![]() Medicines can ease the symptoms of post-herpetic neuralgia, although they may not relieve the pain completely. See your GP if you have ongoing pain after having shingles. They can advise you about treatment options, including medicines you can only get on prescription. feel painful as a result of something that would not normally hurt, such as a light touch or cool breeze.It can be described as burning, stabbing, shooting, aching, throbbing or like electric shocks. The pain may come and go or be continuous. The main symptom of post-herpetic neuralgia is intermittent or continuous nerve pain in an area of your skin previously affected by shingles. But symptoms occasionally last for several years or may be permanent. Many people with post-herpetic neuralgia make a full recovery within a year. People age 50 and over are particularly at risk. This article has been verified medically by Dr Tan Tee Yong, consultant Anaesthesiologist and Pain Specialist at Surgi-TEN Specialists, Farrer Park Hospital (Singapore).Post-herpetic neuralgia is a lasting pain in the areas of your skin where you had shingles.Īround one in five people with shingles will get post-herpetic neuralgia. But the pain on the overlying skin can persist far beyond the duration of the rash. Shingles often resolves itself spontaneously within a few weeks. Therefore, please see a family doctor as soon as a rash starts to develop. When blisters affect the eye region, permanent eye damage may occur and one should see an eye specialist.Īntiviral medicines such as acyclovir can shorten the duration of the disease and alleviate its severity if they are administered within 72 hours of the development of the rash. As nerves are responsible for sending signals giving rise to sensations involving temperature, pressure, and pain – shingles can be intensely painful and uncomfortable. The rash most commonly develops in one or two adjacent dermatomes ( an area of skin that sends information to the brain via a single spinal nerve) in one’s torso. When the varicella zoster virus reactivates, it multiplies and moves along the nerve fibres to the skin supplied by them. There is a scientific explanation for the development of band-like rashes in shingles. However, doing so is dangerous as it can result in burn wounds and infection. An old wives’ tale has it that the “snake head” needs to be burned in order to stop it in its path. The Chinese like to describe the shingles rash as a “growing snake”. Shingles often manifests itself as stripe of searing blisters or rash on one side of body, the buttocks and genitalia, or the face. However, the pain may persist for longer than that. ![]() The blisters may fill up with pus, which will crust over and dry up in two or three weeks. Groups of blisters on a red rash usually follow. The patient may experience this for one to three days before a rash appears. This can be accompanied by an intense headache, sensitivity to bright light or fatigue. Shingles often starts with a burning pain or tingling feeling, or intense sensitivity in one area of the skin. has been given medical treatments that suppress the immune system – including irradiation for cancer, chemotherapy and drugs taken to prevent organ rejection.has an illness that weakens the immune system, such as cancer (e.g.It is not clear what causes shingles, but doctors know that a shingles attack is most likely to happen if someone: When this same virus reactivates, it causes shingles.įollow us on Telegram for the latest updates: Cause of shingles More specifically, the virus lies latent in nerve tissue near the spinal cord and brain. After an attack of chickenpox, the virus stays dormant (inactive) inside the patient’s body. From the perspective of Western medicine, shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus – the same virus which causes chickenpox.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |