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Home :: Skin Disorders :: Shingles Shingles Disease, Symptoms, TreatmentShingles is a very painful, blistering rash that is caused by the chickenpox virus. Shingles only affects a limited area of skin and you will feel very tired, run down and depressed. The symptoms begin with the feeling of not feeling well and pain and tenderness in a localized area before you start seeing any type of rash. The rash itself begins as red spots which will very quickly blister. The rash will only appear on one side of your body and never along the mid-section. The reason this happens is that the rash appears on the area of skin which is supplied by one particular nerve. Shingles can appear on any part of the body including the head, limbs, one side of the chest or abdomen, down an arm or leg. The rash may appear on the side of your face including your forehead and may cause problems with your eye on that side of your face. Shingles are very very painful and it is almost unbearable to wear clothing. The blisters burst and crust over within about a week and then the rash will slowly disappear. Some scaring may remain. The pain usually goes away rather quickly but in some people the pain can go on for months and even years, which is called post herpetic neuralgia. Many people are unable to work, because of the extreme fatigue, pain and depression that is associated with Shingles. It is best to get a three week leave from work if at all possible. This will give your body time to heal. The cause of Shingles is chickenpox. People that get Shingles have previously had chickenpox. The chickenpox virus lies dormant in the nerves and shingles will occur when it is re-vitalized in one nerve to the skin. The reason for this is that you have a decrease in your body’s natural resistance. This decrease may come from other infections, stress, being run down, or even from some medications that affect the immune defenses. When you visit your doctor he will more than likely not need to take any type of tests to confirm that you have shingles. He will be able to tell by examining the rash area. Sometimes, he may wish to perform some tests, but not normally. The best treatment for Shingles is pain relief such as an analgesic. The best medication is an anti-inflammatory pain killer that is non-steroidal. Calamine lotion is great for soothing the area as well. You physician may prescribe an anti-viral agent which can be in cream form or tablets. These types of medications are especially prescribed for people whose eyes have been affected. Also, if the blisters become infected the doctor can prescribe an antibiotic in cream form or a medication taken by mouth. There is nothing you can do to prevent Shingles. You can not catch Shingles from someone who has Shingles or Chickenpox. You can however, be contagious to anyone that has not had chickenpox when the rash is in the blister form and is oozing. The major problem with Shingles is that it can occur over and over again. Any time the defenses of the body are lowered or the dormant virus is reactivated. When your body becomes run down you can have another occurrence of Shingles and it may not affect the same area of the body that it did the last time. The best home remedies include: Do nothing. Leave the blisters alone unless the rash is extreme. You can cause the healing process to take longer by irritating the skin by over using creams and ointments. Use a calamine lotion for severe pain. It will help to sooth the area and give you some relief. This is another great pain soother; add 20 percent isopropyl alcohol and 1 percent each of phenol and menthol to your calamine lotion. This can be applied as often as necessary until the blisters are dried and scabbed over and then stop using. One more paste that can aid in soothing is using a chloroform and aspirin paste. Mash 2 aspirins into a powder and 2 tablespoons of chloroform and mix. Put the paste on the rash with a cotton ball. This can also be applied as often as needed. If you do not wish to try to create this paste you can speak with your pharmacist and he can mix it for you. This paste should give you relief in about 5 minutes and can last for hours.
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Visitors' Comments:
| Posted by megan | 2008-08-12 |
| To everybody out there i have had shingles before and i was in severe pain, i struggled to leave my bed because of the pain... i was the first teenager that my doctor has ever seen or heard of that has had shingles twice.. I had to wear t-shirts that were about 4 sizes bigger that my acctual size because it was to sensitive to touch!.... i was taking 2 panadine every i think it was 6 hours a day and it toook me hours to fall asleep at night because of the pain... i have dislocated my shoulder before so the shingles was acctually attacking the nerves in my shoulder and i had big sunburn like blisters on my chest.. My signs of my shingles were that i had severe pain in my armpit and i could not move my arm and the blisters started popping up, my advice is please dont pick the blister because it puts you in more pain and i picked mine and i now have deep scars.. | |
| Posted by DinieDonna | 2006-10-20 |
| To all: I too have been diagnosed with shingles (Oct ’06). I am a MWF/52, 3rd generation shingles. Whoopee! For the last several months I have experienced sensitivity to clothes, undergarments especially. Everything was too tight, bras, panties, slips, bathing suits and most of all pantyhose. Anything that had a waistband was constricting, super sensitive and drove me nuts. My skin was too tight. Then the pains began. I had severe backaches. I had pains in my front abdomen. I kept checking my temperature for a fever. The pains grew worse and spread. I read in home medical books to self diagnose, I researched on the web for solutions. I ate OTC pain meds by the handful and finally after months of exhaustion and pain, I went to see my doctor. He suggested a gallbladder problem and recommended an adnominal MRI with an ultrasound gallbladder study. At last a reasonable solution to my problem, all I had to do was to survive the weekend and get the 10 AM appointment on Monday. Survival entailed massive amounts of OTC meds, hot and cold compresses, sleep deprivation and super soft non-clingy dresses w/o underclothes. Over the weekend I feared and resolved the fact that I had some really nasty internal he-be-gee-bee and death was going to be immanent. Sunday evening upon removing my dress for bed, as I walked past a mirror, I noticed a slight rash on my back below my bra. What a strange place to get poison ivy or something else. I upon stripping for the MRI on Monday morning, I asked the technician if she knew what shingles looked like and showed her my spot. Affirmation, but to be safe I underwent the tests. All internal organs in excellent shape and I was not going to die. I showed the diagnostic doctor my rash and I received another affirmation and a strong recommendation that I see my GP and get meds immediately. I was prescribed Zoverax and a strong pain reliever. Ahh, relief! WRONG! After a couple more days of pain I had a conversation with the company’s president and learned of his experience with shingles and his relief to pain. Stubborn and cheap to spend anymore money on doctors or meds, I succumbed to his advice and visited his Atlanta dermatologist. The word shingles is like saying, Opensaysame! The office staff was very accommodating and they would work around a time when I could get into the office. If you take nothing else away from this story, please remember this. I was injected with four syringes a 50/50 combination of zylocaine and cortisone into each of the quarter-size lesions I had acquired over the last 4 days and the surrounding area. It was like being touched by the finger of God and being healed. All the internal pains were gone immediately and within 24 hours the lesions were gone. I still take the Zoverax and pain reliever. A week later I went back for more shots to lessen the internal pains and cut down on the oral medicines and any risk of damaging internal organs with too much medicine. It seems GPs do not know about the 50/50 mix to bring relief to their patients. I have not read anyone saying they got relief from their pains in this manner. It truly works. I have shared this info with everyone I know, and now I share with you. Please remember there is a solution to pain relief and I will continue to get the shots for several months to defer the internal pains until the shingles are gone. Donna Grammas Atlanta, Georgia I visited: Dr. Chenault W Hailey, Dermatologist 404/525-7409 1218 W Paces Ferry Rd Atlanta, GA 30327 | |
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