Searching for home remedies for shingles? You have come to the right place. Shingles is a kind of herpes virus known as “herpes zoster” that is similar to the type of virus that causes chicken pox. Popularly known as the adult’s version of chicken pox, this virus will stay with your forever once you get infected by it.
As the virus will not go away even after you have chicken pox in your childhood, the virus becomes inactive and hides in your body’s nerve cells. It can stay on that way for many years or even decades until one day when it gets triggered and becomes active again. When it reappears this time in your adulthood, it is known as shingles.
Although the real cause as to why this “herpes zoster” virus reappears again is still largely unknown, many doctors believe that they are caused by weakened immune system due to illnesses, stress, sleep deprivation and even old age. People who are undergoing surgery or having diseases such as cancer are particularly susceptical to shingles due to their already weakened immune system caused by the prevailing diseases.
Shingles Behavior
The appearance of shingles may look like a belt circling the trunk of your body. But in its early stages right before it strikes, you may notice some tingling feelings followed by red spots developing around the affected area of your body. Soon, these red spots will turn into blisters which can last for some time ranging from one week to one month depending upon the severity of the condition. Shringles however, only affects one side of your body.
It is interesting to note that the affected area could either be the left side or the right side of the body and not both at the same time depending on which side of the nerve the virus resides. Do be extra careful though if it affects the region around your eyes. Shingles can cause problems such as facial paralysis, temporary hearing loss and even a loss of vision particularly if it affects the nerves of your eye gets affected. Therefore, seek medical help immediately of you happen to notice shingles on your face or near the eye.
Post Herpetic Neuralgia
After the shingles infection ended, there may be some left over scars on the affected area of your skin. These scars are light and may disappear over time but what is more scary is the after effects. Knowns as post-herpetic neuralgia, these after effects make the sufferer experiences sharp piercing pain occasionally on the previously affected skin area even though the condition has completely healed a long time ago.
Often, post herpetic neuralgia can persist for many years into the future. Therefore, it is important that you consult your doctor if you suspect that you are having shingles particularly if it happens on your face. Early diagnosis and early anti-viral treatments if given during the starting phase of the shingles outbreak, may actually help prevent or at least minimize the effects of post herpetic neuralgia. Learn also about varicella shingles prevention.
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