wife? She’s at home, I didn’t need her help today.” Our patient smiled as he explained his wife’s absence to me.
That was actually the first time I saw him smile. Prior to that he had been in so much pain that he had defaulted to a grimace for most of the time I had seen him at that point.
Some time had passed since that first smile. Our patient was now nearing the end of his treatment plan and it’s been a long while since I first saw him slowly make his way down that hallway towards our clinic, each step arduous and painful.
These days, he’s practically jogging in and out of his appointments, a pace reminiscent of his years working in busy Manhattan. But instead of going to work, he’s rushing off to his latest gardening project with his wife. It’s hard to believe what a long term complication of Shingles could do to a person.
After more than 45 years, I’m glad that we were able to give him back his retirement.