About Me
- Satima Flavell
- Perth, Western Australia, Australia
- I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.

My books
The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places.
The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell

Buy The Talismans
The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.
The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Mythic Resonance
Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon.
Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

For Readers, Writers & Editors
- A dilemma about characters
- Adelaide Writers Week, 2009
- Adjectives, commas and confusion
- An artist's conflict
- An editor's role
- Authorial voice, passive writing and the passive voice
- Common misuses: common expressions
- Common misuses: confusing words
- Common misuses: pronouns - subject and object
- Conversations with a character
- Critiquing Groups
- Does length matter?
- Dont sweat the small stuff: formatting
- Free help for writers
- How much magic is too much?
- Know your characters via astrology
- Like to be an editor?
- Modern Writing Techniques
- My best reads of 2007
- My best reads of 2008
- My favourite dead authors
- My favourite modern authors
- My influential authors
- Planning and Flimmering
- Planning vs Flimmering again
- Psychological Spec-Fic
- Readers' pet hates
- Reading, 2009
- Reality check: so you want to be a writer?
- Sensory detail is important!
- Speculative Fiction - what is it?
- Spelling reform?
- Substantive or linking verbs
- The creative cycle
- The promiscuous artist
- The revenge of omni rampant
- The value of "how-to" lists for writers
- Write a decent synopsis
- Write a review worth reading
- Writers block 1
- Writers block 2
- Writers block 3
- Writers need editors!
- Writers, Depression and Addiction
- Writing in dialect, accent or register
- Writing it Right: notes for apprentice authors

Interviews with authors
My Blog List
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6 Signs You May Already Be Doing the Work of a Book Coach - Therese here to introduce Jennie Nash to you as our newest Writer Unboxed contributor! Jennie is the author of 9 books, and the founder and CEO of Author A...3 hours ago
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A Bit of Music - I needed cheering up and I went to find some to find something to lift my mood. So here are some links to a few favourite music videos by *Celtic Woman* fr...12 hours ago
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New Books and ARCs, 12/6/19 - It’s beginning to look a lot like… time for new books and ARCs! What here is jingling your bells? Tell us all in the comments.17 hours ago
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Flog a BookBubber 261: Peter Brassett—tension sinks under weight of setup - Writers, send your prologue/first chapter to FtQ for a “flogging” critique. Email as an attachment. In your email, include your name, permission to use the...21 hours ago
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Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch - Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch is the acclaimed author of over sixteen picture books and novels. In 2013 she won the Silver Birch Fiction Award for Making Bombs f...23 hours ago
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Don't Forget to Open Your Advent Window at Writers Helping Writers (Did I Mention the Prizes?) - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy* Just a reminder that the amazing Advent Calendar for Writers is still chugging away. 14 days of prizes, folks, and you ca...1 day ago
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From Sinister to Sweet: The Strange Tale of the Nutcracker by Catherine Hokin - A deeply creepy inventor ‘uncle’, a seven-headed mouse, a little girl who tears her arm open on broken glass and a curse which traps first a queen and the...1 day ago
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How to Rekindle Your Blogging Enthusiasm - The post How to Rekindle Your Blogging Enthusiasm appeared first on ProBlogger. Have you hit a slump in your blogging? Perhaps you haven’t posted anythin...2 days ago
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Camino de Santiago: The Medieval Route from Oviedo - 'He who visits Santiago but not San Salvador visits the servant but not the Lord'2 days ago
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6 Crucial Storytelling Tips You Will Thank Me For - Every Bang2writer knows storytelling is not easy. But whether you’re writing a novel, screenplay or any other kind of writing (including sales copy, blog...3 days ago
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Non-Binary Authors to Read November/December 2019 - Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place fo...3 days ago
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Karen Tyrrell Author Events 2020 YouTube - Karen Tyrrell Author Events In 2019, Karen Tyrrell Author Events celebrated a bumper year with author talks, writing workshops, pantomimes and book laun...3 days ago
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NaNoWriMo Wrap up – I’m a Winner!! - A few days after the end of November – so I’m a bit late in announcing this to the world – but, I’m a NaNoWriMo Winner again!! This time I edited and as I’...3 days ago
