What Do You Take If You Have Shingles

People looking to receive the shingles vaccine have two options.

What do you take if you have shingles.

But there are things you can do to help your skin heal. There aren t home remedies for shingles. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should wait to get shingrix. Keep the affected area clean dry and exposed to air as much as possible.

Shingles herpes zoster is a painful rash common in adults over age 50. But if you have a moderate or severe acute illness you should usually wait until you recover before getting the vaccine. Information about your medical problems past and present. Once you ve been diagnosed you can start on treatment to help.

Currently are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you have a minor acute starts suddenly illness such as a cold you may get shingrix. You might need to have a second test if the results aren t clear. Warmth can cause further itching and skin irritation.

The vaccine is also recommended for adults who ve never had chickenpox. Avoid warm or hot water while you have shingles. Wash the blisters gently and avoid touching or scratching the infected area. After you have had chickenpox the varicella zoster virus lies dormant inactive inside your body it can become reactivated at a later stage and cause shingles.

What you can do. Apply cool compresses to the lesions or take a cool bath twice a day to relieve the burning or tingling sensation. Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another but the varicella zoster virus that causes shingles also causes chickenpox and the virus can spread and cause chickenpox in a person who has not had chickenpox before or not received the chickenpox vaccine. Some people have such mild symptoms of shingles that they don t seek medical treatment.

Though the vaccine doesn t guarantee you won t get chickenpox or shingles it can reduce your chances of complications and reduce the severity of the disease. Shingles recovery tends to follow a pattern and may take anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks or more. Find out what the recovery stages of shingles are and how you can help minimize the symptoms. At the other extreme severe symptoms may result in a visit to the emergency room.

Determining when it is safe for you to return to work. Shingles is caused by the reactivation of the varicella zoster virus which is the virus that causes chickenpox. Your symptoms and test results will show whether you have shingles.