Treatment For Shingles Pain
Without treatment for shingles pain, many older patients develop postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), which is a severe, excruciating painful rash. Doctors estimate that 1 in 4 patients with shingles will develop this condition, even if they are treated quickly with antiviral medication. However, if they do not seek treatment right away at the sight of the rash, then the odds increase to 1 in 2. For this reason, initial treatment is critical. Today there are several courses of action doctors may advocate for their patients.
Treatment for shingles pain ranges greatly, depending on the doctor and the patient's response, says Dr. Anne Louise Oaklander MD, PhD of Massachusetts. "Some people may find that over the counter anti-inflammatory and pain relief is adequate, such as acetaminophen, aspirin, or ibuprofen," she explains, "but substantial numbers of people will need prescribed pain medications by their physician. Some patients, in fact, with severe pain may require admission to the hospital and treatment with intravenous or intraspinous pain medications." Most people are lessening the pain of shingles at home with nerve-targeting prescription medications like Percocet, Vicodin, Gabapentin, Nortriptyline, Despiramine or Amitrityline. Not everyone feels comfortable taking such drugs, which are known to have side effects like drowsiness and nausea.
A May 2009 study found that a new surgical procedure provides pain management for sufferers of PHN. In a 45-minute procedure, surgeons implanted a hockey puck sized pump system under the skin in the abdomen, with a small tube inserted into the spine to deliver medicine, like morphine. This treatment for shingles pain resulted in a "dramatic improvement in pain" for all five patients, says Andrew J. Fabiano MD, senior resident at the University of Buffalo. "All patients showed a greater than 50% improvement in pain control," he adds. No side effects were reported.
The study included four men and one woman with an average age of 75. These patients had tried oral treatment for shingles pain with no success. Even though the patients found reprieve with the pump, Dr. Fabiano cautions, "This is not a first-line treatment. The first line is oral or transdermal [skin patch] medication. It's for a minority of patient with shingles," he says. Anne Louise Oaklander, MD, PhD, associate professor at Harvard Medical School, explains, "The ideal candidate is someone who has not been helped enough by other treatments who gets substantial pain relief from taking these opioid medicines by mouth but can't continue to do so because of severe side effects" -- like nausea and drowsiness.
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Shingles Disease: The Facts
The shingles disease is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is part of the herpes viruses that cause chickenpox. Anyone who has had chickenpox can develop shingles, as it often lies dormant in the nervous system for years. Doctors are still researching to figure out what triggers the dormant virus in some people, but they speculate that it may be due to a lowered immunity to infections as the body weakens with age.
Shingles Disease Symptoms Are Painful
Many patients wonder, "Are shingles contagious?" They also wonder if they will experience these painful shingles disease symptoms more than once in their lifetime. Doctors can say with certainty that a person cannot catch shingles from someone who has shingles, but if they've never had the chickenpox before, they can catch that form of the herpes virus. So far it seems, almost without exception, that people will either never get shingles or will only have it once.
Shingles Disease Vaccine Pros And Cons
Every year, 1 million Americans come down with herpes zoster, which is more commonly referred to as "shingles." This painful skin rash is much more common in people over the age of 60 who have weakened immune systems due to cancer, HIV/AIDS, autoimmune disorders, steroid use, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The best way one can protect him or herself from this unsightly virus is to get the shingles disease vaccine Zostavax.