Shingles (herpes zoster) is a very painful virus that affects the nerve endings. Typically, a shingles rash will follow the pathline of a particular nerve, in areas like the waist band, face, and shoulder. Researchers estimate that every year, a half a million people in the United States develop shingles.
As if shingles isn’t bad enough, many people, particularly those over 60 years, develop a very painful condition called post herpetic neuralgia, a type of nerve pain along where the shingles occurred.
Nerve pain, neuralgia, is a very difficult pain to treat. While some people see the PHN ease off, some still …read more

Qutenza, a capsaicin skin (cutaneous) patch, has been granted authorization for market in Europe. Qutenza is approved for use for treatment of peripheral neuropathic pain (nerve pain) but not for people who have this pain but also have diabetes.
Capsaicin is a component fount in certain plants, such as cayenne and red pepper. It works by stimulating the release of too much of substance P, which triggers the burning sensation you usually feel if you taste very hot peppers. However, once this is released, there is no more for a while, numbing the area. A second action involved releasing a chemical …read more