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Children who have no books – let’s put this right - I had an incredible pleasure and privilege yesterday. I bought my first grandchild his first book – and read it over a cup of coffee Read the full article...3 days ago
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On Writing Other Cultures - I have an interview over at writer Belinda Crawford's website here. all about writing other cultures. A Remarkable Privilege: Glenda Larke on Writing Other...6 days ago
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December 1st - Follow Those Footprints of Thought - Hello fellow writers! Laura here! Can you believe it's December 1st already? Where in the world has 2019 gone? Pretty soon we're going to be tracing the f...6 days ago
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An Ocean of Story - It was three years ago that I went for my first meeting at the National Theatre, with Mel Kenyon, my redoubtable Theatrical Agent. I met Katy Rudd and Jo...1 week ago
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Publisher Alerts: Complaints at Month9 Books, Nonstandard Business Practices at Black Rose Writing - *Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®* In mid-2016, I wrote about YA publisher Month9 Books' abrupt decision to scale back its list, reverting ri...1 week ago
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Should Barnes & Noble rethink its supply chain? - About 25 years ago, Ingram was benefiting from a big buildout of America’s bookstore network. Borders and Barnes & Noble were both opening new stores — b...1 week ago
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A Bride’s Story (Otoyomegatari); Review - Not like me to review stuff, but THIS! This is a work of genius, it really is. Put aside all your attitudes towards Japanese manga. ALL of them, and check ...1 week ago
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Of Women In Science, And A Play About Rosalind Franklin - Back in the 1990s, I wrote my second book, Potions To Pulsars: Women Doing Science, a children’s book about the history of women who have made a differe...1 week ago
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Travelin' Man: a new Song & Music-Video from me - There's also a bit of my tongue-in-cheek, philosophy for living in the lyrics - *life should be about the journey, never about arriving. * It's also on Yo...2 weeks ago
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Original Art Stories: Miller v Varley: Stolen Art Allegations - The most recent court case involving comic book creators landed on Monday, 18 November 2019, and it's a doozy! I have to admit that when I saw the name 'Fr...2 weeks ago
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Blind Spots and White Rooms - What are the things you don't see? Sometimes a story will feature sections of bare dialogue. These are like overhearing a conversation, and you have to gue...2 weeks ago
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Documentary about Edward II on Arte - Last year, I was interviewed in Cologne for a documentary about Edward II, which was shown on the Arte TV channel (a French-German collaboration) yesterday...2 weeks ago
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Highlights from the UK and Ireland Trip Part 3 - I’m sorry it’s taken a bit to get this third post together, but life! We spent about four days in London, mostly so we could go to the Harry Potter Experie...3 weeks ago
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Highlights from the UK and Ireland Trip Part 3 - I’m sorry it’s taken a bit to get this third post together, but life! We spent about four days in London, mostly so we could go to the Harry Potter Experie...3 weeks ago
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First snow in 30 years, and huge strides on the Dead Man’s Party revision - We knew yesterday there would be snow today. I made Matt promise to get me up when it started — and around 4AM, the snow began. (He was editing someone’s ...3 weeks ago
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Stalking Daylight - My SF screenplay Stalking Daylight scored an honourable mention in the Truant Pictures screenplay competition. Looks like they picked a lot of horror, so a...4 weeks ago
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I Won Nano Again - It is November, which means I'm participating in the National Novel Writing Month. UPDATE: I wrote 50,000 words, with some days left to add a few more. ...5 weeks ago
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NaNoWriMo 2019 - November 1, or the start of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner. Basically, NaNoWriMo is about writing a 50K work novel i...1 month ago
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To Rosemounde - [image: Geoffrey Chaucer] Geoffrey Chaucer A Balade. Ma dame, ye ben of al beaute shryne As fer as cercled is the mapamonde; For as the cristall glorious y...1 month ago
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A Book Ian Likes: Tea With The Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy - Martha Macnamara has come to California to find her daughter Elizabeth, who appears to have disappeared. While searching for her she meets the enigmatic Ma...2 months ago
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Farewells - There are these spaces, gaps, like branches, with mouths that whisper and scratch at our sacred dreams. Leaves emerge from branches at the disappearing poin...2 months ago
