cathy123 wrote:Ugh that stinks. Seems like a big coincidence that you got shingles right after starting chemo and radiation, but I guess stranger things have happened.
AngiLouWho wrote:I just finished my 10th day of xeloda & radiation. I was laying on the table getting radiation and I had this stabbing pain by my belly button. They called in the radiation onc and he said it was well out of the blast zone. So after my treatment I went and talked to my oncologist. Thanks to a recent full body scan he could rule out tons of stuff... Not gallstones, nor kidney stones, nor appendix, nor diverticulitis. They did a urinalysis to check on my kidneys and they are just fine. The only possible thing he can think of it being is shingles as the pain is now going around in a circle, pretty much at my waistline. Now we are just waiting for blisters to form to confirm the shingles then they will start me on the meds for that.
I'm just going to put this out there- this month sucks like no other.
AngiLouWho wrote:cathy123 wrote:Ugh that stinks. Seems like a big coincidence that you got shingles right after starting chemo and radiation, but I guess stranger things have happened.
I think it's more than a coincidence. Chemo suppresses the immune system so that gives the varicella virus a chance to take over in the form of shingles. It just sucks. I'm having a "why me" day!
ritz75 wrote:Oh no! I had shingles when I was young which is very rare, but I remember the pain! So sorry mine was also in that area, actually that's how my parents found out I had chicken pox as mine were never detected or obviously very minor that they didn't know I ever had, but they said you have to have had chicken pox to get shingles
AngiLouWho wrote:ritz75 wrote:Oh no! I had shingles when I was young which is very rare, but I remember the pain! So sorry mine was also in that area, actually that's how my parents found out I had chicken pox as mine were never detected or obviously very minor that they didn't know I ever had, but they said you have to have had chicken pox to get shingles
I had chicken pox as a kid, but it was a very mild case... Like 3 pox was it. I've also heard that having mild chicken pox instead of a full blown breakout also increases your chance of developing shingles. That would make sense in your case as well.
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