Shingles (herpes zoster) is a viral infection that causes an outbreak of a painful rash or blisters on the skin. It's caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which is the same virus that causes chickenpox. Shingles can occur anywhere on your body. It typically looks like a single stripe of blisters that wraps around the left side or the right side of your torso. Sometimes the shingles rash occurs around one eye or on one side of the neck or face.
When you have chickenpox as a child, your body fights off the varicella-zoster virus and the physical signs of chickenpox fade away, but the virus always remains in your body. In adulthood, sometimes the virus becomes active again. This time, the varicella-zoster virus makes its second appearance in the form of shingles.
The risk of shingles increases as you get older, with about half the cases occurring in people over the age of 50. Shingles develops in about 10% of people who have had chickenpox at an earlier time in their lives.
Shingles aren't life-threatening. But it can be very painful. Vaccines can help lower the risk of shingles. Early treatment may shorten a shingles infection and lessen the chance of complications. The most common complication is ‘postherpetic neuralgia’. This is a painful condition that causes shingles pain for a long time after your blisters have cleared.
Treatment
To treat shingles holistically, as a complementary method along with medication, it is recommended to use a Byol magnet, yellow side of it touching the adhesive tape on meridian point TW 6 or GB 31 as shown in the figure. If the magnet is not available, one can paste methi seeds or green gram (mung) on these meridians. The point could be located by moving the thinner side of the probe on the location shown on the left hand index finger and found to be painful. Replace the seed every day while the magnet could be repeatedly used a number of times.
This treatment has been suggested by the Acupressure Research Training and Treatment Institute, Prayagraj.
