Shingles (herpes zoster) is a painful viral infection that is caused by the chicken pox virus that remains dormant in your body for many years. Anyone who has had the chicken pox could, at some time, develop shingles.
The rash caused by the shingles follows along a nerve line in the body, so you could have it along the belt line, but only on one side, for example. Some people have it on the face and near the eye – again only on one side – while others may have it around their ear. The blisters vary from being very painful …read more

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

If you’ve ever had shingles, you know how painful it can be – especially if it’s not caught early enough to take the antiviral medication. That’s what happened to me about four years ago when I had shingles. I didn’t know what it was until it was too late.
One of the things I remember the most was not only how much it hurt, but how tired and run down I felt. Just awful. And then there’s the itch too. Not fun at all.
Treating shingles (herpes zoster) pain is hard because it’s nerve pain (neuropathic pain), the toughest there is to …read more

Herpes zoster, more commonly known as shingles is an outbreak of a rash or blisters on the skin that is caused by the the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox.
It begins with a burning or tingling pain in one location on the body and is followed by an outbreak of blisters similar to chicken pox. It is very painful and it often occurs in a pattern around the wasitline. Anyone who has had chickenpox is at risk for shingles.
Antiviral drugs can reduce the symptoms of an attack, but an important step in prevention of shingles is the …read more