hey for the last three months i've had thease blisters popping first on the left side of my back then on my right elbow now on both legs. they start off as a cigarett sized blisters then a few days later the outside encircleing the popped blister blisters and it just goes from there as of this morning the one on my right leg is the size of a silver dollar, on my left the big blister is about the size of a fiftycent piece and i have a new spot thats the size of a dime and last night i found one on my side. i told my dr that i thought it might be shingles she glanced at one spot wrote out a scrtpt for antivirals and sent me on my way well that was last month on the 27th which means i've been getting blistars for three months and from everything i've looked up on line shingles shouldn't last this long now she's on vacation for the next month im at a loss as to what to do. currently im trying to find a new Dr cause theres somthing wrong and honestly im starting to get a little bit scaired. any ideas, input, anything is appreciated. love and light

I do recommend you see another doc (dermatologist, if you can). Doctors are OFTEN wrong in their diagnoses--although shingles IS a reasonable guess. Shingles can be a bitch, sometimes...

Your history is definitely NOT that of shingles; shingles will not give blisters in such a distribution and the time-period is all wrong.With the little info that you have presented, other causes need to be considered such as pemphigoid/pemphigus.

Does the roof of the blisters come off easily?

Any in your mouth?

Are they painful, or do they scar?

It depresses me how so many family doctors are clueless, and havent got the capacity to practise anything but superficial medicine.

If I was you(I am not) I would get on a 100% raw vegan diet and start drinking pure water asap. I say this from experience with horrible gastrointestinal disease that ruined my life for a period of time. I cant tell you what to do but the best thing is to be fully informed on all sides. I had numerous seemingly unrelated things going on as well that all got soo much better from changing my diet. I saw allopathic doctors who did basically nothing good for me and told me that what i was doing would not help. They were all wrong. I sincerely believe almost ALL health problems are diet related..you are what you eat.

I wish you the best.

I've had both shingles AND staph infections...

YOU NEED TO EAT SHIITAKE MUSHROOM EXTRACT

"Modern research has indicated shiitake mushroom may stimulate the immune system,[8] possess antibacterial properties,[9][10][11] reduce platelet aggregation,[12] and possess antiviral properties,[8][13][14][15][16][17] possibly through antiviral agents known as proteinase inhibitors.[18]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/...iitake#Shiitake_research

Shiitake extract is AMAZING for these kinds of things. It has shown PARTICULAR awesomeness at combating the herpes virus (the virus that causes shingles) and as a immune system stimulant.

If you have shingles this is IDEAL for you...

If you have something else it is STILL a potent anti-viral, anti-baterial and immunostimulating agent...

EAT MOAR SHIITAKE AND BUY AN EXTRACT!

-The Cosmic Lion

yes the top of the blister usually comesoff b4 i realize i even have a blister
no i have no sores in my mouth
yes they are very painful and yes they scar pretty ugly

this whole auto-immune hypothisis scairs the shit outa me because i already went through ITP and the steoroid left alot of colatral damage however when i first started checking my symtems this pemph shit range a bell

thanks

You should see a dermatologist as soon as you can for an accurate diagnosis; everything you say goes against shingles very strongly.

The list of causes of this type of rash is not too large, but a biopsy (if no other clues in the history give the cause, such as certain meds) for histology and fancy immunofluorescence tests will usually give the answer.

Yeah... I call it laziness, quackery, and malpractice.

The first thing that they do is listen to the patient for about 100 millicesonds, use a stethescope for 1 minute along with that piano tuner's hammer, and then spend next 1 minute writing a script for some petrochem derived pill. The next 3 minutes minus 100 milliseconds is spent trying to get the fuck away from the patient.

Thankfully not all doctors are this way, but there sure is a large number of them. After observing this many people still wonder why health care is so expensive and ineffective here in the USA. I am sure glad that I have a real doctor whose first reaction is not to whip out his prescription pad and try to escape from my presence in less than 5 minutes.

I think its a little harsh to call the practise of most family doctors as lazy, quackery and malpractise- although this description fits the bill in some cases.

