Ok, so I’m 45 and have had my first case of Shingles. I’ve been to the doctor(s), etc, but none of them seem to have an idea on how soon I can return to training. Just very vague terms like “Give youself plenty of time to recover”. I feel fine except for the pain local to the outbreak. Does anyone have advice relative to triathlon training and Shingles?
Yea quite painful when I had them in the spring. I ended up losing a month of training. But could have probably taken only 3 weeks if I wanted to.
You need to be careful as even though I didn’t train during the outbreak I did end up with a secondary infection causing a round of antibiotics. Good luck. I suppose it would also depend on where you had them. If on your upper torso and can ride your trainer without a shirt on or something. Where I had them, there was nothing I could do to train comfortablly.
Thanks. I’ve got them on my face of all places. Including my left eye. I’ve been to the optometrist and am taking antiviral drugs and a steroid eye-drop. I don’t feel weak at all and I’m really ‘itching’ to get back to training.
They’ve been a fact of life for me since I was 24 (OK, thirty years). The secondary infection (staph) has occurred about 4 times. Just keep things clean and try not to scratch with those dirty fingernails. Yes, and very painful at times, it is a virus infection (chicken pox I think) and the cycle runs about 21 days. I’ve trained through them but with a reduced schedule. Lots of fluids, rest, and chicken soup.
Has anybody tried Zicam to see if it lessens the effects?
Hmmm…I had shingles DURING IMNZ in 2001…I stopped on the run after feeling absolutely lousy on the bike, and told the med guys I had some kind of allergy (blisters on the right side of the stomach and back)…they stopped me and said you’re out. It wasn’t painful until a few days later…but when it started getting painful it was really bad.
I had a course of antiviral medication, something like anticlovir (not sure exactly what the name was, sounded like that) and 10 days later i was fine. Zero training during this period. Nada.
FOUR TIMES?! wow!! Yes it is secondary to chicken pox, which I’ve never had…hanging out with you guys would not help my cause! 
I’m actually getting a varicella (chicken pox) vaccination next week!! I’ve heard lots of reasons for a shingles breakout one being the person is run down, so get some rest!!
i once had shingles (fairly bad case) when in college - I was on swim team and in mid season - I was pretty much flat on my back for 4 days during the worst part of the out break - in total I might have missed 6 days of training
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Actually, spread out over 30 years… not to bad. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened in twelve years. A dark, distant, but painful memory.
There didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the time leading up to my outbreak. I felt what seemed to be a sinus infection starting, so I went for a run in an attempt to clear things up. When I returned, things went bad very quickly.
we’re strange…when we start to feel sick, we workout to “clear things up.” LOL!!!
My husband (31 at the time) had shingles in the same place last year. He was very lucky as he had started to take antiviral meds (acyclovir) right at the start of the outbreak b/c he thought he was getting a cold sore on his lip. (I think that the break out of shingles is vastly reduced if you take antiviral meds within 72 hours or something like that.) Apparently shingles is very variable in how much pain it causes–some people are in incredible pain and others, like my husband, were up and about just fine. (His big worry was of damage to the optic nerve, which was a possibility). Since shingles usually strikes people with compromised immune systems (eldery and chemo patients), I would imagine that in youger, fitter people ti’s a sign of needing to rest/destress/etc.
You CAN transmit chicken pox to someone when you have active shingles, but it’s very rare for it to happen that way. We checked this out since our daughter was 3 months old at the time. Maybe that was the cause of stress and overtiredness leading to thesingles in the fist place…?
-Danielle
Shingles, chicken pox, cold sores and herpes all stem from the same varicella virus. Best to take it super easy when you feel it coming on. Take a l-lysine supplement daily as it is supposed to help keep the virus suppressed as well as keeping stress levels down and immune system up (lots of sleep and good nutrition)There are a few prescription meds that work really well especially if you start taking them AS SOON AS possible when you start to feel and outbreak coming on. Valtrex (valacyclovir) or Famvir (famciclovir) are the brand names and acyclovir is the generic equivalent, but with the generic I think you have to take it up to 5 times a day. If you have good prescription insurance, go for the brand name stuff.
What you don’t want to get is post herpetic neuralgia, where you have ongoing pain because the nerve is inflamed, but no blisters. It can last for months.
Good luck.
I guess I’m in the “doesn’t affect me much” spectrum. I have had sporadic outbreaks for probably 15 years, always on my back on either shoulder blade. I ignore it, try not to scratch, and keep doing whatever I’m doing (including training). They go away in about a week.
Pharaoh -
Rest assured, Shingles usually goes away. New drug was just released for the “pain” or post herpetic neuralgia that you may want to discuss with you physician. It is called Lyrica (pregabalin). I have had numerous patients on it and it seems to be very well tolerated. Online search should help you some.
If it is just along a facial nerve, I would think you could training anytime (base training at least). Anti viral meds often have more side effects than the shingles.
acyclovir.
varicella zoster involving the eye is a medical emergency, so you should treat it seriously; everywhere else is okay, but complications are more severe/disabling if eyes are involved; often IV acyclovir is used if eye involvement is suspected, but maybe oral meds is okay for a 45yo triathlete; the telltale sign for varicella zoster ophthalmicus is, I think, a red spot on the tip of your nose; but that may not be sensitive or specific; I’d rest easy; I think you meant you went to the ophthalmologist and not the optometrist; go back to see an eye MD if you develop headache, eye pain, and any vision problems. Just my two cents; I am not a eye doc, just spend a month on it on rotation in medical school.
actually QRGirl got it…mine was famclovir
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Wow,
in the US children don’t routinely get vaccinated against shingles (chicken pox)?
If that is the case, that i’s really scary…
I think more and more kids are getting the chicken pox vaccine, but there will always be "anti-vaccination’ parents so who knows if it will ever go away.
If you’ve never had chicken pox, you won’t get shingles.
I’ve gotten them the last two years on the tip of my right ear. I now have a running prescription of valtrex that I can get filled as soon as I feel the little tingle of the bastards coming back. If I get on it before the blisters really get going it seems to make it go by much more quickly.
As for training specifically, I haven’t ever taken time off but I have decreased intensity a bit to lighten the stress on the immune system.