Just been diagnosed with shingles, will it be still possible to ride low intensity workouts, without affecting my immune system. I do not feel fatigued just a rash?
Yes, just listen to your body. I rode through a bout last year without issue.
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I ran a marathon when I had shingles, but I was also in my mid-twenties. Try one and see how you feel!
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I had a mild case of shingles a few months ago, but I had a more systemic set of flu-like symptoms in addition to that tingly rash. Once I could hold the riding position without too much fatigue, I eased back into intensity. I gave it a few weeks, though. I’d go slow, see how you feel, and ramp it back up slowly.
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I had it a couple years back (26 YO), and it was some of the most pain I’ve ever felt. However, my doctor said to just take care of yourself, get plenty of sleep, not push the body too hard. Easy stuff should be fine, just make sure to recover more than normal.
I would suspect low intensity rides should be fine…but as always…I do think a better answer is…consult your doctor. From there you can decide to take their advice or not.
Hi-hope you don’t mind me asking but how did you get on in the end? Did you manage to train through it? Just been diagnosed today (thought i’d just got an infection from my HRM strap but doctor says definitely shingles) and started anti-virals. Feeling ok, no fatigue, just a painful rash, but had a 200km ride planned tomorrow which I’m now thinking is probably a bad idea.
I had shingles last year and did for the most part train through it with z1-z2 workouts. Sleep was the hard part because of the discomfort. Yes I think a 200km ride would be well overdoing it. You run the risk of really running down your immune system and taking much longer to recover. My reduction only lasted about a week and I was back to being strong enough to ride normally.
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Ugh, diagnosed with Shingles 4 and a half weeks before my A event. My dr. says I caught it fairly early and I’m young (45) so it seems to be mild (although it’s miserable). How do I balance protecting my immune system with not detraining? I’m thinking 30 min. of threshold or VO2 3 times a week? I have a B event in a week–should I scratch that to just focus on recovering?
I have had shingles and caught it early. It was gone very quickly. I would just take an easy week to let your body deal with it and then see how it is going.
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I came down with a case last year and didn’t take it seriously. My shoulder now has deep localised scaring that looks like something has been chewing on it. It also hurt pretty badly at the time.
Since then I’ve spoken to a few people I know who were hospitalised with severe cases. Anything around your face is obviously quite dangerous as it can mess up your eyes.
I’d let your doc advise you on how it’s going and what you should do.
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Sorry to hear about having shingles. I ended up with a pretty mild case earlier this year, and I caught it fairly early. (I’m similarly aged to you.) My doctor told me to just take it easy for a week. Well, actually, my regular doctor said it was fine to do whatever I wanted, but I also had to see an ophthalmologist because I had a bit of rash near my eye and I needed to make sure my cornea wasn’t involved. The ophthalmologist told me to rest up. What I actually did was to take it easier, and listen to my body. On the fourth day, I was just really tired and didn’t want to do anything, so I didn’t. I’d listen to your body and probably take it easy for a week. It took me a couple of weeks to really bounce back. I’d also probably skip the B event, depending on how you feel.
For anyone reading this thread, if you haven’t gotten the shingles vaccine (especially over 50), go get it.
You don’t wanna mess with that schitt.
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This is solid advice. I had my second shot a couple of weeks ago (somewhat delayed by the Covid 19 vax overlap) but have watched my Dad suffer greatly from shingles. Would not wish that on anyone.
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I got shingles (age 39) in March last year.
Super bad case, honestly thought I was gonna die. Lesions the size of golf ball on my forehead and scalp. Was likely due to the fact that I design and support infrastructure for ICU’s and had been under immense pressure for 2 weeks to get our state’s capacity ramped up (we got early warning about COVID and expected massive waves).
Fully recovered now, can’t even tell - no scarring. But it was NAAASTY.
I would not… NOT mess with shingles.
I get this is an old thread but posting for posterity.
If you have it, take the medication and take a month off and see where you’re at.
two weeks ago, I had hip pain, and then a rash. Turns out that was all shingles. I’m thinking about taking this week off. I was struggling with the workouts (possibly due to the shingles, maybe just over training)
I would be cautious.
You don’t want the pressure of an imminent race to cause anxiety and the risk of over training.
If it was me, I would cancel the race and find another A race to ride, later in the season.
You might be fine, but shingles can be very serious and have lasting effects(nerve pain etc).
My mum had it, and suffered permanent recurrences, and nerve pain in the areas affected.(luckily not on her face.)
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