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Post by onlymark on Oct 20, 2012 20:17:45 GMT
Certainly. NUM and then UDM in Notts from leaving school until the end of 1984. Refused to be bullied by Scargill, kept working but saw the writing on the wall even though Maggie promised to keep our pits open - didn't want to be looking for a job when everyone else was so I pre-empted the situation by handing my notice in. Missed out on a several thousand pound redundancy payment but at least I quickly got a new job instead of being like the majority later. My dad took early retirement from the NCB in 1983 just before the start as he also saw the writing on the wall and got out while he could and the compensation was reasonable.
I've come a long way since then.
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 21, 2012 14:30:50 GMT
oh, Cheery! I feel for you! Mum had shingles all over her scalp and the doc took quite a few weeks to give in to prescribe anti-virals. Just because the £$%£ thought it was "too disseminated" to be shingles. Yes, it was more than one cranial nerve, which isn't the norm... but I am so grateful the cranial nerve wasn't touched! With such bad treatment she could easily have lost her eyesight. argh!
Hoping you feel much better very soon, Cheery!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 21, 2012 16:07:20 GMT
When I went to Singapore and visited a friend, he said I was quite lucky because he was free every day due to being on sick leave -- shingles! I only had a vague idea of what it was until we went to his home one day (he was still living with his parents) with his girlfriend. He stripped off his shirt and lay on the bed, and she spent the afternoon pulling disgusting flakes of diseased skin off his back while the three of us chatted.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 24, 2012 20:40:53 GMT
My scabs aren't too bad....the nerve pain is less raw now too altho it's still sore. My GP has signed me off for another 10 days, I should be right as ninepence by then... I have strict instructions to go back to see my doctor if I'm not feeling well by next Thursday. All I'm doing is pottering around the house and sleeping...what an exciting life I lead
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Post by htmb on Oct 24, 2012 20:51:59 GMT
Oh, cheery, I'm feel so sorry for you and wish you a rapid recovery. It's good to hear the nerve pain has diminished somewhat.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 25, 2012 10:30:51 GMT
You are nice X
It's only a virus and I'm gradually getting better. I managed a little light housework this morning! it's the frustration of being at home and not being able to get into the garden that's getting to me. But I'm just flopping about getting lots of rest and taking the medication. OH's working part time so he's still managing to look after me.
Considering all the horror stories I've heard I think I got off quite lightly rash wise...and only one area was affected....altho I have the standard pathetic exhaustion/ache all over (especially my joints) rubbish. Also got a throat infection. Tried to persuade OH to carry me up to bed last night but he pointed out that I'm twice (or maybe three times) the woman he married.....>sigh<
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Post by mossie on Oct 25, 2012 14:10:03 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 29, 2012 18:41:30 GMT
;D
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 29, 2012 18:47:51 GMT
The rash has almost gone now altho I have a few scars....not anywhere anybody but my OH and my r would see The neuralgia is still there...intermittent now tho...I managed to leave the house today.. just to pick up another prescription but it was nice to get some fresh air. It's left me pretty wiped out but I'm getting lots of rest. What a thrilling life I lead....
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Post by auntieannie on Oct 29, 2012 20:13:33 GMT
cheery, a cream containing calendula will help with the scarring. x
and so your hubbie can sing along to Lionel Ritchie and the Commodores...;-)
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Post by mich64 on Oct 29, 2012 21:28:44 GMT
Very happy to read that you were able to get out for some fresh air Cheery and that you are recovering!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 2, 2012 17:30:23 GMT
I am much better now, only needing to take pain killers occasionally and I'm actually looking forward to going back to work on Monday. ;D
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Post by tod2 on Nov 2, 2012 17:50:40 GMT
O Cheery honey, I have seen the most dreadful form of this terrible infliction on a member of staff. The poor girl had a huge 'sore' all across her side. I myself have had shingles in a very mild form only once in my life. Too many years to remember. I am so sorry you have had to bear this dreadful pain and discomfort. I know little about curing it except that there is an injection which given on immediate onset knocks it for a six and that VitB injections daily help.
I am so sorry Cheery - you don't deserve this.
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Post by htmb on Nov 2, 2012 21:22:53 GMT
So glad to hear things are starting to get back to normal, cheery.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Nov 3, 2012 9:26:29 GMT
Yessir...I have started to get my mojo back...(where does that saying come from?) and I haven't had to take any painkillers for 24 hours. On Monday I do have a 12 hour night shift >groan< but after that I have a week off (booked ages ago) as we have to use all our leave up before March...I had lots left and February - March are fully booked already...so I've had to take random days So I will be fit as a fit thing... Todd dearie you are so nice! I think that the enforced rest has done me the power of good tbh. It has also made me realise that I can now negotiate reducing my hours at work. Life's too short. When OH lost his job I increased my hours and have been doing in excess of 50 hours some weeks. Even when it's much less the shift patterns have been truly horrid. Typically a lot of 12 hour sessions a lot of them at weekends and nights, the managers (who work Monday - Friday 0900 - 1700) brought in the 24/7 system in Spring, and as we have a small pool of staff we've been quite stretched. There are several staff who have been excused nights too...so the few of us who don't have a doctor's note have to cover. 45 months till I can retire ;D
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Post by lagatta on Jul 13, 2018 13:34:42 GMT
I don't usually itch all over, but the recent heatwave gave me a heat rash (boutons de chaleur) and I can't seem to get rid of the itch! I've tried applying Eucerin cream and other lotions with no perfume; helps a bit but the rash is persistent. And of course can't reach all my back...
