I'm feeling very thankful today for the VSG surgery that my husband and I have recently gotten! A little background on my 54 year old husband - he is a big guy - 6'2 - former D2 college football offensive lineman - who has always eaten a lot and fought his weight. He was around 240 when we married 26 years ago - I was around 130. He was diagnosed with Type II diabetes & high blood pressure probably 20 - 25 years ago. His blood pressure has been under control with medication but not his diabetes. He was insulin dependent and his highest weight has probably been 370 lbs. This is a long story about his shingles experience this past year - hang in there!
Last year on Memorial Day weekend, my husband just didn't feel good and thought he was getting an ear infection and I noticed a red spot on his forehead (I thought he was getting a pimple). I headed out on a 9 hour drive on that Tuesday to go see my 90 year old mother who was recovering from a TIA (mini-stroke) and was in a rehab. My husband decided to see our internist on Tuesday afternoon about what he thought was an ear infection. The internist took one look at him and told him he had shingles - it was starting in his left ear, top of his head and around his left eye. He put him on the viral medication and gave him some pain killers. The doctor also insisted that he immediately go see an ophthalmologist that day about the shingles and his left eye because he could go BLIND from the shingles. The ophthalmologist put him on drops and made him come back in a week - thankfully the shingles did not get in his eye and his vision is okay.
Only about 3-4 shingles poxes crusted over - the anti-viral medication did work on the rash but did not handle the nerve pain. The prescription pain meds made him nauseous so he handled the pain with Advil. He works in a small office (with an hour commute each way) - turns out the president of his company had not had the chicken pox and my husband had been in the office with the rash developing before he knew it was the shingles. Thank goodness this man did not develop chicken pox from my husband (Barbara Walters got the chicken pox from an actor who was getting the shingles). Our internist had recommended the shingles vaccination earlier that year for both of us but neither one of us had gotten it. Not smart of us! I immediately went to Walgreen's when I got back from helping my mother and got my vaccination - cost $250 - insurance would not cover it - and ended up having to get it at their clinic instead of through the pharmacist because I was not 60 (I am 54).
But unfortunately, the shingles story did not end there. Let me back up - a couple of weeks before my husband broke out with the shingles, he had an episode in the middle of the night - he thought he might be having a heart attack, severe sweating, nausea, no arm or chest pain - he woke me up to help him back to bed. Once he was flat and back in bed, he went back to sleep and woke feeling fine. The stubborn man would not go to the doctor when he woke up and ended up going on in tot work. Turns out this was his first episode of vertigo - we just didn't know it at the time.
About a month after he broke out with the shingles, he developed 6th nerve palsy - which means his left eye would not move to the right. The ophthalmologist thought his diabetes was the reason for this development - we thought it was the shingles virus affecting his 6th cranial nerve. Nothing he could do but monitor his blood sugar, patch his eye when driving, used some drops to help prevent infection, and wait it out. It felt like this lasted forever but probably only lasted 2-3 months.
After his eye got better in the fall, my husband then starting noticing more of a ringing in his left ear, a feeling of fullness, and the coming and going of the hearing in that ear. And more episodes of vertigo. We went to see a ear specialist who did lots of testing on his ear and said he either had meniere's disease or vestibular neuritis caused by the shingles virus. He gave him medicine to take whenever he experienced a vertigo episode but there was nothing he could do but wait this out as the nerves regenerated - this was affecting the 8th cranial nerve.
He had a couple of episodes of vertigo while driving - thankfully God was watching out for him and he did not have a wreck. Once we were on a road trip and he felt the vertigo coming on and there were no exits or shoulders for him to pullover for about 10 minutes for me to takeover driving. Thankfully he finally got to pull over and I drove the rest of the way home. The medication for vertigo does work for him but it would make him very sleepy.
During these months of dealing with the aftermath of shingles, my husband finally started testing his blood sugar more often and realized he was not taking enough insulin. Unfortunately, the insulin makes you hungry and he ended up gaining more weight. It's a vicious cycle. As I was reading message boards about shingles, meniere's disease, vestibular neuritis, post-herpetic neuralgia, 6th cranial nerve palsy, the only thing I read that really seemed to help people was anti-inflammation diet - which is basically cutting out all the white foods. My husband wasn't ready for that and our internist said that his research didn't support that the anti-inflammation diet would help him but would be good for diabetes. My husband tried both lyrica and gabapentin - helped some - but the lyrica made him not think clearly so he did not take that for long. He also tried some vitamins and minerals I got from the health store - anything to help combat this illness! The doctors all tell us that his healing from the vestibular neuritis or post-herpetic neuralgia will just take time as the nerves regenerate.
This is a long story but it's been a long year dealing with the aftermath of the shingles - his shingles broke out Memorial Day and in March he was still dealing with the fullness in his head, hearing coming and going, and the tinnitus (which varied from ringing, buzzing to full out roaring in his head). Most weekends he spent in bed napping and just not feeling good - he did not miss many days of work - so weekends were spent trying to catch up on rest.
ONE WEEK after his VSG surgery, my husband says this is the best he has felt in two months!!! Immediately after surgery, he did not have any ringing in his ears or the fullness feeling for a few days. It has come back but he says it's more at a manageable stage and not near as bad as it was before surgery! As he is off of half his blood pressure and diabetes medications and his blood sugar is totally under control, we are all thrilled! He is on the anti-inflammation diet just by default with the pre-op and post-op diets - he has lost 18 pounds in one week since surgery and 28 all together! He started the pre-op diet at around 342 lbs.
I am so thankful ALREADY that this VSG surgery is making a difference in the quality of our lives as his health will continue to improve. Hopefully this journey with the shingles will soon be OVER!!
MOTTO OF THIS STORY: If you are over 50, please run to the pharmacy - and get your SHINGLES VACCINATION - insurance will not cover it - it's worth the $250!!! The FDA approved the vaccine for everyone over 50 in 2006. It is an individual choice but if you have any immune system disorders - you are most vulnerable to this shingles virus.
If I could do a cartwheel right now I would - that's how happy I am that my husband is FINALLY feeling better - I do feel that having his diabetes under control is making a huge difference. Plus the anti-inflammation diet!! HALLELUJAH!!
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