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 What is shingles?

Shingles is a painful rash caused by the Varicella zostervirus (Herpes varicellae), which is the virus that causes chickenpox. Shingles occurs in people who have had chickenpox and is a reactivation of the dormant virus. Shingles often occurs long after the initial chickenpox infection maybe years. Shingles is contagious and may itself cause chickenpox. However, contact with a person with shingles or chickenpox cannot cause shingles.

The causes shingles

After the chickenpox virus has been contracted, it travels from the skin along the nerve paths to the roots of the nerves where it becomes inactive. The chickenpox virus then 'hibernates'. When the virus is reactivated, it travels via the nerve paths to the skin. It is not known what factors trigger a reactivation of the virus. Shingles generally affects the elderly, but occasionally occurs in children who have had chickenpox within the first year of their lives and in people with an immune deficiency.

Shingles can be a sign of immunodeficiency, caused by HIV or chemotherapy,stress, long time after sickness for example, but most people who get shingles have a normal immune system.

What are the symptoms?

You may feel slightly unwell, and develop a localised area of pain and tenderness a few days or sometimes up to two weeks before the rash appears. The rash starts off as red spots, which quickly turn into blisters. They always affect only one side of the body (left or right) and never cross the midline. This is because they come out on the area of skin which is supplied by one particular nerve.

The rash may affect any part of the body, including head and limbs. It may thus appear as a band around one side of the chest or abdomen, or down an arm or leg. It may affect the head, and when it affects the upper cheek or the side of the forehead it may also affect the eye. You should certainly see your doctor if you have shingles affecting the side of the head, and especially if it seems to affect the tip of your nose or the eye itself.

It is usually a very painful rash, and typically people can't bear clothes touching the affected area.

The blisters burst and crust over, usually within a week and the area slowly settles, sometimes leaving pale scars. The pain may settle as quickly as the rash, but unfortunately some people are left with pain affecting that area for many months or even years (Post herpetic neuralgia).

Most people are surprised by how ill they feel with shingles. This seems out of proportion with the extent of the skin involved. There is a general debility and exhaustion, sometimes with aches and pains and sometimes a mild fever. Depression is often a feature of shingles, as in many other viruses. You may need up to three weeks off work.

The prevention.

People who have never had chickenpox can reduce the risk of getting the virus by avoiding contact with people with chickenpox and shingles. Shingles itself is not preventable.

Diagnosis

The patient's medical history in combination with the appearance of the rash will usually be sufficient for making a diagnosis. If necessary, a scrape from the blisters can help identify the virus. A blood sample can also be used to confirm the initial diagnosis.

What happens if it gets worse?

The rash can become infected by bacteria. An attack of shingles near the eyes, or at the top of the nose can be associated with scarring on the cornea, affecting vision.
Shingles on the face can, in rare cases, lead to a temporary hearing loss, facial paralysis and a reduced sense of taste.

Shingles is rarely serious. In about 90 per cent of patients, the attack normally subsides within a week after the appearance of the first symptoms if it gets treated immediately. Otherwise they may suffer for months. Most people only have one or two attacks. Elderly people in particular may continue to feel intense pain, even after the attack seems to have subsided. These could goes on for months of pain and may cause depression.

Shingles Herbs Treatment

Shingles Treatment Centre

Anyone who's had chickenpox may develop shingles. If your immune system doesn't destroy the entire virus during the initial infection, the remaining virus can enter your nervous system and lie hidden for years.

Acupuncture Cure For Shingles

Herbal Treatment Shingles Acupuncture

Shingles is another name for a condition called "herpes zoster." It causes a painful rash. You can only get shingles if you had chickenpox in the past or if you have had the chickenpox vaccine ("shot").

Acupuncture Herbal For Shingles

Shingles — also known as herpes zoster — is a viral infection that causes a painful rash.Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.

Shingles Herbal Medicine

Although painful, typically shingles isn't a serious condition. Sometimes, however, the rash can lead to a debilitating complication called postherpetic neuralgia.

Therapy Treatment For Shingles

Typically, the shingles rash occurs on only one side of the body. It often appears as a band of blisters that wraps from the middle of your back around one side of your chest to your breastbone, following the path of the nerve where the virus had been dormant