Soothing Shingles
You have searing headache that won’t quit. Days later, a painful rash erupts on your forehead. You could have shingles.
Shingles is a painful and sometimes debilitating nerve inflammation and blistering skin rash caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. Anyone who has had chickenpox is susceptible to shingles later in life.
What happens is after having chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Particularly, the virus stays in a portion of the spinal nerve root called the dorsal root ganglion. For most people, the virus will remain there. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles for others.
The virus that causes both chickenpox and shingles is known as the varicella-zoster virus which can lie dormant for years. You can get shingles if you have had chickenpox. If you have never had chickenpox you can get it from a person with shingles.
Varicella-zoster is a part of a group of viruses called herpes viruses, which includes the viruses that cause cold sores and genital herpes. Because of this, shingles is known as herpes zoster. But the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles is not the same virus responsible for cold sores and genital herpes, a sexually transmitted infection.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 out of every 3 people in the United States will develop shingles or herpes zoster, in their lifetime. An estimated 1 million people get shingles each year in this country. The risk of shingles increases with age, with about half of the cases occurring in people over age 50. Shingles generally last 2 to 6 weeks.
Symptoms of shingles include pain, burning, numbness, or tingling; sensitivity to touch; a red rash that begins a few days after the pain; fluid filled blisters that break open and crust over; and itching. Some people also experience fever, headache, sensitivity to light, and fatigue.
You are more likely to develop shingles if you have a weakened immune system (people with cancer, HIV, organ transplant recipients, those receiving cancer chemotherapy), if you are over the age of 50, if you have been ill, and if you have experienced trauma or stress.
Unfortunately you can get shingles more than once so it is a good idea to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Shingles isn’t life threatening but it can be painful even when the rash heals up completely thanks to a condition known as postherpetic neuralgia where you continue to feel pain on the site of the rash without it being there. About 10 to15 percent of people who get shingles also get postherpetic neuralgia. No one knows why that is. It may be that the nerves are more sensitive or the virus may be invading and damaging the central nervous system.
Some other complications that can occur with shingles are vision loss (if the rash happens to be near an eye), neurological problems (shingles can cause brain inflammation or encephalitis), hearing or balance issues, and skin infections.
The vaccine available for shingles is Shingrix. Shingrix was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017. Some studies suggest that Shingrix can offer protection against shingles for more than five years. Shingrix is given in two doses with 2-6 months between doses. The Zostavax vaccine is no longer used in this country. Common side effects from both vaccines are redness, pain, swelling, tenderness, and itching at the injection site, and headaches.
Unfortunately, the vaccine doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get shingles. But it will reduce the severity of the condition and reduce the likelihood of suffering from postherpetic neuralgia.
To diagnose shingles, your doctor may take a tissue scraping or culture of the blisters for examination in a laboratory. There is no cure for shingles. But antiviral prescription drugs may help such as acyclovir (Zovirax) and valacyclovir (Valtrex).
Your doctor may also prescribe other medicines for severe pain such as capsaicin topical patch, anticonvulsants, tricyclic antidepressants, numbing agents, narcotic medication, and an injection including corticosteroid and local anesthetics. Nerve blocks are very effective in preventing prolonged postherpetic neuralgia provided they are used within six months of the onset of the shingles rash.
Most importantly, try to reduce the amount of stress you may experience by engaging in relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga. Some tips to help alleviate stress include eating healthy, maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking, and getting seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Taking a cool bath and using a cold compress on your blisters may also soothe your skin. Talk to your doctor about the right course of action to address your condition.
