If you have a condition that causes intense pain, blisters and rash on the skin and you have had chicken pox in the past, you most probably suffer of shingles. Shingles is an infection of a nerve and the area of skin around it.

Definition

Shingles is a painful condition characterized by the appearance of a skin rash. This condition is caused by the vermicelli zoster virus and this virus also causes chicken pox disease. In fact once a person has had the chicken pox this virus remains within the body in a dormant or latent condition. When the immune system of the body becomes weak, the virus may get reactivated and this can result in appearance of shingles symptoms.

Weakening of the immune system

The immune system may become weak when the person suffers from a condition like Aids or is undergoing treatment like chemotherapy. Emotional stress may also result in reactivation of the virus and in most cases the exact cause for the reactivation of the virus is never found. Any individual who has suffered from chicken pox can develop shingles. However the shingles symptoms are most often seen in individuals who are around 60 years old.

Causes

Shingles is caused by the herpes varicella-zoster (or simply zoster) virus. This virus also causes chickenpox. Most of us get chickenpox during childhood, but after we recover the virus remains inactive (dormant) in our nervous system. Our immune system stops the virus from becoming active. However, later in life it may become reactivated, causing shingles.

Treatment

As soon as you are diagnosed with shingles, your doctor probably will start treatment with antiviral medicines. If you begin medicines within the first two days of seeing the shingles rash, you have a lower chance of having later problems, such as postherpetic neuralgia. Early treatment of shingles is important, because the problems that can arise can be serious and resistant to treatment. For example, 40% to 50% of people with postherpetic neuralgia do not respond to treatment.

The most common treatments for shingles include:

    • Antiviral medicines that reduce the pain and the duration of shingles
    • Over-the-counter pain medicines to help reduce pain during an attack of shingles
    • Topical antibiotics, applied directly to the skin, to stop infection of the blisters.

Corticosteroids also may be used to reduce pain in people younger than 50 years of age who have had a recent outbreak of shingles.

Ongoing treatment

If you have pain that persists longer than a month after your shingles rash heals, your doctor may diagnose postherpetic neuralgia, the most common complication of shingles. Postherpetic neuralgia can cause pain for months or years. It affects 10% to 15% of those who experience shingles. Treatment to reduce the pain of postherpetic neuralgia includes:

    • Antidepressant medicines
    • Topical anaesthetics
    • Anticonvulsant medicines
    • Opioids (A family of synthetic medicines used to treat moderate to severe pain).

Topical creams containing capsaicin may provide some relief from pain. Capsaicin may irritate or burn the skin of some people, and it should be used with caution.

Our Employee Wellbeing Programme (EAP) is available 24 hours a day if you want to know more about shingles.