Shingles Symptoms, Causes, Risk Factors, and Natural Treatments

If you have ever had chickenpox, you are at risk for and should be aware of, the symptoms and treatments for shingles.

This painful disorder affects many people, especially those who are older, so learning about it before you experience it can help you be aware of your risk factors and protect yourself from possible infection.

You may be part of the thirty percent of people in the U.S. who will develop shingles at some point in their lives, so it is important that you understand this often-confusing disease (1).

Our guide reveals what shingles are, what causes this disorder, and how you can relieve naturally and in your own home the symptoms caused by its virus.

We even dispel a few myths about this disease, which is increasing in incidence.

Keep reading to help you or a loved one fight shingles and heal quickly.

Understanding Shingles

Shingles, a disease that causes a blistering, painful rash, affects nearly one in three Americans sometime in their lifetime.

As you age, your risk for developing shingles increases.

But what causes shingles?

When you contract chickenpox, you are infected by the varicella-zoster virus or VZV.

After your chickenpox heals and disappears, VZV lies dormant in your body’s nerve cells, often for decades.

Reactivation of VZV sends the virus traveling to the nerve endings at your skin, which produces shingles’ telltale blisters (2).

The rash produced by shingles can last anywhere from two to four weeks, and many people experience pain for months after the symptoms disappear.

The pain shingles causes are called postherpetic neuralgia, or PHN.

Some people even experience PHN for years following an outbreak of the disease.

Shingles pain can be excruciating; some describe it as stabbing, burning, or aching.

Because constant pain is difficult to withstand for extended periods, people often develop depression or anxiety, lose their appetite, lose weight, or have difficulty concentrating or sleeping.

Shingles can interfere with your ability to live a normal life, including completing everyday activities like cooking, eating, and bathing.

In some, shingles even leads to vision loss, due to eye complications.

Nearly everyone, or around 90 percent of the adult population, carries VZV and is at risk for developing shingles at some point in their life.

Over 50 percent of those who develop the disease are over the age of 60, which means advanced age is a critical risk factor for this disease.

Most people over 60 are advised by their physicians to get the shingles vaccine, which would protect them from a shingles outbreak (3).

Shingles, which is sometimes referred to as herpes zoster, is caused by a virus, but other factors can raise your risk of developing shingles from the infection.

Just because you carry the virus does not mean you will automatically get shingles, and you can take measures to prevent the disease or decrease your risk of an outbreak.

Shingles Symptoms

How do you know if you have shingles?

And what does having shingles mean for others in your life?

The most common symptom of shingles is the painful rash that occurs when the virus is reactivated.

The intensity of the pain associated with this rash has been compared to that of passing a kidney stone or giving birth.

The rash that accompanies this pain can spread, but it is sometimes seen as a stripe of blisters in one particular area.

The most common areas for these stripes to appear are the abdomen and chest, usually radiating out from the center to one side of your body.

Shingles affects only one side of the body, so if your rash is all over or covers both sides, chances are it is not shingles (4).

The rash, which may be itchy, can also include tingling sensations similar to when a body part “falls asleep.”

Sometimes, your rash may develop scabs or appear red, and the blisters or ulcers will often burn.

After the skin disorder is gone, you may also experience ongoing pain in smaller areas of your skin.

When you have shingles, you may also experience flu-like symptoms, including pain, aches, fatigue, and fever.

Some experience a loss of appetite, as well as changes in their weight.

If blisters form near the eyes, this can cause vision problems that could become permanent.

While most people only get shingles once, a small percentage of people, or less than ten percent, have experienced more than one outbreak.

In general, if your immune system is healthy, you will develop a resistance to the virus after the initial reactivation.

What are the Stages of Shingles?

Shingles symptoms may begin gradually, and the disease may stay in the initial stages for some time before you actually notice anything wrong.

The disease progresses reasonably predictably through specific steps, but the rate of progression varies considerably, depending on the patient.

The first stage is called the prodromal, which happens before you develop the signature rash.