In the UK, the minimum amount of training required to be a family doctor is 3 years in hospitals, 1 year under the 'wing' of a family doctors practise and then they are free to practise in their own right.IMO, this is wholly insufficient, and at best gives a superficial understanding only.Its the hospital experience which imparts the experience and allows the right approach to develop and I think 2 years is less than adequate.

so check this out because my Dr. is on vacation for the next THREE WEEKS they made an appointment with a rn for the 24th and on my request that it just be biopsied they "don't think it warrintys" a biopsy or a referral to a dermatolagist and without a referral my medical insurance won't cover it. I am currantly seeking a new Dr. unfortunatly because im a chronic pain patient many Dr's won't accept me as a patient but im gonna keep at it until i find a Dr that actually gives a shit. As of this morning i have three new sores and the big one on my right leg has grown another 1/16 of an inch and looks like the next half inch where the tape was is gonna go next. Honestly with my history ITP even the idea of anything auto-immune related terrifies me but i have to find out whats going on cause the not knowing is driving me nuts.
Oh yea i forgot my Dr also broke our pain contract she's cut me meds again without talking to me first. ya know i always thought only people who broke their contract, had something in their system they were not supposed to, or did something wrong that got their meds cut off. Mabey all this is my karma for something, i just wish i knew what.
So what other things could it be other than that Pemph stuff?
I really want to thank you all for your input and time, i really appreciate it. I've always beleaved that knowledge is power and the more i can learn about something the better i can deal with it so as always any input is appreciated.

Love and light,
flutterbi<3

Duuude, post pix of it here!!

well it seems my luck has changed the new dr i was wanting badly to take me on as a patient did and as soon as she saw my legs she ordered two spots be biopsied and a full blood panel so i'll know whats going on by the 8th(so long only becaues im gonna be out of town till the 7th). so i've decieded im not gonna freak out too much till i know whats going on im gonna go to the rainbow gathering and thurally enjoy myself.
as for why i couldn't just go to another dr is for two reasons. first because im a chronic pain patient i have a pain contract that says if i go to another dr i lose my Dr and my meds and second because im on SSI i have to get a referral from my primary care dr or my insurance won't pay. I'll be getting my camara back from a friend day after tomarrow so i'll take some pictures too.
thank you all so much for having my back through this shit, im still scaired but i know i can handle whatever comes. i'll keep you all informed as to whats going on and what my results are.
light and love
flutterbi

Let us know how you are doing... sending prayers your way in the meantime.

i totally agree with fractal about changing your diet. I don't have any personal experience with shingles, or any such infection, but i sincerely believe in my heart that eating the right foods can and does heal the body. In addition to eating raw foods like fractal mentioned, I would suggest that you start juicing vegetables and drinking it on a regular basis. I usually make juices from fresh carrots, celery, spinach, beet roots, ginger or any other vegetables that i have lying around. get yourself a good juicer if you don't have one already...it will go a looong way..

mushroom extracts would also be very beneficial like Shitake which Cosmic Lion mentioned. Other highly medicinal mushroom extracts I would suggest are Reishi and Chaga extracts.

medicinal strain of Aloe Vera is also helpful for treating many kinds of skin infections, so you may wanna look into that.

I would highly recommend you watch this documentary if you haven't seen it already: Food Matters It radically transformed my views about food, and provided many deep insights.

Best of luck to ya flutterbi. I wish you heal soon and that your infection becomes a distant memory
peace and love<3

Corpus I agree that my opinion is quite harsh. Fortunately there are good doctors out there, but it is really hard to find them.

As the model for American medical care morphed into 'managed care' I have been pretty disgruntled at most doctors I have gone to who have been on my 'medical PPO plan' during the last 20 years. Prior to that I felt that medical care was better for me in the 1970's and 1980. It was surly more affordable as well.

So I solved the quality side of the equation 5 years ago and found a doc who actually spends time talking, and diagnosing, and arriving at a treatment plan including diet and exercise that actually improved my health. He is highly regarded by people I trust. I have to pay a lot more money 'out of pocket', so to speak, for this.

