# Shingles and CBD (hemp) oil



## Gary O' (Jun 10, 2018)

Around 5 weeks ago I managed to develop a hardy case of shingles…involving my inner ear.

Five weeks is a very long time while dealing with the discomfort of this evil virus.
Had to sleep sitting up.
No so now.
Thanks to the CBD oil drops.

Rather angry with myself.
I’ve been ODing on ibuprofen all this time while my precious bottle of drops sat in the medicine cabinet.

Got my first decent night of sleep last night.

Still have noticeable discomfort, but not the jagged shards of pain deep in my ear.


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## IKE (Jun 10, 2018)

Shingles is bad news for sure !

I've got a buddy that the pain was so bad from shingles (just wearing a shirt would drive him up the wall) that he finally had to have surgery and get wires implanted in his back and a pain management device put under the skin on his right side last fall to control the pain.


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## Gary O' (Jun 10, 2018)

IKE said:


> Shingles is bad news for sure !
> 
> I've got a buddy that the pain was so bad from shingles (just wearing a shirt would drive him up the wall) that he finally had to have surgery and get wires implanted in his back and a pain management device put under the skin on his right side last fall to control the pain.


It ain't fun, that's for sure.
I can do pain...but for 5 weeks...it'll put ya around the bend


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## Roadwarrior (Jun 10, 2018)

2 weeks ago @ our weekly coffee sit down, one of the newer members was complaining about his knee operation & recovery.  I have tried MJ (it's legal here).  Didn't care for the feeling. ate an edible.  Took 2 didn't work right away then whammy, couldn't focus, felt out of body.  Didn't care for that.  Reading about CBD, am going to try that for my type II.  I suggested maybe he should look into it.  

He jumped down my throat, he said he is a recovering alcoholic & wouldn't touch the stuff.  I grew up with an alcoholic father, brother & many close relatives.  I don't drink & me being one who doesn't avoid a good argument came back with, 'So you're willing to live on opiates but refuse to try something else?  You're argument is apples & oranges, one has nothing to do with the other.  I wasn't asking you to become a pot head, just was suggesting an alternative.'  He's looked the other way since & refuses to acknowledge me.


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## Keesha (Jun 10, 2018)

Gary O' said:


> Around 5 weeks ago I managed to develop a hardy case of shingles…involving my inner ear.
> 
> Five weeks is a very long time while dealing with the discomfort of this evil virus.
> Had to sleep sitting up.
> ...


Hemp oil is great stuff. It’s grown in fields around here. 
Good thinking Gary. 
I hope you find comfort.


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## C'est Moi (Jun 10, 2018)

Roadwarrior said:


> 2 weeks ago @ our weekly coffee sit down, one of the newer members was complaining about his knee operation & recovery.  I have tried MJ (it's legal here).  Didn't care for the feeling. ate an edible.  Took 2 didn't work right away then whammy, couldn't focus, felt out of body.  Didn't care for that.  Reading about CBD, am going to try that for my type II.  I suggested maybe he should look into it.
> 
> He jumped down my throat, he said he is a recovering alcoholic & wouldn't touch the stuff.  I grew up with an alcoholic father, brother & many close relatives.  I don't drink & me being one who doesn't avoid a good argument came back with, 'So you're willing to live on opiates but refuse to try something else?  You're argument is apples & oranges, one has nothing to do with the other.  I wasn't asking you to become a pot head, just was suggesting an alternative.' * He's looked the other way since & refuses to acknowledge me*.



From where I'm sitting, you're probably better off.


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## C'est Moi (Jun 10, 2018)

Gary, I'm glad you found something to help with the shingles.   Ugh, that crap is awful.  I had them last December, from my left shoulder and down my left arm to my hand.   Oddly, when the pain started I thought it was a pinched nerve in my shoulder/neck.   Then a couple of days later the blisters appeared.  I was shocked to have shingles because I didn't believe I had ever had chicken pox.   

I was treated with the "typical" acyclovir and gabapentin.  Spent a couple of weeks with my heating pad, too.  So you have my sympathy and I hope yours gets better soon.   The blisters left scars on my arm so I hope your hearing isn't adversely affected.