In this stage, you may begin to notice something not quite right, or feel the beginnings of pain, as the virus works its way through the localized area from your spinal cord to your skin.

During this phase, if you notice symptoms at all, they are likely to be misdiagnosed, as they resemble quite closely those of other diseases.

Typical symptoms during this early stage include headaches, fatigue, body aches, and swollen lymph nodes, and are often mistaken for a cold, the flu, or a stomach virus.

Some even chalk these symptoms up to normal fluctuations in hormone levels (5).

The next phase is when many people first realize they are infected, as it is when you notice skin issues.

Burning and itching are followed by the appearance of bumps and redness, signaling a rash.

The rash will only develop on one side of your body, and the blisters you see on the skin will look similar to those caused by the herpes simplex virus.

While these diseases are different, they produce similar blisters.

If you have an unexplained rash that appears on both sides of your body, you likely have another disease or skin disorder.

Since shingles only affects one side, it can be easier to distinguish from other skin problems caused by allergies, reactions to foods or medications, or even insect bites.

This active stage, when the rash is visible and worsens as blisters develop, lasts anywhere from two to four weeks.

After the blisters begin to scab over and heal, they can still be inflamed and fill with fluid.

This oozing and scabbing can result, after the infection fully heals, in permanent scars, so it’s important not to pick at or otherwise aggravate the blisters.

Long-Term Effects of Shingles

Even after your rash disappears, the virus is still active and can cause additional symptoms, most notably pain, for several more weeks.

Your nerves are recalibrating and recovering from the viral attack, and this postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is the most common, long-term reaction of shingles.

You are more likely to experience this long-term pain if you are older than if you are younger (6).

PHN results in typically intense skin sensitivity.

You may not want to be touched, and you can experience burning and tingling that persists for quite a while, even for years, in extreme cases.

Most people see a decrease in symptoms after a few weeks, though, with the majority being symptom-free after four weeks.

When you have shingles and develop PHN, it can result in anxiety.

You may worry about how long your pain will last, and if you can give the virus to someone else.

This stress increases the likelihood of other symptoms, like depression, loss of concentration, and a lack of appetite.

Lingering pain often interferes with daily activities, making it difficult to live with this disease.

The Risks of Developing Shingles

If you have ever had chickenpox, you already are at a higher risk of developing shingles.

Once you’ve had this disease, though, there are additional factors that increase the likelihood of developing shingles at some point in your life.

To minimize these, it is essential to know and understand them so that you can address all those that are within your control.

Risk Factors for Contracting Shingles

If you have had chickenpox, the virus that causes that disease will be lying undetected and dormant in your nerve roots.

While the latent infection will not cause symptoms again until reactivated, you will always be a carrier of this disease and could develop shingles at any time.

In most cases, a change in your immune system causes the virus that causes shingles to reactivate, leading to the blisters, rash, and pain.

Whether your dormant VZV becomes active depends largely on the health of your immune system.

If your immune system becomes impaired for any reason, you are more likely to develop shingles.

As you age, your immunity naturally falls, which is why your age becomes a risk factor for developing the disease.

The most common other risk factors that can raise your likelihood of developing shingles include:

• Gender – Women are more likely than men to develop shingles, but this correlation is not clearly understood at this time.
• Medications – If you take drugs that affect your immune system, such as corticosteroids, you raise your chances of developing the disease.
• Medical history – If you have had an illness that impacts the immune system, your risk goes up. These diseases include cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, HIV, any autoimmune disease, the herpes simplex virus, or a neoplastic disorder (7).
• Organ transplant – If you have a donated organ, your immune system is compromised, and your risk is therefore higher.
• Family history – If others in your family have developed shingles, you are more likely to develop it, as well (8).
• Race – Caucasians are nearly twice as likely as non-Caucasians to develop shingles (9).
• Injury – If you have had nerve damage or an injury in the past, your risk for developing shingles is also higher. Some types of trauma to nerve roots can trigger the viral reactivation.
• Stress – Those who live with a great deal of stress or who have poor gut health are more likely to have shingles.