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Post by questa on Jul 13, 2018 14:14:36 GMT
Shingles is one of the herpes viruses, a sort of cousin to chicken pox. People can get shingles from contact with a chicken poxy kid. The CP virus hides in the nervous system and emerges as an attack of shingles in adults. As noted, it is a horrible illness, very painful and doesn't heal quickly. The rash follows the path of the underlying nerve, commonly back and shoulders and moving around to the chest front. There was an "old wives' tale" that if the left and right paths met in the front it meant "ya gonna die". This is not true. I heartily recommend having the immunisation done. I've had mine, luckily our Government has paid for people over 60 to be immunised. It is not cheap but better than the Shingles.
Forgive my incoherence, very tired.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 13, 2018 15:18:43 GMT
I get a regular itch in one little zone of my back sometimes, naturally inaccessible. Now I understand why people used to buy those back scratching sticks. I don't think I have seen one in years. No rash, though!
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 13, 2018 16:46:15 GMT
I thought it the reverse questa, that you get chicken pox from shingles - which is what happened to me. I was 18 and had spots everywhere, absolutely everywhere.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 13, 2018 16:54:24 GMT
I have known two people who got shingles (which I have always understood to be the "second round" of chicken pox for the unlucky minority). One was my grandmother at age 82 or so and the other was a Singaporean friend who was about 25 at the time. I still remember sitting in his parents' house while he lay on the bed as his girlfriend peeled off dead skin from his back. There was something unforgettable about it all.
So all I can say is that shingles can happen at any age apparently, but only after having had chicken pox, I think.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 13, 2018 17:52:24 GMT
Yes indeed. After the pox.
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Post by lagatta on Jul 13, 2018 18:51:07 GMT
I'm going to see whether the shingles jab is covered by Québec health insurance... I did have chicken pox, as I recall.
K2, try Chinese or Southeast Asian shops for the backscratcher. I did have one but can't locate it.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 13, 2018 18:55:37 GMT
Actually, on the rare occasions when I absolutely have to scratch, I just take a terrycloth bath towel and rub it across my back energetically. It is great.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 13, 2018 19:00:01 GMT
I use the door frame......
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 13, 2018 19:01:28 GMT
Like a bear?
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 13, 2018 19:15:38 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2018 21:00:58 GMT
I don't usually itch all over, but the recent heatwave gave me a heat rash (boutons de chaleur) and I can't seem to get rid of the itch! I've tried applying Eucerin cream and other lotions with no perfume; helps a bit but the rash is persistent. And of course can't reach all my back... I sometimes get awful heat rash Lagatta. The best cure for it that I have found is using Witch Hazel (a botanical astringent). It's very inexpensive, is odor free and soothing.(Soak a terry cloth wash cloth in it for the back area). There are also some Witch Hazel cremes available, some of them very reasonably priced. I've tried a couple of them and they too are effective. I have had a bamboo back scratcher that hangs on my bedside table reading lamp. A godsend. Avoid the ones with the teeth. I find them much too harsh.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 26, 2020 18:25:07 GMT
I know that it's hard to believe...but I'm almost certain that I've got shingles again! Last week I had a really itchy back, it was driving me nuts...I was accusing Jeff of mixing up the washing powders (we use a nice one for clothes and a cheap one for tea towels, dusters etc). I kept begging him to scratch my back altho I didn't look for a rash or anything and neither did he. At the weekend I started to get a sore spot on one side of my back...it wasn't in the place I usually get a 'bad back'..and it is a different sort of pain..a burning, tingling 'graze' like pain....and it feels like it's in a line...like it's along a nerve and near the surface not deep in the tissues. I realised earlier today what it must be. Maybe my 800 calorie diet has left me vulnerable..or perhaps my lockdown torpor Anyway, I have to ring my GP tomorrow for a telephone appointment, the doctors aren't seeing patients face-to-face I don't think, I don't think that I'll be prescribed anything but the surgery receptionist seemed to think that I'd need to talk to a doctor. Maybe there's a soothing cream...
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Post by kerouac2 on Oct 26, 2020 18:32:26 GMT
I haven't had shingles, but I have had a good (young at the time) friend who got it and also my grandmother (very old at the time) -- they both found it horrible, but there was no mistaking it when it started. But I don't think it's easy to know without a medical diagnosis until your skin starts peeling off.
I never saw my grandmother's version since she was not prone to displaying such things at that time, but I sat in my friend's bedroom in Singapore for several afternoons while his girlfriend stripped off his skin. Yuck!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 26, 2020 18:37:41 GMT
I don't have a bad rash Kerouac, just a small line of itchy blisters usually (well I did the last two times I've had it dunno about this time) but I always get the hot, localised pain.
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