How to Prevent or Manage Shingles Symptoms

If you had chickenpox, you’re at risk of having shingles. Though both cause a blistery rash that itches, shingles is more painful.

Our board-certified dermatologists at Associated Skin Care Specialists treat shingles and know how much discomfort the viral infection causes. But you don’t have to sit around and wait for shingles to strike and then suffer through the symptoms.

Read on to learn how to prevent or manage shingles symptoms.

About shingles

Shingles, also called herpes zoster, is a viral infection caused by a reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus, the virus that causes chickenpox. Though your body fights off the virus when you have chickenpox, it remains dormant in your nerve cells.

Your immune system keeps the virus inactive, but certain conditions may lower your body’s immune defense or activate the virus, resulting in shingles. Aging, illness and stress are some examples. 

Only people with a history of chickenpox can get shingles. It’s a secondary infection, so you must have had chickenpox. 

However, not everyone who has had chickenpox gets shingles. It most often strikes in adults after age 50 due to changes in the immune system. Of course, shingles can reactivate at any age from stress, illness, or trauma. You’re also at risk of shingles if you have a compromised immune system from health conditions like HIV or chemotherapy treatment.

Managing shingles symptoms

You may not have fond memories of your bout with chickenpox, but you made it through relatively unscathed (minus a few scars), soaking in an oatmeal bath and lathering up with calamine lotion.

Shingles symptoms are different. Before the rash, you may have pain, tingling, or burning in a small area of skin on one side of your body. Some people say it feels like an electric shock. Within a day or two, a painful, blistery rash appears in the painful area. 

If you think you have this type of pain or rash, now is the time to schedule an appointment to get checked out for shingles. Taking an antiviral medication as soon as the rash appears is crucial for reducing the severity and duration of your symptoms. Over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers, oatmeal baths, and calamine lotion also help manage symptoms.

It can take up to five weeks for shingles to clear up. 

The varicella-zoster virus is highly contagious. Shingles causes blisters that leak fluid, and you can spread the virus to people who come in contact with the liquid. You can’t spread shingles, but people who aren’t immune to the virus can develop chickenpox.

Preventing shingles

Though uncommon, you can have shingles more than once. Getting the shingles vaccine can reduce the risk of an initial or recurring infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people 50 and older get the shingles vaccine.

The vaccine is given in two doses, with the second dose given 2-6 months after the first. 

Preventing or managing shingles symptoms may reduce the risk of postherpetic neuralgia, a painful nerve condition that lasts for months or years.

There’s no need to suffer with shingles. Whether you have a concerning rash or want to prevent getting shingles, we can help. 

Call the office most convenient to you. We provide medical dermatology care at our offices in Eden Prairie, Fridley, Maple Grove, Coon Rapids, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. We also offer telemedicine appointments. 

We do clinical research at our office in New Brighton, Minnesota.