Some Facts About Shingles You Must Know
Shingles, as everyone knows, is a viral disease, which is caused by the varicella Zoster virus. For causing chicken pox in children it is responsible. Generally, this virus remains inactive or dormant in the nerve cells of the body which after many years activates to cause shingles disease when immune system of the body becomes weak. This does not occur in everyone. Only in some cases, shingles develops in later stage of life. This is the reason why there is more incidence of shingles disease in elderly people than younger ones. In young people also in cases of severe stress, lack of sleep, extended fever etc, this can occur.
It can become hasty any time of life the moment this virus enters into the body and cause chicken pox. If the child has chicken pox anytime in time in life, he / she will not get it again is the misunderstanding among the people. But this is a mistake in total. The reoccurrence depends on the establishment of Varicella Zoster virus.
Shingles not only effect the skin but effect the nerve cells also and cause swelling by going deeper. The pain in the affected nerve area lasts for about 2 – 4 weeks when shingles disease start. There may be small blisters, which are filled with pus. Sometimes, even after the blisters are healed, the pain can remain for long and leads to a diseased condition known as Post-Herpetic Neuralgia.
Acyclovir drug, which has lot of side effects, is the usual treatment of shingles. Some of them are loss of appetite, nausea, hallucinations etc. By making the immune system stronger, speedy cure and healing possible. By taking balanced diet, plenty of rest, avoiding stress etc, is important for this.
In shingles, usually skin breaks are common. For this vitamin C is advantageous. This should be daily used which nourishes the skin and makes it healthy and shiny. It should be applied externally on the whole body properly after the bath. Not only on affected area it should be applied on the entire body. This will help to prevent the scratch to spread and speedy recovery. It can also be taken internally.
It is advisable to take Vitamin B12. By lowering the swelling it cuts down the suffering and speeds up the recovery. Normally 2000 mg of Sublingual vitamin B12 is prescribed. In the mouth under the tongue this tablet is kept. In all the pharmacy shops it is easily available.
Some herbs like Echinacea can also be beneficial in fighting the infection. With asparagus it is usually combined, which improve the resistant system of the body. It is worth taking this combination. Also it is advisable to avoid arginine. Arginine is normally one of the essential amino acid. But high intake of this duplicates the growth of varicella zoster virus. So it is very important, at the time of disease to avoid this. Many foods have arginine. Cashew nuts, gelatin, peanuts, chocolate and oats are these.
Author is an expert writer on shingles symptoms and are shingles contagious.