First, a warning: if you’ve hit 50 years of age, go get the shingles vaccine…you don’t want this. I was dumb and kept putting it off.

Also, second warning: this story is disgusting.

Keep reading (or jump to the Direct Pressure section) if you have swelling from shingles on your head, as I found a procedure that’s not in any of the online sources and wasn’t recommended to me by my doctor, but it worked.

Story

I found a patch of sensitive skin under my hair. I thought that maybe a pimple was coming up or something, but the next day it grew more intense. Three days later, I noticed some bumps on my forehead, as whatever it was had moved forward, and I realized that it was probably shingles. My dad had it a few years ago, and I’d just spoken to him.

I consulted Dr. Facebook. Turns out that there’s an antiviral treatment you can take, but you need it within the first 72 hours of symptoms for best effectiveness, and I was definitely past that. Still, given the other horror stories my post and online searches yielded, I figured I’d best consult a doctor ASAP. By that evening, I’d started the pills.

It was shortly after that that the bumps moved to encompass half my forehead, followed by blisters. A day after that, I couldn’t sleep due to the pain and malaise, so had to book off work. That day, the affected areas on my forehead swelled up and it moved downward to surround my eye. The pressure was intense, and while I could open my eye if I put in some effort, it was uncomfortable.

It was kind of like this, though there were no blisters below the eye.

After a full day of agony, utilizing the recommended cold compresses and ibuprofen, I felt that in order to save my eye from being damaged, I had to do something extreme like lancing the swelling, but first I decided to try something less intrusive.

Direct Pressure

Disclaimer: I have no medical training. This worked for me, but your mileage may vary. I’m posting this hoping that I can save someone from some pain, or possibly even preserve their eye.

Nowhere that I found on the internet or the doctor’s advice did it say to try this, so I had little hope, but I used my fingers to push the swelling to the side, away from the eye. For the parts above, below, and next to the temple, this meant towards the ear, though I realized as I was doing this that, if it worked, I didn’t want it going toward my ear either, so I made sure to push downward at the end. For the swelling between my eye and nose, I pushed toward the nose.

Now, this did not feel good, but it was bearable. I returned to my bed and, surprisingly, woke up hours later being able to open my eye! The swelling around it was mostly gone, so I was very relieved, as my job is very visual.

Then, as I touched my cheek on that side, just a little forward of the bottom of my ear, I realized where all the swelling had gone as I experienced a LOT of pain…it was very swollen! Still, avoiding touching that area was a small price to protect my eye. The pain in the new spot went down after a day, though the swelling remains.

Not Done Yet

It’s been 4 days of a rather strong (but not migraine-level) headache sapping away at me, and I have another 3 days of antivirals left, so I’m hoping this gets better soon. Again, if you’re over 50, go get the vaccine!