Shingles. Shingels Symptoms and Treatment

What is Shingles?

Shingles is a disease caused by viral infection which also causes chicken pox. This virus is known a herpes simplex virus. Shingls symptoms are characterized by a painful rash or blisters which have a crusty appearance.

At the initial shingles stages, the pain may surface just as mild itching or tingling feeling. In some instances one may experience sharp, aching, or stabbing pain. Some rare cases have episodes of severe pain in which one can't even bear the  feel of clothes. The pain is usually very terrible when the rash is worst.

Herpes virus which causes shingles resides in the nerves cells close to the spinal cord. This virus type can remain dormant in the body for long periods of time and may suddenly become active. The condition of shingels is a reoccurrence of the chicken pox virus. When it becomes activated (by some triggering factors), the virus uses the nerve paths to reach the skin and does damage to the nerves along the way.

Weakling of the immune system can trigger a flare-up of the virus which may have been inactive since childhood attack of chickenpox. An episode of shingles can be a sign of imbalance in the body system. In the state of imbalance an individual is susceptible to many types of diseases which can patch up in the weak areas of the body.

Individuals having shingals are very contagious to those persons who never had chickenpox. If any uninfected person comes into the contact of a shingles infected person he can catch the virus. However, one can't contract shingles itself from other people.

Approximately 250,000 people in the United Kingdom alone get shingels each year. About 100,000 of these shingles infected people are affected by post herpeticneuralgia (PHN). Any person who has had chickenpox in the past can develop shingls, majority of people have chickenpox in their childhood. It is one of the most common childhood health conditions and is usually of little significance.

Shingles Treatment:

Antiviral medication are prescribed for combating the virus, pain medications are taken up for symptom control. The area showing symptoms should be kept covered and dry. However, having a shower is permit table and the area can be cleansed with mild soap and water.

The health care provider may prescribe treatment with Famvir, Zovirax (aciclovir) or Valtrex tablets. These medicines may not work for all the patients, but if treatment is taken up within 72 hours of initial appearance of symptoms, it reduces the severity of the outbreak considerably. Because of this it is important to visit the health care provider as soon one gets aware of the first signs of shingals so that treatment can be started right away.

Objective of shingls treatment is to reduce discomfort, pain, fasten up the process of blister healing and to prevent any further spread of the shingles disease.

If the shingles treatment is taken up early i.e. within a period of two or three days after developing initial rash, decreases the potential severity of shingles and can thereby reduce the risk of developing PHN. Complication can occurs with shingals when it affects the face, to be specific, the nose and forehead. Patients with herpes zoster symptoms on the face should visit their health care provider at the earliest, because infection of the eye could be serious and has the tendency to cause blindness.