Shingles after three years

Today marks the third anniversary of the shingles attack on my left eye. Every morning I awaken with itching, aching or an unpleasant sensation around the left eye, usually above it, in the eye brow, on the forehead, in the scalp.
My ophthalmologist told me not to expect a quick cure, then that the aftermath of the shingles (postherpetic neuralgia) would continue for a year or two. I assume now that barring a miraculous cure, I will endure this minor plague for the rest of my life.
The round robin of itching, aching or unpleasant sensations continues through all my waking hours. In addition, I get tired easily in doing my daily exercises or heavy household chores. In fact, I take a daily hour-long nap. When I’ve tried cutting out the nap or trimming it to a half hour, I fall asleep watching TV or reading in the evening. So I’ve come to accept the need for that nap. Besides, I enjoy it.
One side effect of my PHN (postherpetic neuralgia) is that many of my relatives have gotten the vaccine, Zostavax, which cuts the odds of getting shingles by 50 percent. My experience shows that is a chance well worth taking.

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Shingles aftermath forever?

Two weeks ago, for the first time in 14 months I felt the aftermath of shingles receding. There was the slightest sensation just above the right corner of my left eye. The shingles aftermath was still there, but barely. In the morning, I awoke to the full fledged, unpleasant presence of the shingles aftermath: swelling, itching, aching, all-around unpleasantness. It hasn't abated since. I wonder how long this will go on? Perhaps for the rest of my life. Along with the day-long and night-long discomfort, there is the exhaustion factor. I get fatigued very easily, sometimes painfully so.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.

A Year of Shingles

On Sept. 15, 2009, I completed a full year of affliction with shingles centered on my left eye. There have been times just in the past week for very brief spans when I would say my eye and the area around was feeling neutral—usually in the first closing of my eyes to sleep. Then the pressure or the itching or the distant ache return would return.
I am now writing for two hours a day—that is, two one-hour segments. I can read newspapers and books again, but for limited spans. And, I can watch TV, but with my left eye mostly closed.
TV watching with the left eye seems to provoke my shingles.
One affliction that hasn’t abated is fatigue. After a curtailed daily exercise (stretching, 25 sit-ups, walking a mile and three-quarters, a brief tai chi routine), followed by breakfast, and then writing for an hour, I am at the very least tired and sometimes exhausted. So I lay down for an hour to listen to WNYC or a book on CD, often falling asleep.
I get tired quickly even doing any light physical work like cutting a small section of the lawn or raking a few bags of leaves.
My great hope is that the shingles finally is diminishing to a lesser presence. As I type this, I feel a very light pressure on a corner of my left eye. On the scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst, I would say my eye is at a 1, mostly it is a 3.
Friends and relatives ask: Why can’t the doctor do something for you? My answer is: If he could, he would.

A suggestion: My novel, THE PENCIL ARTIST is available as an e-book on Smashwords, Kindle, and Barnes and Noble; as a paperback on Amazon.