How to Treat Shingles with Vitamins

The virus that causes chicken pox can lay dormant forever for most people. For some people, the virus recurs in adulthood and results in painful blisters. This recurrence is given the name shingles and medical treatments range from antiviral medications to transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. Alternative means of addressing the various symptoms that arrive with a case of shingles include vitamin treatments. A handful of vitamins each have the potential to address specific elements related to this medical condition.

Vitamin B12 injections are used to treat inflammation caused by shingles and to reduce the amount of time it takes to recuperate. Several reliable sources report that B12 can also be taken by patients in a sublingual form of 2,000 milligram vitamin tablets. Supplements or injections are necessary for using vitamin B12 to treat these symptoms because consuming 2,000 mg through natural food sources is impossible. Well, impossible for most people. Those people who can never get out of bed without a crane might be able to consume that much B12, but shingles would seem to be the least of their problems. The problem with absorbing vitamin B12 sublingually is that it may not be as effective as injections. When receiving amounts of B12 in these excessive amounts, it is important that it be taken only under the supervision of a physician.

Vitamin C as a means of treating the blisters that accompany an outbreak of shingles is considered viable by many physicians. The antioxidant capabilities of vitamin C cause it to neutralize the biochemicals that produce inflammation. This effect has the potential to help protect adjacent cells that would otherwise be subject to damage caused by the fighting taking place between the immune cells and the viruses. The recommended amount of vitamin C to treat blisters varies from one person to another. You must find out the ceiling of your vitamin C capability by learning just how much vitamin C you can handle without resulting in diarrhea. Adding citrus fruits high in vitamin C can also be an effective way of treating blisters that accompany a case of shingles.

The means by which vitamin E reduces pain caused by chronic nerve inflammation isn't exactly known, according to shinglesdiseaseguide.com. What is known is that vitamin E helps protect cells from virus attack damage by neutralizing those biochemicals that the immune cells product to fight against the virus. Vitamin E may provide additional benefits by obstructing the damage to the cell that result in inflammation.

Sources:

Shinglesdiseaseguide.com

"Minerals, Supplements and Vitamins: The Essential Guide;" H. Winter Griffith, M.D.; 200