There is hope for relief though! Here are steps to help you treat shingle rash.

Shingles is an infection that is caused by a similar infection that gives you chickenpox. Shingles erupts in a single band specifically on one side of the body instead of all over.

Once you have these symptoms it is important to go to your family doctor to immediately take help to relieve these symptoms, which can be quite painful.

The popular and most effective way to relieve the painful annoyance of shingles is to get prescription of anti-viral drugs to reduce the duration of the infection. Also helpful are over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications that will help do just that—reduce the inflammation of the affected area.

Anti-depressants are also recommended by doctors to help deal with the pain. The duration of shingles can be significantly reduced once the patient starts the anti-viral medications.

Here are some at home tips on handling shingles.

Apply cool compresses over the lesions or take a cool bath twice a day to help soothe the skin, ease the pain and relieve the itch.

Avoid exposure to warm or hot water because the skin is already sensitive and this could lead to further itching.

Make sure the lesions are covered with a clean cloth or loose fitting gauze after cleansing. These cloths and gauzes should be replaced regularly and the lesions should be cleaned on a regular basis.

This can also prevent the rash or the lesion from making physical contact with other persons as it is still in a contagious phase. Once the lesion dries up and starts to scab, then the contagious window is over.

Your skin and lesions need to breathe so avoid any tight fitting clothing. Irritation of the rash could occur from wearing restrictive clothing and cause feeling, more itching and pain.

There are a large variety of natural treatments and lotions that are proven effective to help with the shingles. Make sure you consult your doctor first and foremost and discuss these options with your health care professional. Their advice combined with these tips will make for a faster and easier healing so that you can get back to your happy, active and non-itchy self again!

It is the condition called as shingles, also known as herpes zoster.

You can get shingles only if you have got chicken pox previously.

The reason for getting shingles after you have chicken pox is the virus that causes chicken pox stays in your body in certain nerve cells.

Most of the time the chicken pox virus remains inactive in nerve root cells of the body.

As you get older or if your immune system gets weaker, the chicken pox virus awakens within the nervous system and escapes from there to cause shingles.

What are the signs to identify shingles?

Shingles include blistering rash, severe burning pain, tingling or extreme sensitivity to the skin. It usually limits to one side of the body and lasts about a month. Sometimes, you experience the pain few days before the rash appears.

When your rash becomes worst, the pain can be extremely severe. The rash begins with reddish bumps. Within few days, the bumps turn into blisters. You also feel stinging or burning pain.

The rash can be a patch of raised dots on side of trunk, face, abdomen, arms or legs. The location of rash is the identification that the infection is shingles.

Do you know what causes shingles?

Shingles is caused by the same virus, varicella zoster that causes chicken pox. The virus, after infecting the person with chicken pox, retreats to the nervous system where it remains inactive for many years.

It reappears in the form of shingles when your immune system is weakened, or as a result of severe illness, extreme stress or a therapy involving suppression of the immune system. It is more common in elderly people whose immune system is weakened.

Shingles is not a contagious disease as it occurs only when the virus become active. Contact with an infected person will not cause shingles but could lead to chicken pox in someone who has never had chicken pox and has not taken the varicella vaccine.

How shingles can be treated?

The main goal to treat the disease is to reduce pain and discomfort. The blisters are to be healed and the disease is to be prevented from spreading.

It is often treated with medications which include acyclovir, famciclovir and valacyclovir. Once you notice the painful rash with blisters, talk to the doctor so that he can decide which of these medications work for you.

Sometimes, home care is required to treat the rash of shingles. Using a medicated lotion on the blisters might reduce the pain and itching. Putting cool compresses soaked in an astringent liquid on the blisters and sores can make itching less.

There is no cure for shingles but symptoms can be controlled if treated at an early stage before the blisters begin to appear.