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POST-SHINGLES PAIN STUDY

“Ugh! You wouldn’t want them, they’re the worst thing you could have, they’re very painful,” says shingles patient, Anna Falconetti.
Anna who is 90 years old has suffered pain from shingles for four years.
“It’s like somebody is putting a knife in you.”
Pain from shingles lasting that long is actually called post herpetic neuralgia. Now, new research helps identify which patients are at highest risk of post herpetic neuralgia. The study found those at risk are just like Anna, older patients, often females, with symptoms that occur before the rash appears.

“Patients who have infection higher up on their body, closer to their eyes, or face, tend to have more problems with post herpetic neuralgia,” reports dermatologist, Dr. Ronald Brancaccio.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by the chicken pox virus. After a person gets chicken pox, the virus doesn’t leave the body. Instead, it remains dormant in the nerves’ roots in the spine.
Years later, the virus gets reactivated, either by stress, or simply because of old age. It causes a rash along the path of the nerve where it was residing. And because it’s in a nerve, it causes pain.
Shingles is the most common neurological disease. In people over the age of 85, there’s a one in two chance of getting it. And among these, there’s a 25% chance of developing post herpetic neuralgia.
According to Dr. Brancaccio, “Unfortunately, the only thing we could do is treat early in the course of the infection of shingles with anti-viral therapy.”
The study found many patients who get an anti-viral medication benefit.
“There have been several studies that show if treatment begins within the first three days of a rash, that post herpetic neuralgia is reduced,” says Dr. Brancaccio.
But the study showed anti-viral medication does not always work at preventing post herpetic neuralgia.
So now that we know who is at risk, Dr. Brancaccio is hopeful that research going on now will lead to better treatments to target these at-risk individuals like Anna.
Luckily, there is a natural tendency for post herpetic neuralgia to improve over time even without treatment. There are other possible treatments for post-shingles pain, including l-lysine supplements and high protein diet. There has been some interest in thalidomide as a treatment for this as well.
For more information about shingles and post herpetic neuralgia, click here
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/shingles_doc.htm

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