I had a strange tingling and sensitivity on the left side of my lower back. Even clothing brushing up against my skin created a burning and tingling sensation. This became worse after several days, and shooting, spasm-like pains deeper in the affected area started, especially at night. Walking around or being active tends to dampen the pain; staying in bed only made it worse.

I have recurring shingles whenever I am highly stressed at work. I am 56 yrs old. I have had them return for the last 8 or 10 yrs. I didn't even know what it was at first. So I went through 2 or 3 outbreaks before my doctor noticed the scars and asked when did I have shingles? I said, "Is that what that is?". He gave me Acyclovir. But usually by the time I realize I am having a breakout the blisters are already forming and I use some itching cream. It was interesting to read others comments. The 'tingling" you talk of, I did not connect that with my shingles. WOW. I break out on my upper left buttock all the time and my leg and hip will tingle/hurt. Now I know that is a first sign that I need to take some meds.

I had shingles on my bottom, many years ago now I'm having pain and burning in same area.

Mine started in my eye. I had strange feeling that my eye wouldn't open fully. My cheek had a constant tingle. Next, the whole side of my face just swelled up! There were no blisters on the outside but a mouthful of what I thought were ulcers! The pain is in my jaw and ear too. It has been two awful weeks of doctors and dentists saying I must have a bad tooth that they couldn't see because of the swelling. I just hope this ends soon, am feeling depressed and desperate to ease the pain somehow!

First the skin in my upper left arm was sensitive to touch. There was slight pain when bending my elbow as the skin was stretched. Almost a week later a rash developed on my outer forearm. There was no pain associated with rash though. Over the course of the next few days small areas on my palm, thumb, forefinger and middle finger were painful to touch. These areas then developed into a blistering rash. My doctor prescribed an anti-viral drug and it appears to be slowly working. I had only occasional slight to moderate pain which I controlled with pain killers (aspirin).

For me, shingles started four days before the rash appeared, with severe pain, especially at night. Thought I had kidney stones, as it was in the side. I was prescribed Acyclovir, an anti-viral drug also something for the pain. The pain is incredibly severe, unbearable at times, and I feel desperately sorry for anyone suffering from this illness. I can only hope mine improves over the coming days.

I noticed redness under my chin bone on the left side, with no pain. A few days later there was a teeny scab on the little bumps that occurred. It looked like a series of bug bites. A few days later I had a migraine-like headache that lasted most of the day. I stayed in a dark room and rested. A couple of days later there was very severe pain at the base of my hairline on the same side. I described it as feeling like something inside had torn. Touching it made it worse. I went to the doctor, who gave me prescription for Valacyclovir HCI 1 gram tablets. She told me to take 3 a day for 7 days. I am beginning my 3rd day and just noticed the directions on the bottle are 1 every 8 hours. I've been taking them about every four hours! So far there are no blisters but there is a lot of itching that began yesterday, about a week after I noticed the redness that got lumpy. I am concerned that our granddaughter may come down with chicken pox since we hugged before I was diagnosed.

I thought I had spider bites on my shoulder and back of neck because of the extreme soreness, redness, burning and constant pain. Then over next few days more "bites" appeared on my neck, shoulders and then chest, and I had swollen lymph nodes in my neck. They burned and itched like mad and I was running a low grade fever and felt flu-like. I was actually hesitant to go to doctor for such a silly thing as a spider bite but I knew I just did not feel well. My diagnosis was a complete shock!