To those of you who have not had the shingles vaccine... GET IT.   Shingles is terrible.


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## Gary O' (Jun 10, 2018)

Roadwarrior said:


> '  He's looked the other way since & refuses to acknowledge me.


Some things just work out


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## Gary O' (Jun 10, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> Gary, I'm glad you found something to help with the shingles.   Ugh, that crap is awful.  I had them last December, from my left shoulder and down my left arm to my hand.   Oddly, when the pain started I thought it was a pinched nerve in my shoulder/neck.   Then a couple of days later the blisters appeared.  I was shocked to have shingles because I didn't believe I had ever had chicken pox.
> 
> I was treated with the "typical" acyclovir and gabapentin.  Spent a couple of weeks with my heating pad, too.  So you have my sympathy and I hope yours gets better soon. _*  The blisters left scars on my arm so I hope your hearing isn't adversely affected.*_
> 
> To those of you who have not had the shingles vaccine... GET IT.   Shingles is terrible.



The good news;
it's in my bad ear

I've read some horror stories of the pain lasting months, years, and in some cases, for life.
I'm hoping for a few more days or weeks.
I'm not a good person to be around with long term illness.
But
that CBD oil has rocked my world in a very good way.


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

Permit me to back up a bit;

(this may be redundant in places)

Back around the last week of May I had a sensation.
Not a good one.
Had some pain in my inner ear.
And to what I thought might be a tooth.
Saw a dentist.
She didn’t see anything worthy of the pain, but offered filling a small cavity and a cleaning.
Set up an appointment.
Developed these cool little festering sores on the side of my face.
The pain got a tad worse (much freaking worse).
So bad, after coaxing from my lovely lady, we made a trip to emergency.
The NP said ‘you’ve got shingles’
Gave me a hand full of prescriptions.
At first my lady and I thought she was waaay wrong.
Saw and ear nose throat doc.
Said my throat nose and ear looked normal.
He mentioned some possibilities.
Set me up with a cat scan.
He thought maybe I had some brain issues.
(Dummass, thought I had a brain)
Anyway, the pain worsened.
All points, symptoms revealed it truly is shingles.
OD’d on ibuprofen for weeks.
It helped, some.
Still couldn’t be horizontal without much discomfort.
Came to the understanding one could actually sleep standing up if one became exhausted enough. 
Then remembered the little vial of CBD (hemp) oil in the medicine cab.
It helped more.
Thing is, the doc mentioned the possibility of this crud lasting more than the usual 3-5 weeks.
Could be months.
Or
Phooking Forever (not a direct quote)
I read where Ramsay Hunt syndrome could develop, causing facial paralysis.
Looked up the symptoms.
I had most of those.
I calmly solemnly sat back and thought ‘SHIT!!!’
Around the fourth week I developed despondent thoughts of sitting out in the meadow with a large pile of smoldering weed and some aged single malt scotch, sipping, wafting the smoke into my face with both hands, and when I got so plastered and happy, I’d get someone down the path to take a 54 oz hickory baseball bat and swing for the fences thru the back of my head.
Then, sometime in week five (a day or two ago), the pain abated.
The sharp shards of knife stabs became dull to sometimes nonexistant.
I could be vertical without grimacing, even without 5000 mgs of ibuprofen.
I could put a half dropper of hemp oil under my tongue and sleep…in the bed.
Today? By God I’m almost back to normal.
I don’t have to force myself to do chores, or projects.
They’re all happy things again.

Nutshell;
This shit ain’t for the weak of mind.
I mean, I can do pain.
Old people are like that.
But five freakin’ weeks?
Nobody should have to do that.
I’m just so very happy to be almost over it.
The sun shone today.
Didn’t matter.
If it rained or snowed, it would’ve been the most beautiful day ever.
The capper; I enjoyed it all with my caring patient lovely life mate.

