How to Deal with Shingles – Pain Medication and Treatment
Are you one of the millions of people suffering from the pain of a herpes zoster outbreak? Herpes zoster is the wrath of chickenpox, otherwise known as shingles, that affects millions of people in the US every year. Shingles is a painful red rash that turns into blisters that leak a clear fluid when the blister breaks open.
Shingles is caused by the same virus as chickenpox. The varicella zoster virus (VZV) stays dormant in the body after a chickenpox infection, that usually occurs in children. If your immune system becomes compromised later in life, this could result in reactivation of the virus, resulting in a painful case of shingles zoster.
How is the immune system compromised?
Prolonged stress, anti rejection medications, as well as HIV/AIDS and chemotherapy all can be an assault on the immune system causing the virus to come alive with a vengeance. The result is extreme pain and discomfort to the victim. It can start and burning and tingling on the skin that appears to come out of nowhere for no reason. VSV travels along the nerve route, or dermatome and shows up on one side of the body. This is one way that shingles is distinguished from varicella (shingles). Read more…
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Categories: Diseases & Conditions Tags: herpes zoster, shingles medication, shingles pain, shingles pain management, shingles treatment
Shingles Infection Pain Management – Medications and Vaccinations
There is no argument that shingles is a painful ordeal to have to endure, particularly for the elderly who are the ones mostly frequented by this disease. Treatment for zoster is mainly palliative, but it is the antiviral meds that can help to interrupt the virus’s ability to replicate, which can lessen the severity and length of time the disease is active.
Medications for shingles are used to combat pain, shorten the duration of the disease, and decrease the risk of complications.
Complications:
Cellulitis: A bacterial skin infection that can spread to the blood or lymph nodes, which can be deadly
Postherpetic Neuralgia: A painful condition of the nerve fibers and skin
Encephalitis: Inflammation of the brain
Hearing loss
Visual problems that can be temporary or permanent
Facial paralysis
Ramsay Hunt syndrome: Infection of the facial nerve with painful rash and facial muscle weakness Read more…