How Do You Contract Shingles?

Many believe that shingles, like chickenpox, is a contagious disease. In the vast majority of cases, this is not true.

Chickenpox represents the primary infection caused by VZV, while shingles is a secondary condition.

It is not usually the case that shingles can be transferred from one person to another, but it is also not impossible.

If someone never had chickenpox and was also never vaccinated against it, they could contract shingles from someone with that disease.

This is highly unlikely, but because it is a possibility, you should exercise caution around others if you have an active shingles infection.

While contagious, shingles do not spread through casual contacts, such as sneezing, coughing, or sharing utensils.

You can contract the virus if you never had it and come into direct contact with blisters or the fluid these blisters contain; this means shingles is much less transferable than chickenpox.

Once blisters have developed scabs, the disease can no longer transfer to another person.

Link between Shingles and Gut Health

Many people do not understand the link between gut health and immunity, which is why they question how having a strong gut can help prevent shingles.

Your gut is home to a microbiome full of healthy bacteria that play a crucial role in your immune system.

When you have healthy levels of these living bacteria and other microbes in your intestines, you are better equipped to fight disease and keep your body healthy.

When this microflora is not healthy or does not contain an appropriate diversity of helpful bacteria, you are not able to fight off illnesses, infections, and viruses, like the one that causes shingles.

When your gut microbiome is unhealthy or does not contain sufficient diversity of bacteria, you are at an increased risk for developing both shingles and other diseases.

What can cause damage to your gut health?

Taking antibiotics can harm this delicate balance.

Since antibiotics are made to kill bacteria, they can destroy not only harmful bacteria, like those that cause diseases but also the helpful bacteria that support your immune system.

When you overuse both antibiotics and antibacterial products, you destroy the healthy bacteria that are protecting you.

A diet full of processed foods is also not suitable for feeding your microflora, so stick to a healthy, balanced diet rich in nutrients and fiber.

You can also eat foods that contain probiotics, which help your microbiome flourish.

All these factors can contribute to your good gut health, and your ability to fight infection from VZV and other microorganisms.

Treating Shingles Naturally

If you develop a rash, you should visit your doctor soon to rule out other causes, such as poison ivy or scabies.

Pain from shingles can also be mistaken for migraines, heart complications, and even menopausal symptoms, so it is vital to get a clear diagnosis.

Most doctors today treat shingles using drugs both to relieve pain and aid in the healing of the rash.

There are, however, natural and alternative treatments that can help you treat shingles with few to no side effects, unlike most prescription medications.

You can even use natural remedies to boost your immunity and manage your pain when an infection develops.

Below, we describe several natural remedies that offer hope to those suffering from shingles.

Other treatments that have been shown to be effective include neural therapy, acupuncture, and cupping, which is a practice in traditional Chinese medicine.

Many people opt to combine conventional medications with natural remedies, as this can better alleviate pain and promote faster healing (11).

Natural remedies may not work for everyone, and you should treat your shingles with the method that makes you most comfortable.

Because there is no cure for shingles, managing your symptoms is the only effective strategy to address an outbreak.

The natural remedies described below can be effective at helping you feel better and reducing your pain level, as well as boosting the healing process while you wait for the infection to run its course.

Baths

By taking a daily bath and cleansing your blisters, you decrease the risk of spreading your infection.

A cool bath or shower also soothes irritated, painful skin, and can calm any itchiness you may be experiencing.

To enhance the healing power of your bath water, add up to two cups of colloidal oatmeal or cornstarch to lukewarm water, then soak in this mixture for up to 20 minutes.

Never take a hot bath when you have shingles, as hot water can worsen blisters by increasing blood flow.

After taking a shower or bath and drying yourself, always wash your towel to avoid spreading VZV to others.

Compresses

Just as a cool bath can soothe blisters, so can a cold compress.

