Some Good News for Shingles Sufferers
Article by Groshan Fabiola
Going to elementary school often includes an experience with chicken pox, known in medical parlance as the herpes zoster virus, in which children get little raised bumps on the skin and stay out of school for a few days until the chances of contamination pass. It has been a long time since this virus was a serious concern for Americans, but roughly 100 people still die from complications of the infection annually. Since 2002, a vaccine has been administered to children and adolescents to help eliminate the virus. Measuring the impact of the vaccine on the population and the effectiveness of the inoculations remains to be seen, but recent studies show that fewer children are missing school due to chicken pox.
But the herpes zoster virus still enters the body, with or without the vaccine. Dormant for most of adulthood, this sometimes aggressive virus attacks the nervous system of its host. When active, like in the case of chicken pox, it causes a rash or blisters that are so familiar in children. Yet, in adults, the late-onset virus, referred to as shingles, can be extremely painful, and the pain can last well after the rash, blisters and swelling abates.
Like the new vaccine available to reduce the occurrence of the virus in the young, new treatments to help alleviate the suffering of adult individuals with shingles has also made significant advances.
In the past, medications like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin or stronger drugs were the likely treatments for pain – affecting the entire body. Later advancements introduced a topical shingles treatment. A lidocaine shingles patch was developed to inject pain relief right to a local site on the body where the shingles pain originated. This form of topical treatment provided about 12 hours of pain relief.
A newer form of topical treatment for shingles provides up to three months of continuous pain relief. Following the same pattern of delivering medication to the infected area, the newer treatment patch reduces swelling and alleviates pain for a longer period of time. A professional must apply the medication, but it takes less than one hour to perform, making it a revolution for shingles sufferers.
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For more resources regarding Shingles Treatment Options or even about Neuropathic Pain and especially about neuropathic pain treatment please review these pages.