None of us have tomorrow
but
By God I had today

and hey
tomorrow looks strong whether it comes or not


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## Keesha (Jun 12, 2018)

Gary O' said:


> Permit me to back up a bit;
> 
> (this may be redundant in places)
> 
> ...


Wow Gary. I’m so sorry you are going through this. It sounds incredibly painful. 
Yes! People can indeed sleep standing up if tired enough. 
Too bad we weren’t closer.


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

Keesha said:


> Wow Gary. I’m so sorry you are going through this. It sounds incredibly painful.



it's all in past tense now
just history

heh, I thought I appreciated life before

this ordeal, if anything good, has turned my appreciation up a score of decibels


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## Keesha (Jun 12, 2018)

Gary O' said:


> it's all in past tense now
> just history
> 
> heh, I thought I appreciated life before
> ...



Yep! Pain so intense that you’d rather die certainly brings about gratitude once relief comes. :sunshine:
You deserve it:heart:


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## SeaBreeze (Jun 12, 2018)

Thankfully I never suffered with shingles, but I'm glad the CBD hemp oil is giving you some relief.  I need to get some myself to have on hand, is it the GoGreen brand still?  The ground gave out a bit at the river bank when we were camping recently, and my husband fell onto his fishing reel and injured his shoulder.  I just happened to remember to take the CBD balm that I bought when we talked about this awhile ago, and it really gave him relief from the pain.  I plan on always having some handy and trying the oil too....better than Aleve or ibuprofen, safer.


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

SeaBreeze said:


> I plan on always having some handy and trying the oil too....better than Aleve or ibuprofen, safer.


yes, oh yes


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

Keesha said:


> Yep! Pain so intense that you’d rather die certainly brings about gratitude once relief comes. :sunshine:
> You deserve it:heart:



kid, I don't deserve nuthin'
(don't argue with me on this)
however, when relief comes, it's well celebrated
on my knees
or just looking to the skies

I've had worse pain
but not for five freaking weeks
I have no idea how the terminally ill do it

this is all rather humbling in regard to my mental toughness


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## C'est Moi (Jun 12, 2018)

I'm so glad you're feeling better, Gary.   There are two things I never want to do again... shingles and gout.   (Oh. My.  Gawd.)    Unrelenting pain is just so freakin' unrelenting.   And yeah, it makes feeling "OK" seem like a miracle.


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> I'm so glad you're feeling better, Gary.   There are two things I never want to do again... shingles and gout.   (Oh. My.  Gawd.)    Unrelenting pain is just so freakin' unrelenting.   And yeah, it makes feeling "OK" seem like a miracle.



oh gawd...the 'G' word

heard it was a rich person's illness
I should be safe


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## C'est Moi (Jun 12, 2018)

Gary O' said:


> oh gawd...the 'G' word
> 
> heard it was a rich person's illness
> I should be safe



When I say I could have sawed my foot off with a hacksaw, I am not joking.   And you don't have to be rich, just have those shards of uric acid in your joints.   They are free, apparently.


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> When I say I could have sawed my foot off with a hacksaw, I am not joking.   And you don't have to be rich, just have those shards of uric acid in your joints.   They are free, apparently.


wunnerful

I'll stick with what I had

as long as we're in the G's;

Anyone got a goiter?
I don't have, but might as well cover that too


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## C'est Moi (Jun 12, 2018)

No, but I had gallstones.   Is this a contest?   nthego:


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## Gary O' (Jun 12, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> No, but I had gallstones.   Is this a contest?   nthego:



gallstones are prolly the most painful, I've heard

Crap, I'm not in the running in anything G

I'm goin' ta bed before the booger man casts a spell of garish goblins on me


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## StarSong (Jun 13, 2018)

Gary O' said:


> gallstones are prolly the most painful, I've heard
> 
> Crap, I'm not in the running in anything G
> 
> I'm goin' ta bed before the booger man casts a spell of garish goblins on me



I'm glad you're feeling better, Gary.  My husband had shingles 25 years ago.  He's about as tough as a person can be when it comes to pain, but when someone barely mentions the S-word to him, his face crumples and he's ready to start crying like a four year old girl lost in a busy K-Mart.


