Shingles pain

I think I've finally found the right breakthrough pain combo -- two 5/500 Vicodin and up to 1 mg Ativan. A tiny 0.25 mg piece of Ativan helps remarkably and doesn't make me sleepy. 

But I had more serious night breakthrough pain again yesterday. I needed the full dose of both to get back to sleep. When the shingles pain hits me like that in the middle of the night, it's like my back and leg are on fire.

I complained of lower back pain for months and we thought it was mets on my sacrum, even had a scan to determine if there were more mets. I wonder if maybe this was early warnings of shingles? Every adult, unless immune suppressed, should get the shingles vaccination ASAP! See this article on why people don't get the vaccine.