Jul 2, 2019

Health Advice

Alternative & Natural Shingles Treatment That Boost The Immune System

If you have had chickenpox when you were younger, chances are you may suffer from shingles in adulthood. We often talk to patients who are confused about what shingles are, how this condition is different from chickenpox even though it is the same virus that causes them, and plausible shingles treatment options that extend past the medical path.

In today’s blog we are going to answer all of your questions in regards to shingles. We will talk about what it is, signs and symptoms, health risks, pain after healing, and both medical and natural shingles treatment choices.

What are shingles?

Before we get into those treatments let’s talk about what shingles actually are. A simple way to think about it is as a very painful rash that occurs mostly when you are 50 or sometimes sooner.

Yes, shingles is a viral infection and the virus that’s involved is varicella-zoster. This is the same virus that brings on chickenpox when you’re a kid. So if you’ve had chickenpox in the past, you have to varicella-zoster within your body. It

But wait a minute…why do you still have the virus if you already got treatment for chickenpox? Well, varicella-zoster actually lives in your nervous system for years, usually at the dorsal root ganglion. When you are younger, and you get chickenpox, your body fights off the virus but it doesn’t get rid of the virus. It simply goes into hiding, and the place it chooses is right outside the spinal cord at the base of the nerve, and sits there for several years.

Why do I not have any signs and symptoms of shingles if the virus is still present in my body? Usually, if you are a healthy individual the virus doesn’t do anything and it just continues to sleep. However, in other cases when you aren’t feeling very well, your immune system weakens because of illness or aging process, the virus can reactivate and begin to irritate the sensory nerves cells (the nerves in charge of giving sensation) that it has slept in.

Facts About Shingles

• It is estimated that 1 in 3 people will get shingles
• As many as 130,000 Canadians who develop shingles each year in Canada
• Generally shingles is not contagious, but a person with active shingles can spread the virus when the rash is in the blister phase.
• About 10 to 15 per cent of people who get shingles develop Post herpetic Neuralgia or PHN.
• The older a shingles sufferer is, the more likely they are to develop PHN and the more painful it can be.
• Shingles in a younger person could be a sign of another underlying health condition.
• Those individuals whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV infection, cancers, or treatment with immunosuppressive drugs are at higher risk of developing shingles.

Shingles Sub-Types: When It Becomes Dangerous

Yes, chickenpox can be serious, even deadly, but those are rare cases. Vaccination and other preventative measures have helped curb the number of deaths from the disease. This is not necessarily the case for shingles.

Likewise, shingles is not dangerous for the most part. If your rash appears in the chest, neck, and torso area, you will be less likely to develop long-term effects from this condition. However, if your rash is located in your face, around or close to your eyes and ears, then shingles may damage important nerves that help these two organs function.

Here is an explanation of what to look for:

Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus

Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus is shingles rash that forms on the eyelids, forehead, and the tip or side of the nose. This rash might show up at the same time as the skin rash, or weeks after the skin blisters have gone away. Some people only have symptoms in their eye such as:

• Throbbing pain in your eye
• Redness around and in the eye
• Watery eyes
• Eye irritation
• Blurry vision
• Extreme sensitivity to light
• Swelling in parts of your eye such as eyelid, retina, cornea

The reason why Herpes Zoster Ophthalmicus can be dangerous is because it can damage the nerves in your eyes leading to long-term problems including permanent vision loss. For example, swelling of the cornea may be severe enough to leave permanent scars. Shingles can also increase eye pressure and lead to glaucoma. You may also develop an injury to the cornea.

Treating shingles in the eye right away can help you avoid long-term problems.

Herpes Zoster Oticus

Herpes zoster Oticus involves the nerves that control sensation of the region of the face along the jawline and ear, as well as, the nerves that control movement of the face. The painful rash will appear on the face including in or around one ear. Blisters also can show up in your mouth and throat. Herpes Zoster Oticus may cause muscles of the face to become paralyzed, often referred to as Ramsay Hunt syndrome (RHS).

Patients experience weakness in the muscles in your face, they can find it hard to smile or completely close one eye. In other cases, they might not be able to move the muscles on one side of your face at all. Common symptoms include:

• Ear pain
• Hearing loss
• Ringing in the ear
• Vertigo
• Nausea/vomiting

In rare cases, hearing loss or facial paralysis may be permanent. Surgery may be recommended for chronic cases to ease pressure on the nerve in your face.

How to Know if You Have Shingles

Shingles normally happens in a single patch on one side of your torso. It may also happen on the shoulders, side of your neck, or head. Within 3- 5 days, bumps in the rash fill with fluid and become blisters that look just like chickenpox. Next the blister fills with pus, which forces them to break open and begin to scab over. When the scab falls over and blisters heal, the pain usually goes away. These symptoms may last 1-2 months.

