What Can I Do For Shingles Pain

Complications send about 1 to 4 percent of people with shingles to.

What can i do for shingles pain.

Shingles can appear many years after the initial chickenpox infection. Shingles is usually diagnosed based on the history of pain on one side of your body along with the telltale rash and blisters. Pneumonia and brain inflammation are possible. If you have shingles symptoms get treatment now and you may avoid permanent nerve pain.

Shingles a viral infection of the nerve roots affects 1 million people in the u s each year. While antiviral medication is an effective treatment for shingles it s not the only option. Any part of your body can be affected including your face and eyes although the chest and abdomen tummy are the most common areas where shingles develops. Roughly 30 to 60 of people over age 60 who get shingles go on to develop a chronic pain syndrome called post herpetic neuralgia.

Your doctor may also take a tissue scraping or culture of the blisters for examination in the laboratory. Find out what the recovery stages of shingles are and how you can help minimize the symptoms. The pain of shingles is for many people quite striking in its severity. Shingles also known as herpes zoster results from a reactivation of infection with the varicella zoster virus that causes chickenpox anyone who has had chickenpox may develop shingles later in life although it is most common in older people.

Shingles recovery tends to follow a pattern and may take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks or more. The main symptoms are pain followed by a rash. Some people experience shingles pain without ever developing the rash. Shingles can affect the brain spinal cord and blood vessels but it s rare.

For some it can be intense. Shingles causes a painful rash that can be accompanied by fever fatigue and sensitivity to light. Pain is usually the first symptom of shingles. Depending on the location of the pain it can sometimes be mistaken for a symptom of problems affecting the heart lungs or kidneys.

Some people develop complications after shingles including nerve pain called post herpetic neuropathy. Rice md of imperial college london.