Apex Clinic cleared my agonising pain after shingles

For 58-year-old Catherine Craig from South Belfast, life was a struggle. Severe nerve pain after having shingles (post herpetic neuralgia) had a devastating impact on her life. Desperate for pain relief she visited, Apex Clinic, Belfast. Here, Catherine describes how the clinic’s unique regime of specialist manual physiotherapy treatment, called The Nelson Spinal ApproachTM cleared her nerve pain, meaning that she could finally get her life back on track.

Catherine, when did your shingles nerve pain begin?

In September I woke up one morning with severe back pain. After 3 days I then developed a rash which started on the inside of my elbow. Within 24 hours the rash spread down my left arm and onto my hand. I made an appointment to see my GP, who told me that I had shingles and prescribed an antiviral drug called Acyclovir. The pain in my back and arm was unbearable. This agonising pain continued and after a few weeks I saw my GP again and they prescribed a second course of Acyclovir. The shingles rash then finally cleared but the pain did not change. I went back to my GP and they told me that the pain I had was called ‘post herpetic neuralgia’ and that although the shingles rash had gone the pain I had was nerve pain caused by the shingles virus. At this appointment I was told that I may have to live with this constant excruciating pain.

How did the nerve pain affect your life? 

My life was a complete misery. The pain was off the Richter scale and I couldn’t do or enjoy anything. The pain was just continual. I couldn’t sleep for longer than 90 minutes without having to get up and walk around. I couldn’t go to work or even concentrate to watch TV. I was in a terrible way. I had hypersensitive skin and couldn’t stand anything touching my arm, I wore loose cotton clothing and had to keep my arm out of the bed because the weight of the duvet was unbearable. I had tingling in my hand and involuntary twitching in my face.

What led you to Apex Clinic?

I had attended Rebecca Nelson at Apex Clinic previously with back and leg pain which had cleared with her specialist physiotherapy treatment. When I was suffering so badly with this new nerve pain I thought I would get in touch to see if they could help me. Rebecca told me that they offer a treatment regime for post herpetic neuralgia and their success rate was very high. So, I booked an appointment with Rebecca.

How has your life changed since having treatment? 

Specialist manual physiotherapy treatment has given me my life back. My sleep returned to normal and I was able to return to work. My pain was so severe that it took a few treatments before I noticed any difference but my progress was slow and steady. I continued to have treatment for 3 months and after this time I was pain free however I still had mild skin sensitivity and Rebecca advised me to use a progressive self-massage programme on my arm. This cleared the sensitivity and tingling also. It was such a relief that I wasn’t going to be left with this pain permanently which was my biggest fear. My pain cleared completely and my life returned to normal!

What advice would you offer someone suffering from post herpetic neuralgia? 

I would advise anyone suffering with post herpetic neuralgia or nerve pain after having shingles to go to Apex Clinic. With this treatment this type of pain and sensitivity can be cleared and you don’t have to suffer with it.