You felt as though you had a cold and your back hurt all at once one day.
"What? Do I have muscle soreness even though I'm not overdoing anything?"
You received cupping therapy and physical therapy at a Korean or orthopedic clinic nearby. But instead of the agony going away, you got a skin condition that made your back break out in blisters.
It's shingles on you!
(Shingles can also develop in the area of the ears. In rare cases, facial nerve irritation and paralysis can result from shingles that develops in front of the ears. We refer to this illness as Ramsay-Hunt syndrome.
What then is the shingles' cause?
The herpes zoster virus lays dormant in nerve cells and can cause shingles when the body's immunity deteriorates years or even decades later. The Herpes virus is the same as the shingles virus. This virus is related to the chickenpox virus and, depending on the type, is categorized as either Herpes simplex or Herpes zoster. Herpes simplex, which mostly affects the lips, is primarily caused by the simplex virus. Conversely, the Zoster virus is purportedly a shingles virus that affects the face and trunk of the body.
This kind of herpes can cause problems not only on the face or body but also on the genitalia.
(This photo is a microscopic photo of the Herpes (Varicella)-zoster virus, which causes shingles.)
Shingles symptoms include:
a skin rash that starts on one side of the body and blisters
a burning sensation in the rash's location
near the location of the rash, neuralgia
Severe neuralgia-related depression
You might have colds, aches in your muscles, exhaustion, etc. before the rash shows up.
The painful condition known as shingles is so severe that it is said to be the only one that has to be hospitalized at a dermatological clinic; nevertheless, the more serious issue is the neuralgia that develops in the area where the shingles appeared.
Post-herpetic neuralgia is the term for this. Along the spinal segment where the shingles occurred, pain, including a stinging sensation, persists even after the shingles have healed and there are no blisters.
Pain from postherpetic neuralgia is known to be worse than that experienced by people with early- to mid-stage cancer, and it mostly affects 50% of shingles patients over 60. Furthermore, if shingles is not aggressively treated in its early stages, its aftereffects may spread to the auditory or facial nerves, resulting in paralysis of those nerves and blindness.
(A scene from an allergic skin test administered on the first day of immunological bee venom therapy. 10% bee venom is injected under the skin prior to full-scale treatment; after 15 minutes, the rash's extension or level of redness is assessed, and the right dosage of bee venom is chosen for treatment.)
How is postherpetic neuralgia or shingles treated?
Herbal medicine for boosting immunity: Inflammation control and immune function reinforcement are critical. Depending on the nature(constitution) of the body, herbal medicine that boosts blood and energy and encourages circulation is given to patients. Combining treatments might sometimes be a good idea in order to support the body's detoxification program and help remove toxins.
Apitoxin, the bee venom therapy, is used to treat shingles-related nerve irritation at intercostal or other places. Through allergy testing, the treatment is administered based on the patient's level of sensitivity. Since this condition is quite much serious, approximately 10 to 20 or more treatments are carried out.
Moxibustion, cupping therapy, and acupuncture
How may postherpetic neuralgia or shingles be avoided?
The key idea is that immunity is a battle, and the best method to preserve and boost immunity is to fortify your body with regular exercise, a healthy diet, and enough sleep. Alcohol, foods made with flour, seasonings, and instant meals should also be avoided. These are the kinds of foods that frequently have an adverse effect on the adrenal glands and result in hyperinsulinemia. Our bodies experience an excessive inflammatory reaction when hyperinsulinemia takes place. The most crucial thing is always to maintain immunity or vital energy.
And it is crucial to cure inflammation for shingles, which unavoidably happens, or post-herpetic neuralgia, which is its aftereffect, by reviving the diminished vitality (i.e. immunity).