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.

Natural remedies for shingles pain treatment

Shingles Pain Treatment--Two simple yet effective home remedies for shingles pain treatment

It hardly needs to be mentioned that most pharmaceutical medicines including acyclovir only provide temporary treatment. Moreover, they are also fraught with serious side effects.

Here are two natural foods that provide effective treatment from shingles pain.

1.Papaya and pineapple

Papaya and pineapple the juicy, fibrous and delicious fruits contain copious amounts of proteolytic enzymes that our pancreas also produces. These enzymes help us in digesting and absorbing proteins.

Although nothing can beat the powerful effects of raw, fresh and organic papayas and pineapples, you can take their substitutes in form of food supplements. They are papain and bromelain, from papaya and pineapple respectively. They are easily available from most health stores.

In a two-week comparative study conducted on the effects of protelytic enzymes and acyclovir, it was established that 96 users, who participated, experienced the same pain relief that acyclovir provided minus its harmful side effects.

2. Capsicum

Capsicum or chili pepper has an ingredient called capsaicin, which is effective in fighting the painful postherpetic neuralgia caused by shingles virus also called varicella zoster virus.

Since It is not possible to eat chili pepper daily, scientists have come out with a cream with capsaicin as its main ingredient. Although capsaicin cream causes burning sensation on the affected skin, it also provides the much needed relief from neuralgic pain.

It has been found that capsaicin can eliminate P,a neurochemical that causes pain and also produces an analgesic effect.

Always wear gloves before applying capsaicin cream to avoid stinging pain on your fingers.

There are several other natural, simple home remedies for permanent treatment of shingles pain that cause no side effects and are much more effective than the pharmaceutical drugs.

Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus

What is herpes zoster ophthalmicus

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus, also called ocular shingles, is an infection of the eye.

Around 10-25% of shingles cases are infected with herpes zoster ophthalmicus. The problem can become really devastating when HZO leads to chronic ocular inflammation, blindness and debilitating pain

Causes

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus is caused by the varicella zoster virus, which is a member of the herpes virus family and causes chicken pox.

Most people who get chicken pox can be infected with herpes zoster ophthalmicus as the chicken pox virus that goes into dormant state in the body becomes active once again.

After the outbreak is over, the virus goes to dorsal root or other sensory ganglion and lies there in dormant state for decades. It becomes active once again when it finds certain favorable conditions in the body such as old age, immunosuppressive illness, stress or some medication.

The reactivated virus may attack the ophthalmic division of the nerve and cause herpes zoster ophthalmicus.

Symptoms

The initial symptoms of herpes zoster ophthalmicus starts with rash. There may be redness of the eye, pain, sensitivity to light and reduced vision. It may, sometimes, cause serious complications such as glaucoma in the eye.

If you ever experience any of these symptoms, contact your eye specialist immediately for an eye examination.

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus generally lasts a few weeks, but in some patients it may stay for years.

Treatmentof herpes zoster ophthalmicus

Herpes zoster ophthalmicus is normally treated with antiviral medication such as acyclovir, valacyclovir and famciclovir.

Since patients with acute rash of herpes zoster are highly infectious, contact with them should be avoided. This advice is particularly applicable to those whose immune system is impaired or those who are on immunosuppressive medication.

Some people contract post herpetic neuralgia and suffer from acute pain and rashes. This is a complicated condition and can be difficult to control. Patients have to take pain killers and the treatment may be the same that is needed for depression and epilepsy.

Prognosis

It should, however, be noted that once herpes zoster ophthalmicus attack is over, it does not normally occur again and no serious harm comes to vision