You may experience a complication of shingles called Post herpetic Neuralgia or PHN. This is pain even after your rash has cleared up. Other complications of shingles includes vision loss if shingles occurs around your eye, pneumonia, hearing problems, brain inflammation, neurologic problems, and skin infections.

Shingles Treatment Options: Medical and Natural Choices

So what to do about this viral infection that can often bring very severe burning pains?

The truth is that doctors are not too sure how the virus can be best taken care of because it is unknown exactly what causes to reactivate it. What we do know is that there is a direct correlation between individuals who have low immune systems with the occurrence of Shingles.

Therefore it would be very wise to help strengthen your immune system in order to prevent shingles from happening or to treat shingles itself.

Don’t Skip Vaccines

First and foremost, always get vaccinated. Both the chickenpox vaccine and the shingles vaccine can dramatically reduce your risk for getting shingles and PHN. Shingles vaccine is recommended for people even if they’ve had shingles before simply because they can get it again.

None of the following natural shingles treatment options are a replacement for these vaccines. They are simply alternative natural ways to treat shingles besides over the counter medicine products.

Medication

Although there is no cure for shingles, medical doctors may prescribe anti-viral drugs such as acyclovir in order to speed up healing and reduce the severity of the rash when taken within 3 days after the rash appears.

Additionally, different over the counter medications would be prescribed in order to reduce pain on top of the anti viral medicine. It is important to know that these medication may bring secondary side effects such as headaches, dizziness, muscle pain, fluid retention, changes in behaviour, and in severe cases, seizures and difficulty breathing.

If you prefer the natural route, we are going to give you five natural shingles treatment choices anyone can do that also boosts your immune system.

Regular Exercise

Exercise is useful in boosting the immune system because it promotes circulation. A healthy level of blood circulation is crucial in order to help heal the body. The thing is it’s important to have the right amount of exercise. If you’ve lived a very sedentary lifestyle, if you are often at a desk studying or working, increasing your exercise is going to be beneficial for you. On the flip side, if you are someone that has always been exercising very regularly at a high intensity level it may actually be more beneficial for you to taper down the amount of exercise.

Why is that? Exercise expends energy and resources of the body. When you over exercise you are using up all that energy you already got that could be used to healing your body and fighting the viral infection. Having the right amount of exercise is important.

Adequate Sleep

That’s a no brainer, right? But some people tend to just keep on going without a proper resting period. When you are feeling tired and your body is dying for some sleep, yet you continue to push forward, you are telling your body that its priority should be keeping you awake during that activity you are doing when actually the priority should go towards resting and fighting the viral infection.

Give yourself some time, allow yourself to plan in some rest in your day so that you can feel better.

Reduce Stress by Saying No

Chronic stress can lower your immune system. It is that simple.

We often run into chronic stress when we constantly say yes to things that put your body in a state of stress. What can be helpful in treating your shingles is saying no to things. And that will help you not spread yourself too thin. If you have been experiencing chronic stress, just say no. Go back to tip number two and get yourself some rest.

Sometimes medicine can be about changing regular lifestyle choices one makes.

Supplements with strong antioxidants

A lot of stuff is going on your immune system while it is trying to fight off the bad guys during an infection. This can lead to free radicals being formed.

Free radicals are things that float around the body and oxidize healthy tissue, which isn’t ever a good thing. It is very important to supplement with the antioxidants that will help, basically, get rid of all those free radicals. Doing so will prevent your body from becoming even more damaged from the virus.

Drink Reishi Tea

Reishi is an incredible mushroom. A simple way you can use it is in form of infusion. You can take the dried form of Reishi and let it infuse in hot water and drink that as tea during the morning.

It is not common to hear that mushrooms could help with a viral infection but they are actually really good at boosting the immune system. There have been cases where patients have reported that Reishi tea has helped with the pain of shingles when conventional medications have failed to work.

There you have it! These are five natural shingles treatment options that boost your immune system. When you boost your immune system with natural treatments it can actually help you in various other infections that you may encounter or may want to prevent.

If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to contact us at PhysioChiroWellness. Also if you find that these five treatments aren’t really doing it for you, we would be more than happy to talk to you about all the other natural treatments available, so that we can find the best treatment for you.

How Can PhysioChiroWellness Help?

At PhysioChiroWellness Integrated Health Centre our highly skilled practitioners work together to create fully integrated health solutions that may include physiotherapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, naturopathy, medical aesthetics amongst others. Our professionals will work together towards achieving an optimal health for all our patients through a holistically approach when treating any condition or pain they may present. This service is provided in our Ajax, Mississauga, Newmarket, & Vaughan clinics and can be booked at any time.