Treatment For Shingles Pain

If you have shingles symptoms get treatment now and you may avoid permanent nerve pain.

Treatment for shingles pain.

There s no cure for shingles but prompt treatment with prescription antiviral drugs can speed healing and reduce your risk of complications. This pain called postherpetic neuralgia can last for months or years and become quite severe. When the rash goes away the pain usually goes. Learn about treatment options from a pain management specialist.

The pain of shingles is for many people quite striking in its severity. Acyclovir zovirax valacyclovir valtrex shingles can cause severe pain so your doctor also may prescribe. 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. The pain from shingles usually occurs in the nerves of the chest or the neck face or lower back.

Early treatment can limit pain help the rash heal quicker and may reduce scarring. While antiviral medication is an effective treatment for shingles it s not the only option. Shingles itself comes from reactivation of a chickenpox virus varicella zoster. Shingles a viral infection of the nerve roots affects 1 million people in the u s each year.

Shingles is characterized by pain or a tingling sensation in a limited area on one side of the face or torso followed by a red rash with small fluid filled blisters. The virus travels down nerve fibers to cause a painful skin rash. To help relieve the pain your doctor may prescribe antiviral anti inflammation and other. After the shingles rash has disappeared you might continue to have nerve pain in that same area.

About 10 to 15 of people who get shingles develop postherpetic neuralgia. Once a doctor confirms shingles they may suggest the following treatments. Shingles causes a painful rash that can be accompanied by fever fatigue and sensitivity to light. Shingles can appear many years after the initial chickenpox infection.