How to cure Shingles naturally and permanently

Shingles is an infectious disease. It normally occurs on a limited area of the body and causes lots of painful rashes and blisters.

The genesis of shingles lies in the chicken pox that generally attacks children and young people. After the chicken pox episode is over, the virus stays in latent form in the nerve cells.

It may travel back and reappears in form of shingles after several years. The symptoms of shingles are quite different from those of chicken pox.

Although the rashes caused by shingles may heal within two to four weeks, the residual nerve pain may last for months or even years. This condition is called post-herpetic neuralgia.

Signs and symptoms of shingles

The earliest symptoms of shingles are headache, fever and muscle pain. They are followed by the appearance of hives like skin rash, but unlike hives, herpes zoster rash remains limited to a dermatome. It appears like a belt and infects only one side of the body, but rarely crosses the midline.

There is a tingling and itching sensation and burning pain.

You feel as if you are being pricked by pins and needles that cause agonizing pain. The pain may range from mild to extreme in the infected area and can be described as stinging, tingling, throbbing, numbing and aching.

Later on the rash becomes vesicular. It forms lesions that are filled with serous exudate while the malaise continues. The painful lesions become cloudy or dark and crust over in 7-10 days. Ultimately the crust falls off and the skin normally heals.

If the shingles attack is severe, the painful blisters may scar and discolor the skin.

Shingles may not cause much pain to children, but can be severe for the older people who have weak immune system or under immunosuppressive medication.

Diagnosis

Shingles can be diagnosed through the lab tests, which detect VZV-specific IgM antibody in blood. This antibody is found only during the chickenpox or herpes zoster and also while the virus is active and not in the dormant state.

Prevention and treatment of shingles.

A shingles vaccine, called Zostavax, can cut the incidence of severe herpes zoster attacks by 55%. According to a study, two third of the number of patients suffering from post-herpetic neuralgia were successfully treated by it.

According to the recommendation of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, shingles vaccine should be used for patients over 60 to prevent the risk of shingles. The vaccine, however, is not recommended for treatment of active shingles or post-herpetic neuralgia once it develops.

Normally the incidence of post herpetic neuralgia is not common in people below 50 and the problem vanishes in time. The pain may, however, wear off more slowly in older people. But in 85% of the patients over 70, the pain may linger on for around an year after the shingles outbreak.