08/10/2024
🕵Understanding Shingles and TCM treatment
What is Shingles? Shingles is a viral infection that affects the nerves and the surrounding skin, caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the same virus responsible for chickenpox. It can occur at any age but is most common in individuals over 50. Shingles can appear on various parts of the body, including the neck, shoulder, upper back, chest, abdomen, and sometimes even the face or eyes. It manifests as a painful rash that develops into itchy blisters and can lead to severe nerve pain lasting months or even years after the rash has healed.
Causes of Shingles After recovering from chickenpox, the virus remains dormant in the nervous system. It can reactivate later in life, leading to shingles. The exact reason for this reactivation is not fully understood, but it is believed that a weakened immune system may play a role. Factors that might contribute to the reactivation include:
Stress
Fatigue
Aging
Immune system conditions such as cancer, HIV, and AIDS
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments
Skin injuries where the rash appears
It’s important to note that shingles is not contagious in the sense that you can’t catch shingles from someone else. However, if you haven’t had chickenpox, you can contract it from someone with shingles.
Symptoms and Complications A shingles episode typically lasts 2 to 4 weeks. Initial symptoms include a tingling sensation in the affected area, followed by pain and then a rash.
Pain: This is usually localized and can be continuous, dull, or burning, with varying intensity. Some patients may experience stabbing pains and find it difficult to wear clothing over the affected area.
Rash: Appears a few days after the onset of pain, starting as red blotches that quickly develop into itchy blisters similar to chickenpox. These blisters usually last about a week before drying out and potentially leaving minor scars.
Additional symptoms can include confusion, fatigue, fever, headache, upset stomach, and abdominal pain.
Complications Shingles can lead to several complications, especially in individuals with weakened immune systems or the elderly. The most common complication is post-herpetic neuralgia, where severe nerve pain persists long after the rash has healed. Other potential complications include:
Bacterial skin infections
Scarring
Encephalitis (brain inflammation)
Transverse myelitis (spinal cord inflammation)
Ophthalmic shingles (affecting the eyes, potentially causing vision loss)
Otic zoster (affecting the ears, potentially causing hearing loss)
Bell’s palsy (facial nerve paralysis)
Peripheral motor neuropathy (limb paralysis)
💁How TCM Can Help with Shingles
In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), shingles is understood as an imbalance involving pathogenic dampness, heat, and wind. These imbalances typically manifest along the liver or gall bladder meridians on the body’s exterior. The specific symptoms and their locations can vary based on the predominant pathogenic factor:
Dampness: Lesions often appear in the lower body with more fluid discharge.
Heat: Blisters are more red and painful.
Wind: Lesions are usually in the upper body with a dominant itching sensation.
Acute Shingles
Acute shingles is commonly associated with either wind-fire or damp-heat in the liver and gallbladder meridians, or damp-heat in the spleen. These patterns can lead to Qi and blood stagnation, which is often seen in post-herpetic neuralgia.
Chronic Shingles
Chronic shingles typically involves kidney Yin deficiency and Qi and blood deficiency, often complicated by Qi and blood stagnation.
TCM Diagnosis and Treatment
TCM focuses on the patient’s internal condition, or “internal environment.” Diagnosing “damp heat” relates to the patient’s systemic condition that allows the virus to replicate and cause an outbreak. This diagnosis helps practitioners provide practical guidelines to speed recovery, such as dietary advice to avoid hot, spicy foods, fried foods, and alcohol, which can exacerbate dampness and heat.
Treatment Approaches
TCM treatment for shingles is based on pattern differentiation according to the pathogenic factor and the energy meridian involved. Acupuncture , Chinese medicine and moxibustion have proven effective, especially in the early stages of shingles. These treatments can alleviate pain, treat blisters and rashes, and significantly reduce the risk of post-herpetic neuralgia.
Patient Care
Shingles often affects older patients with deficient constitutional energy or younger patients suffering from exhaustion. The weaker the patient’s condition, the higher the likelihood of complications and prolonged disease. Addressing the underlying condition is crucial to prevent relapse or prolongation of the disease.
Our Clinic’s Approach
Dr. Yang at Nature's Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture Clinic has successfully treated many patients with shingles, from early to late stages, and those with post-herpetic neuralgia. He emphasizes the importance of seeking treatment as soon as possible to lower the risk of complications and improve outcomes