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#331 - I have so many questions, but I’ll whittle them down to two. First, do you think I’m correct in describing this as literary fiction? Second, some agents ...2 months ago
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Book review: The Heat, by Sean O’Leary - Tommy works nights as a security guard / receptionist at a budget Darwin motel. The job suits him: he has an aptitude for smelling out potential trouble, a...2 months ago
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The Trains Don't Stop Here - It's been a long, long time since my last blog post. One of the main reasons for this – apart from life being way too busy in general – is that, in my dwin...3 months ago
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Who needs meatballs when you can have beetballs - Originally posted on The Salted Turnip: 1 cup quinoa I beetroot finely diced Handful of finely diced pumpkin Bunch of mint leaves finely diced 1/2 sweet po...3 months ago
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Review: Gift of Revelation by Robert Fleming - Gift of Revelation (Urban Books) Kindle Edition by Robert Fleming (Author) Here's the blurb: In this third installment of the Gift series, Reverend Clint...3 months ago
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Portrait of a first generation freed African American family - Sanford Huggins (c.1844–1889) and Mary Ellen Pryor (c.1851–1889), his wife, passed the early years of their lives in Woodford County, Kentucky, and later...3 months ago
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Review of Bell's Much Ado about Nothing - Bell Shakespeare's *Much Ado About Nothing* 2019-07-07 reviewed by Frances, our president. A group from the Shakespeare Club went last week to see the B...3 months ago
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New releases - SFFBookBonanza - StoryOrigin - SciFi and Fantasy Book Sale - New Releases – Jul 2019 The latest and greatest new releases in Science Fiction and Fantasy books! New releases July 2019 99 cent sale - July 22nd - 28th ...4 months ago
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We'll Stand in That Place and Other Stories Book Launch - *We'll Stand in That Place and Other Stories *Ed. Michelle Cahill, which includes my latest story "The Do" will be launched at the gorgeous Readings Book S...4 months ago
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Summertime at LOW - Summertime greenery in Maryland Hi friends, We are now in the middle of summer here in Maryland, and we have had a series of visitors, our longest retr...4 months ago
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An Obscure Lady of the Garter - Recently, for the purposes of writing fiction, I had cause to check who was admitted to the Garter in 1387. (This is the sort of weird stuff I do all th...6 months ago
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Happy Public Domain Day 2019! - Today is Public Domain Day 2019, which means (finally!) the end of copyright for works first published in the U.S. in 1923. You are now free to use, reprin...11 months ago
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Cherries In The Snow - This recipe is delicious and can also be made as a diet dessert by using fat and/or sugar free ingredients. It’s delicious and guests will think it took ...7 years ago

Favourite Sites
- Alan Baxter
- Andrew McKiernan
- Bren McDibble
- Celestine Lyons
- Guy Gavriel Kay
- Hal Spacejock (Simon Haynes)
- Inventing Reality
- Jacqueline Carey
- Jennifer Fallon
- Jessica Rydill
- Jessica Vivien
- Joel Fagin
- Juliet Marillier
- KA Bedford
- Karen Miller
- KSP Writers Centre
- Lynn Flewelling
- Marianne de Pierres
- Phill Berrie
- Ryan Flavell
- Satima's Professional Editing Services
- SF Novelists' Blog
- SF Signal
- Shane Jiraiya Cummings
- Society of Editors, WA
- Stephen Thompson
- Yellow wallpaper

Blog Archive
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Shingles


I’ve taken a bit of downtime these last few weeks, in the wake of the tragic death of my grandson. The stress triggered a particularly nasty attack of shingles – it was so painful I thought I was having a heart attack! That’s what they thought at the hospital, too, as my heartbeat had turned a little strange since my last run-in with the cardio dept. It was doing something called “left bundling” which sounds scary but they assured me lots of hearts do it.
The pain and the left bundling were enough to make them want to do an angiogram. Now, you may or may not have had one of those, and in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you all about it. They open an artery, insert a stent, thread a wire through it and guide it all the way up to your heart while watching the process on screen. The sensate ability of medical people never ceases to amaze me.
As he removed the wire, the cardiologist assured me there was nothing wrong with my arteries. Just then, he glanced at my chest. “Um,” he said. “I think this is shingles.” And sure enough, by the time I got back to the ward, little blisters were merrily popping up all over the left side of my upper torso. One interesting spin-off from this was that the interns all wanted to see Real Live Shingles and so for the first time in maybe forty years I had a number of young guys lining up to look at my boobs. Gotta be something good come out of a shingles attack, I guess, but would have gladly forgone the attention to be rid of the pain.