Other docs literally ran me through their practice for 10 minutes every 6 months, threw statin and blood pressure drugs at me, and sent me along my way. They ignored my pleas about the stinking side effects like cramps, mind fog, and sexual side effects. This 'treatment' is bullshit. It is modern snake oil.

doctors treated me the same way..I went to a bunch of different doctors and they basically listened to me for like 2 minutes then tried to shoo me away telling me to take bunk medicines that did not do anything. Finally I was sent to a sergeon and he couldnt for the life of him figure out why I was sent to him. I was told by him "unofficially" that if I felt like seeking out alternative health care than I should try that becasue the system we have is broken. I did and I paid alot but I found a physician that was sick and dying at one point and she was cured by ayurvedic doctors when her allopathic doctors (and collegues) told her she was going to die. She listened to me and actaully helped me alot..in the end the best thing I ever did for myself though was cut out all diary, all meat, fish and eggs..I stopped drinking tap water and bottled water forever, cut out all alcohol and all coffee, quit smoking pot for about 6 months and went 100% vegan..and then eventually totally raw as well.

I cannot trust the current mainstream medical system because they utterly failed me. I know not all doctors are like that. The only one that listened to me was the sergeon I was sent to..and also this one urologist I was sent to that also coudlnt figure out why they sent me to him, he suggested I go see someone less mainstream that deals with naturalpathic medicine.

I had doctors try to tell me to take freaking tums when I couldnt even function enough to go to my college classes anymore. It's a joke..

I cant believe how much my body began to change from just being a completely raw vegan. People always judge when I tell them that, but they dont know..you dont know until you have gone through it. When you are sick and basically watching life go by every day, and all of your friends running around living life without you you begin to appreciate what it means to be healthy in a way that is impossible for another person to understand until they have been there. Once you get that back the idea of ever EVER exposing your body to that kind of crap again is just unthinkable. I see people all the time who dont respect the body they have been given..and they expect(and believe) that some peron in a white lab coat will magically fix it all for them when they're bodies go to shit. Your body is a temple and it is sacred. Treat it as such because trust me you will regret it later if it starts to fall apart on you becasue you chose not to. Do not wait around and rely on the idea of a doctor fixing you later.

I feel stupid. What is there BESIDES tap or bottled? Do you mean you filter your own water? Use rainwater?

I ask because I'm very interested in ways to get "pure" water. Rainwater can sometimes have a LOT of junk in it. Filters bother me because there isn't always a good way to tell when they've stopped working properly.

I live in an area where I can collect wild artesian spring water. I have not drank anything else in 3 years.

you can check findaspring.com to find one near you.

http://www.findaspring.com/

I hope that helps. I find that somehow spring water is more hydrating as well. People say it retains its structure more and that is why..I dunno though..just feels more hydrating to me.

We have a $1500 water filter and ionizer here that minxx used for a while, but once I got her to drink spring water as well we have not touched the thing..nothing compares.

You should have it tested. Just because water seems "natural" doesn't mean it's good for you. There are places with significant dissolved arsenic (or other heavy metals) in ground water, for example. Although I have often drank spring water with satisfaction. Another problem with spring water is possible surface contamination--dead animals, animal dung, etc.

Not trying to gross you out. This is just a subject that interests me, and when you think a lot about it, it's easy to conclude that it's QUITE DIFFICULT to find water that you know is very pure and good for you.

Natural spring water from the mountains (where you KNOW there has been no mining or industry) is good--as long as you can be sure it doesn't contain heavy metal contamination.

it has been tested. The water that comes from the spring is tested regularily becasue it comes out of all the drinking fountains in the park as well. Contamination from civilization I am not worried about because the water comes out of the cascades..no development to contaminate it.

Surface contamination I dont think is possible here becasue I get the water right at the source where it comes up from way deep underground. It does not sit in a large spot an pool..it bubbles up from the ground in the rocks and flows off into a stream right away.