I noticed you haven't had a reply to your question yet Denique so I just thought I'd give you our cancer nurses telephone number as they may be able to give some insight. They're available on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m so do give them a call if you'd like to discuss this with them.

Do be sure to have a chat about this with your doctor and/or medical team as well.

Kind regards,

Steph, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi, Steph

I've just posted something on this site and, while there, looked back at my previous postings. Two of them in particular - the above "PICC line and shingles" and one from August last year regarding the coincidence of the onset of migraine and a reaction to paclitaxel - have had similar replies from you and your fellow moderator Ben, in both cases referring me to help from nurses, doctors. My thoughts may be nonsense in both cases - just me joining up dots. But this is the Cancer Research site. And sometimes it might happen that joining up some dots clicks in somebody's mind. 

Is the site simply for help/support/comfort for those dealing with cancer (all good and I certainly wouldn't denigrate it for that) or could it possibly also be a source of experiences which could add to the pool of knowledge? 

Best regards

Denique

I certainly wasn't suggesting that everyone who has ever had a PICC line might have had shingles, the point of my posting was to find out whether anyone else had found that happening. It struck me as a serious possibility, as I'd had chicken pox quite badly as a child and the shingles hit me towards the end of chemo and after several months of the PICC line. It wasn't an accusation, or indeed a cry for help. Just an observation which, I guess, I would like to be logged somewhere..

A) I had chickenpox (quite badly) as a child

B) I had a PICC line installed along the rough line that the shingles really attacked

C) My immunity levels were low at the time.

The shingles at first was very difficult to cope with (end of 2019). Bouts of extreme pain. Now (14 months later) it is an annoyance which I have learned to cope with.

As I say, I'm only posting this in case it's something worth looking at. We know that, once you've had chikenpox, the herpes zoster (shingles) virus tends to lurk in the spine to reveal itself in later life. The route of the PICC line and the quadrant of my body which was attacked was alomst too much of a coincidence to be ignored. 

I'd just like some of these observations to be logged. After all, we're all in it together and if we don't talk and suggest inklings we might not progress. Science is great, but experience can help it sometimes, maybe?