And make no mistake, my friends, shingles is painful. Big time painful. I have given birth three times and I’ve had migraine attacks since I was nine, but I’ve never experienced pain as bad as shingles. Before the rash came out, the inside of my chest felt as if it were being attacked by sharp cutting weapons. The pain lessened slightly after the rash came out, but the painful itching of the skin compensated for that small relief. The movement of clothing against my skin alone was enough to make me whimper, woos that I am!
This was actually my second bout with the beast, and it has lasted six weeks. The first bout, four years ago, was not as bad as this and it only lasted three weeks. Yet they say that if you’re unlucky enough to get it more than once, it's usually less severe on the second round. And it’s very rare, they say, for anyone to have more than three attacks. Three? Two are more than enough, thank you.
I have high hopes that the last of the painful rash will fade away this week. I’m off to South Australia for six weeks, as I’ve run out of house-sitting gigs in Perth and besides, I want to spend time with family and friends in Adelaide and Mount Gambier. I’ll be back in Perth in September, and my first assignment will be with Timmy and Lucy, whom I lived with over the recent school holidays. They are a crazy pair, but loveable withal. And ever so cute:-)
The pain and the left bundling were enough to make them want to do an angiogram. Now, you may or may not have had one of those, and in case you haven’t, I’ll tell you all about it. They open an artery, insert a stent, thread a wire through it and guide it all the way up to your heart while watching the process on screen. The sensate ability of medical people never ceases to amaze me.
As he removed the wire, the cardiologist assured me there was nothing wrong with my arteries. Just then, he glanced at my chest. “Um,” he said. “I think this is shingles.” And sure enough, by the time I got back to the ward, little blisters were merrily popping up all over the left side of my upper torso. One interesting spin-off from this was that the interns all wanted to see Real Live Shingles and so for the first time in maybe forty years I had a number of young guys lining up to look at my boobs. Gotta be something good come out of a shingles attack, I guess, but would have gladly forgone the attention to be rid of the pain.
And make no mistake, my friends, shingles is painful. Big time painful. I have given birth three times and I’ve had migraine attacks since I was nine, but I’ve never experienced pain as bad as shingles. Before the rash came out, the inside of my chest felt as if it were being attacked by sharp cutting weapons. The pain lessened slightly after the rash came out, but the painful itching of the skin compensated for that small relief. The movement of clothing against my skin alone was enough to make me whimper, woos that I am!
This was actually my second bout with the beast, and it has lasted six weeks. The first bout, four years ago, was not as bad as this and it only lasted three weeks. Yet they say that if you’re unlucky enough to get it more than once, it's usually less severe on the second round. And it’s very rare, they say, for anyone to have more than three attacks. Three? Two are more than enough, thank you.

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20 comments:
I'm so sorry to hear about the death of your grandson - as if that isn't bad enough, getting shingles on top of it is not good. Poor you. I am sending you big hugs. Did you get to visit Annalou or did you have to put that off? I do hope you are feeling heaps better.
I had an angio but not for my heart, for my femoral arteries.
My sympathies to you and your family. Any loss is difficult, but to lose a child or grandchild is particularly so.
Take it easy while you've got the shingles. I had my first encounter with it two years ago and found that it, or the medications I was on, sapped my strength.
I will take heart from the fact that you are back writing again - this is a very good sign!
So sorry to hear it was your grandson.
Sending lots of love your way.
Thank you, friends. I am still feeling a bit wobbly with grief and shingles, but I'm gradually regaining a bit of equilibrium:-) I'll try to get back to regular blogging from now on!
I thought something was up with you health as you have been quiet on facebook. Sorry to hear about your grandson.
I had shingles in my teens and recovered quickly, but my father had a bout of them a couple of years ago and he was in a lot of pain for many months, so you have my sympathy.
Hopefully you are near the end of what seems to be a bad run.
Thanks, Graham. Yes, this has been a pretty unpleasant year so far, and I'm not the only one who's noticed! So let's hope it gets better soon, for all of us!
Satima; My condolences with regard to the death of your grandson. Terrible. And that attack of shingles - oh I do hope you get better soon.
Sorry to hear about your misfortunes :-( but the bit about people lining up to look at your boobs made me laugh!
I'd love to catch up for a coffee and a gasbag if you find yourself in adelaide.
Cheers,
jason.
Thanks, guys. Jason, I'll be in touch!
Am sorry to hear that. Our condolences...Shingles really affect the nerves, maybe that's why.
