A right royal pain in the.....back!

So, people who know me on Facebook and have read my status will know that I have had a tingling sensation and some pain in my left side since Monday just gone. I thought I had pulled a muscle or had a trapped nerve or something.Then Friday, I started to get this itching sensation on my back and when I got home, I asked Mrs.Sparky to take a look to see if anything had developed. That was when I first became aware that I had got a rash......now some of you might have already guessed what these symptoms suggest but I wasn't sure so decided to take a trip to the NHS Walk-in centre the next morning in case I had had some kind of an allergic reaction or in case I had developed anything contagious. They were a little confused at the centre to say the least but they did settle my mind that I had not pulled a muscle. As for the rash, they suggested everything from insect bites due to bed-bugs down to some kind of heat rash. I asked if it might be Shingles but got told there it was unlikely!

Anyway, I get home after work on Saturday and Mrs.Sparky had looked up my symptoms on the NHS website and come up with a diagnosis that actually confirmed Shingles which had been my first thought.

Basically, the symptoms start off with pain and discomfort down one side for several days followed by a band of rash and irritation in the same area thast can last several weeks! Shingles is the adult form of Chicken Pox and can only be contracted by people who have had that as a sprog. The cells lie dormant in your body until something acts as a trigger to reproduce the virus as Shingles! On Saturday, I was in a lot of pain unless I dosed up on iboprufen and Sunday morning I was really hurting when I first got up and that pain came and went all day. The best way to describe it is like shooting pains every few minutes going through your body or like someone constantly poking you in the side every few minutes. Not nice!

Today I started a weeks holiday from work and got myself down to the doctors as soon as I could get an appointment. The Nurse Practioner I saw as the same one I saw last year when I was depressed and confirmed the diagnosis from the NHS website. Yes indeed! Sparky has got shingles!!!!

I can't say I'm happy about it, the pain is really starting to get on my nerves and my spots on my back are starting to fill with fluid and are really itchy but at least Ihave a good excuse not to do much on my holiday! Problem is, sitting on the sofa without lots of cushions is really painful and I am developing chronic back pain especially if I lean forwards so playing GTA is awkward! Still, at least I don't have to do much this week without feeling too guilty about it!

Today I watched the extended version of The Fellowship Of The Rings and am looking forward to watching the other two films in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy in the same format later this week! I had forgotten how great those films are and the extra bits just make them even better! I also hope to try and write lots of reviews on Dooyoo. I am just waiting for my points to go through and, in a few days, I will have earned another fifty quid!! Just for writing about stuff I would have read or watched anyway!

Talk about money for old rope......thats all for now ~ catch you all laters, Sparky xxx