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## Mrs. Robinson (Jun 13, 2018)

The pain of shingles is impossible to imagine-until you get it! Wouldn`t wish it on my worst enemy. Every time I hear of a new area of the body that someone has it,it sounds worse than the last. I had it in the "normal" area-down my back to the left of my spine. Bad enough. But in your ear?!? Owie! I`ve heard the eye,which sounds pretty awful too.


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## Gary O' (Jun 13, 2018)

Mrs. Robinson said:


> The pain of shingles is impossible to imagine-until you get it! Wouldn`t wish it on my worst enemy. Every time I hear of a new area of the body that someone has it,it sounds worse than the last. I had it in the "normal" area-down my back to the left of my spine. Bad enough. But in your ear?!? Owie! I`ve heard the eye,which sounds pretty awful too.



I can only think of a couple places that could be worse...other than the eye



StarSong said:


> I'm glad you're feeling better, Gary.  My husband had shingles 25 years ago.  He's about as tough as a person can be when it comes to pain, but when someone barely mentions the S-word to him, his face crumples and he's ready to start crying like a four year old girl lost in a busy K-Mart.


I was almost there
t'ward the end of week four, I was not a nice person to be around
pacing helps, even around midnight
I can be as grumpy as the next ol' man on any given day, but this put me over the top
that bear that's been raidin' our garbage cans got lucky, ran away before I got to him
my lady, not so lucky

had a bit of a set back last night
had to take CBD oil and ibuprofen, then sit up for a spell
but, today?
tops

for some reason evenings are not so good
still
so very much better
the pain is there, but not near the intensity
for that, I'm truly thankful, so is my lady

ps
it's not the severity 
it's the frigging duration


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## hearlady (Jun 15, 2018)

Sorry Gary! Sounds awful. I'm rethinking the vaccine.


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## ClassicRockr (Jun 15, 2018)

Just came across this thread. I have a thread about the shoulder pain wife and I had on Monday night after getting our first of two shingles shots. This is the new vaccine that came out this past March 2018. It's a two dose shot. A person waits about couple of months before getting the second dose and this vaccine is said to be 100% affective in shingles prevention. Even if it weren't 100% effective, shingles after a shot is much easier to handle than having no shot at all. 

My shoulder pain only lasted the one night, Monday. Her pain today, Friday, is doing much, much better. She had a great night of sleep last night, because she had no pain. 

To us, the pain this shot can/does give is very much worth not getting, or getting a much milder case, of shingles. 

My wife's younger sister got shingles last year. It was fairly bad. Wife's older sister took a photo of it and sent in an e-mail. 

Shots can hurt for awhile, but not getting shingles or the flu/pneumonia is very much worth getting the shots.


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## ClassicRockr (Jun 15, 2018)

BTW, meant to also say that we use GoGreen Hemp CBD Balm (Eucalyptus & Lavender smell) for small arthristis spot pains.


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## Gary O' (Jun 15, 2018)

ClassicRockr said:


> Just came across this thread. I have a thread about the shoulder pain wife and I had on Monday night after getting our first of two shingles shots. This is the new vaccine that came out this past March 2018. It's a two dose shot. A person waits about couple of months before getting the second dose and this vaccine is said to be 100% affective in shingles prevention. Even if it weren't 100% effective, shingles after a shot is much easier to handle than having no shot at all.
> 
> My shoulder pain only lasted the one night, Monday. Her pain today, Friday, is doing much, much better. She had a great night of sleep last night, because she had no pain.
> 
> ...



I've been told I shouldn't get the shot(s) until 8 weeks after I've fully recovered.
I *WILL *get the vaccine.

Last night I tried hitting the hay without the CBD oil.
Laid there wincing for about an hour.
Got up, dropped a half dropper full under my tongue.
Sat for a bit til it took affect.
Trudged off to the pillow top.
Slumbered sweetly rest the night.

This morn, very little discomfort, even without any meds.
Been that way for about a week now.
I think I'm on the total mend.
But
If it stays like this for a very long time, or forever, I can do it.


