Identifying and Treating Shingles

When a friend began to experience severe headaches and burning sensation on her scalp she visited a doctor, but he was unable to diagnose any problems. Within a few days blisters began to break out on the left side of her scalp. The itching and burning reached oppressive levels, and she visited another doctor. Within minutes the second doctor diagnosed the problem as shingles.

Symptoms of shingles

Shingles is a rash that is caused by an infection lodged at the root of the nerve. Shingles is often preceded by a painful burning sensation. It can feel like pins and needles and may occur on one side of the head, on the chest, face, or anywhere around the trunk of the body. The pain from shingles is often sharp and stabbing and can often lead the patient to feel they are suffering from something more severe, such as the severe pounding headaches mentioned above or even chest pains mistaken for heart attacks.

The shingles rash initially develops as small, blistered spots. It generally appears in patches and may form a distinctive pattern on the affected part of the body. A few days after they rash forms they blister and will eventually scab over.

Other symptoms of the shingles sometimes include fever, chills, aches, and general fatigue.

Typically, an infection will last around two weeks. Full recovery is to be expected, but the elderly and others with a compromised immune system may continue to experience lesions and pain.

Treatment of shingles

The same virus that causes chickenpox causes shingles. Following an acute infection with chickenpox, which usually occurs during childhood, the virus remains latent in the nerve cells. When some event causes the virus to re-activate it is a slightly different form of the chickenpox virus.

The best treatment for shingles is the drug aciclovir. Aciclovir is an oral medication that is available by prescription. If the prescription is administered quickly enough it can reduce the severity and length of the attack.

There is a vaccine available for the shingles, but either it is not widely known or has not been widely popularized to date. It has been deemed effective for preventing shingles up to 50% of the time.

While shingles itself is not contagious, it is possible for someone with shingles to pass the chickenpox virus to anyone who has not had the chickenpox.

Sources:

Shingles, Mayo Clinic
Shingles (Herpes Zoster), webmd.com
Symptoms of Shingles, Mayo Clinic
"The Shingles Vaccine: Why hasn't it caught on?," Harvard Medical School