RSS
Home
Natural treatments for shingles
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Geranium/morguefile
Got shingles? No, not on your roof, on your body. Each year, nearly 1 million Americans get medical care for shingles or its complications, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. An estimated 500,000 new cases of the condition occur each year in the United States.
What is shingles?
Shingles is a rash that arises from an infection with varicella-zoster virus—the same virus that causes chicken pox. The virus lives inactive in the nervous system for decades. When it reemerges later in life, perhaps stimulated by emotional stress, immune deficiency, or cancer—no one knows for sure--the reactivated virus causes shingles.
What experts do know is that it develops most often in people 60 and older, and that it causes shooting or burning pain that can be severe, tingling, or itching. Shingles starts as small blisters that form along the path of individual nerves that come out of the spinal cord. The rash often appears around the waist and torso area, but can also appear on the face.
.jpg)
Pineapple provides bromelain
Natural treatment of shingles
Natural remedies for shingles, like conventional ones, cannot cure the disease. However, natural treatments are typically without side effects and can be effective. These include the following:
• Proteolytic enzymes, which are produced naturally by the pancreas to help digest proteins. These enzymes are also found in certain foods, such as pineapple (as bromelain) and papaya (as papain). A double-blind study of 190 people with shingles compared proteolytic enzymes with the conventional drug acyclovir. After 14 days of treatment, both groups reported similar pain relief, but the enzyme-treated patients had fewer side effects. Proteolytic enzymes are thought to help shingles by decreasing inflammation and regulating immune response to the virus. Side effects may include digestive upset. You should not take proteolytic enzymes with warfarin, aspirin, or other blood-thinning medications. Recommended dosages of proteolytic enzymes vary with the form, so you should follow the label directions.
.jpg)
Chili pepper
Geranium/wikipedia
.jpg)
Herbal remedies
Treating shingles conventionally
Conventional medical treatment of shingles includes antiviral medications, such as acyclovir (Zovirax), valacyclovir (Valtrex), and famciclovir (Famvir). Steroid drugs typically offer limited help. Pain medications are often used to relieve that symptom.
Want to read more articles by the Phoenix Alternative Medicine Examiner? Please subscribe at the top of this column to receive e-mail updates.
Previous articles by the Phoenix Alternative Medicine Examiner
Related Articles:
Add a Comment