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## Gary O' (Jun 15, 2018)

ClassicRockr said:


> BTW, meant to also say that we use GoGreen Hemp CBD Balm (Eucalyptus & Lavender smell) for small arthristis spot pains.



excellent

don't get the cinnamon oil
it's quite foul
don't know what they were thinkin' on that flavor
it's like a bear consumed a pile of rotted cinnamon and limburger cheese, pooped, and GoGreen came runnin. scooped it all up, and introduced it to the market.


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## JimW (Jun 15, 2018)

Gary, glad to hear you're doing better my friend! A bout with the shingles is nothing to scoff at, 5 weeks is an eternity for that type of pain. I hope it's finally over.

I want to get the shingles vaccine but in order to do so I need to stop my Xeljanz and other arthritis meds for 8 weeks until it's out of my system. So i'll need to bein more pain than I usually am in order to avoid even more pain down the road with the shingles. Makes perfect sense to me. :culpability:


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## C'est Moi (Jun 15, 2018)

Gary, I'm glad you are a bit better.   I found when I had shingles that I'd have a day or two of feeling better, so just when I thought it was almost over the pain would return.  :apologetic::what:   Also found that a heating pad helped a LOT.   Now that crap is just a hateful memory but I have scars on my arm from the blisters to remind me.   

And  I'd like to add...  to those who think "I have had shingles; I don't need no stinkin' shot.", my sister-in-law has had them THREE times in the past 5 years.   Get the shots.


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## Gary O' (Jun 21, 2018)

C'est Moi said:


> Now that crap is just a hateful memory



I so wish to say that, one day soon.


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## Gary O' (Jun 22, 2018)

*Status update;*

Days, when vertical, hardly much pain..just some incessant itching
I'd really like to acquire a tiny pitchfork, jamb it deep in my ear, and turn it, for an hour or so

Evenings, my poor lady
About twice in the night, I wake, lay there wincing, begin to moan, get up, med up with the dropper, and sit in the chair 'til I wake myself from snoring.
Then trudge back to bed.

I'd like to think it's slowly going away...

On the CBD oil;
Love the GoGreen 250 mg oil
Sought out the 1000mg. More is better, right?
It wasn’t available at the local outlet.
Got a different, recommended, brand in 1000mg.
_Healthy Roots_.

My lady mentioned it made her feel a bit numb, emotionally.
I shrugged, used it.
Noticed it didn’t kill the pain any better than GoGreen 250.
Also, after a few days, began to examine my own state of mind, as I hadn’t had my usual ‘ain’t life great!’ feeling.
Thought it might be this nagging shingle crud bringing me down.
Not so. 
It’s the frigging 1000mg oil.
Not definitely sure if the culprit is the brand or the potency.
But,
I going back to GoGreen 250 mg.
Less than half the cost, less the psych drag, just as effective on the pains.


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## Gary O' (Jul 26, 2018)

*Status Update;*


Very little discomfort now

Days, I hardly feel the niggling pain on the side of my face

Nights, it’s there, but bearable
This post herpetic neuralgia is finally waning

Not taking ibuprofen, nor hemp oil

Been about three months
Guess I’m right on schedule

Now, my second toe, the one I broke while installing a cabin window two years ago

..is killing me

Rubbed some balm on it
no result


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## Giantsfan1954 (Jul 27, 2018)

I had the "old " shot,I've known many people that have had it  more than once that neuropathy is brutal.
Does anyone know if its necessary to get the new vaccine if you've had the old one?


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## terry123 (Jul 27, 2018)

Giantsfan1954 said:


> I had the "old " shot,I've known many people that have had it  more than once that neuropathy is brutal.
> Does anyone know if its necessary to get the new vaccine if you've had the old one?


 Yes it is. I had the old shot several years ago and when the new one came out my doctor and my pharmacist advised me to get it.  Its a 2 shot thing. You have the first one and then 2 months later the 2nd one. I had a horrible case of chicken pox when I was 5 so my doctor said I needed it.


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## Giantsfan1954 (Jul 27, 2018)

Thankyou


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