Shinglesrequires a multi-pronged treatment approach.
Home remedies such as cool compresses can help ease yoursymptoms.
Your healthcare provider may also recommend antivirals, anti-inflammatories, and pain relievers.
Verywell
Shingles often afflicts the torso and chest area.
This article describes the prescriptions and over-the-counter medications that are used to treat shingles.
Several home remedies and lifestyle habits can take some of the edge off the pain of shingles, too.
Get our printable guide for your next healthcare provider’s appointment to help you ask the right questions.
Chickenpox Link
If you’ve already hadchickenpox, then you could develop shingles.
The two conditions have an uneasy relationship since they are both sparked by the same virus:varicella-zostervirus.
A chickenpox infection never really goes away.
Verywell / Laura Porter
Once it fades, the virus stays inactivesometimes for decades, sometimes forever.
But it can flare up again in some people, this time in the form of shingles.
Antiviral medications may speed the healing of skin lesions and reduce the severity and duration of pain.
They’re most effective when started within 72 hours of the first appearance of a rash.
So if you have signs of shingles, see your healthcare provider right away.
Symptoms
The symptoms are usually obvious and often follow a certain progression.
Over-the-Counter Therapies
Over-the-counter pain treatments may be effective at controlling pain.
If you’re caring for someone else who has shingles, “creature comforts” can be enormously soothing.
Most of these people are age 50 and up.
Although other alternative treatments for shingles have been considered, none have been researched enough to be considered viable.
Research has found TENS to be effective for relieving shingles pain and preventing PHN.
They are often marketed asdigestive enzyme supplements.
The group taking proteolytic enzymes had significantly fewer side effects.
Check with your healthcare provider before taking them as a treatment for shingles.
If you’re allergic to pineapple or papaya, avoid supplements derived from these fruits.
Summary
There are multiple ways to extinguish the painful, burning sensation of shingles.
Physicians often prescribe Zovirax (acyclovir), famciclovir, Valtrex (valacyclovir), corticosteroids, and opioids.
Over-the-counter options include Tylenol (acetaminophen), antihistamines, calaminelotion, Lidocaine, and capsaicin.
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