Sydney Hotels
Hi Satime have come acroos you page in desparation. I have had shingles for four weeks now my prescriptions medicine does not seem to be working Could you tell me what you were given. I am not seeing light at the end of the tunnel and am getting desparate My life is on hold. Jo
You have my sympathy, Barry. Shingles has got to be one of the worst things that can happen to a person.
They prescribed me an antiviral called Famciclovir, but apparently it only works if they catch the shingles early. I took it for the five days they recommended and the shingles seemed to be going away, but as soon as the tablets were finished the beast reared its head again. The doc gave me another three days' dosage and this time it went away. However, I was left with senstitive skin and soreness around the affected area, which was a wide band around the upper left torso. This lasted a good six weeks, but it was nowhere near as painful as the actual shingles.
The only consolation I can offer is that the wretched thing will go away eventually and the after effects usually don't last long, although you do hear of people having it for months, even years. I hope you aren't one of them. And I hope neither of us ever, ever, gets shingles again!
I am so terribly sorry about losing your grandchild. I can't even imagine how horrible that is.
As for shingles, yes, I can imagine it because I've been getting them 2-3 times a year for about 20 years.
My solution -- I'm not saying this will work for you but it ALWAYS works for me. When the blisters appear, I pop them, wash them, and then put corn remover (yes, I did say corn remover) on them. It burns horribly -- for 20 or so minutes and then the pain dies down. I let it dry and stay on. I paint the blisters every day for three days. After that, I literally rip the accumulation of corn remover off (yes, it burns), wash the area well and dry it. I then put neosporin on it for 2-3 hours. I then wash that off and let the area air dry. The area will be raw and I have to keep it loosely bandaged (so the bandage doesn't touch it). For me, there is no more pain after this. It's now a matter of time for a real scab to form and for it to slough off.
I wish you peace and health.
Thanks, Grandma Dude:-) I'll hang onto that info and give your treatment a go if I get the beastly thing again. Fancy having three attacks a year! I should be so lucky - not!
Thanks for writting about your Shingles I feel like I am going crazy. I went to the ER twice and the Doctor twice finally after I started to break out they figured out I did not have pleurisy but Shingles. My chest hurt so bad and in between the pain med doses my chest still hurts a lot. I put ice on my back and my chest started to hurt like when you drink a frozen drink to fast it lasted for hours. I am a mess. I just hope it passes soon it has been two weeks today. And I still am suffering a lot. I am glad to hear the chest thing is not something else. The ER checked my heart out to no end. It was fine I still keep feeling like I am having a heart attack and I feel better knowing this is part of the Shingles. Cause it sure seems like there has to be more to the pain. LOL So hard to explain.
Anyway thanks for sharing.
And I am very sorry to hear why your Shingles started with your grandson dying now my stress over bills that triggered mine seems so small. I need to just try and remember bills are nothing to worry about they will always be there nothing you can do sometimes but I should be thankful for everything else in my life. Thanks again.
I'm truly amazed at the number of hits this post has had! Shingles, it seems, has been a nasty event in many people's lives, and sadly, it's often a recurring one. Sharing other's experiences can be encouraging, and I hop that everyone who's visited this page has, or will make a full recovery in as short a time as possible.
OMG! Shingles..i thought that was a roofing material! yes i was stressed and Shingles showed me that things can be worst indeed!!! I do not have much of a rash just a few running across the left side of my stomach and one on my spine which I keep at bay with calamine lotion. But the PAIN internally is inhuman!!! no relief! it is like a migraine in your internal organs on my left side, I feel like I am rotting!It is horrific! I get migraines and have birthed a 10lb baby boy after 33 hours of back labor..but Shingles is the Motherload of physical pain (not to be compared to the blogger who lost their precious Grandchild)I do not know what to do. It awakens me at night. My PCP gave me antidepressants to relieve the pain but I read the side effects and opted not to take them..I take Aleve..it works sometimes but I have to take 3 and we all know that is NOT good. Omg..its the Holiday season, tis the season to be jolly. Shingle Bells?
I do hope you get some fun out of the holiday season, Ramona, and that the pain goes away quickly. Shingles has to be one of the worst ailments that can happen to humans!
Thank you Satima for your well wishes I wish you love.
My dear Satima..please accept my apologies for not mentioning how sad I am for your loss.