A fresh, moist cloth applied to blisters relieves pain, reduces itchiness, and can soothe irritation.

Never apply ice to your blisters, as this can increase sensitivity and pain.

Baking Soda or Cornstarch

To relieve itchiness naturally, create a paste of baking soda and water, and apply directly to blisters.

Cornstarch also works for the same purpose.

The ideal ratio is two parts baking soda or cornstarch to one part water, mixing thoroughly.

After applying, allow to sit for 15 minutes, then rinse with cool water.

Repeat several times per day, as needed.

Dietary Changes

You can boost your immune system and promote faster healing from the virus that causes shingles by adding healthy, nutrient-dense foods to your diet.

Eat plenty of foods rich in Vitamins A, B-12, C, and E, as well as lysine, an essential amino acid.

As soon as you start to notice symptoms of shingles, take steps to boost your immunity by adding the following foods to your diet.

• Leafy, green vegetables
• Orange and yellow fruits
• Red meat
• Organic dairy products
• Pasture-raised eggs and chicken
• Whole grains
• Beans and legumes
• Spinach
• Tomatoes

In addition, there are foods you should avoid that can compromise your immune system.

These include:

• Refined sugars
• Refined grains
• Saturated fats
• Foods with arginine, such as nuts, gelatin, and chocolate

Herbal Remedies

Many herbs have natural antiviral properties, and some can also help to reduce inflammation, treat insomnia, and diminish anxiety caused by shingles.

If you are interested in using herbs to help with your shingles symptoms, you may want to try:

• Melatonin
• St. John’s Wort
• Echinacea
• Oregano oil
• Green tea
• Lemon balm

Essential oils

To promote skin healing and reduce irritation and pain, you may want to try essential oils.

You should always dilute essential oils with a carrier oil, such as coconut, before applying to your skin.

The following are the best essential oils for the treatment of shingles.

• Eucalyptus essential oil has anti-inflammatory properties, which makes it suitable for treating the blisters caused by shingles.
• Chamomile essential oil, another natural anti-inflammatory, also has antimicrobial properties to heal skin.
• Tea tree essential oil is antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory, making it an excellent choice for treating shingles blisters.

Witch hazel

Like chamomile, witch hazel can be effective in treating shingles because of its anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.

Witch hazel is known to reduce itchiness and lower inflammation, in some people.

You can apply witch hazel creams or water directly to shingles blisters.

Reduce stress

Lowering your stress level will restore you to health faster by boosting your immune system.

You can try meditation, yoga walks in the woods, or whatever else works to relax you, but it is important to reduce your stress if you want to heal faster from this disease.

Dietary Supplements

If your immune system is compromised, you may want to consider taking dietary supplements to treat your shingles naturally.

While those who are healthy and eat a varied, nutrient-dense diet should not need to take supplements, some individuals would benefit from the addition of some nutrients.

If you are over the age of 50, or if your immune system is already compromised due to illness, disease, or genetics, you can boost your immunity and help heal your shingles by taking supplements.

There is a known link between your immune system’s function and your levels of Vitamin D (12).

If your Vitamin D levels are low, you should consider taking a supplement.

Getting daily sun exposure is another way to increase your Vitamin D levels.

Other vitamins and minerals important to immunity include zinc, selenium, and Vitamin C.

Conclusion

Shingles, which is the result of the same virus that causes chickenpox, is a painful skin rash with long-lasting effects.

After you have had chickenpox, the virus, known as varicella-zoster, or VZV, lies dormant in your nerve cells.

It can be reactivated later in life by many causes, and once it is, you will develop a painful rash in addition to other symptoms.

Your risk of developing shingles increases with age, as your immune system naturally deteriorates over time.

Other factors that increase your risk of shingles include certain medications, a family history of shingles, a suppressed immune system, and a high level of stress.

Shingles result in a rash on one side of the body, and this rash will often accompany potentially-severe pain.

If you notice this type of rash, you should see your doctor immediately.

The pain that accompanies shingles may last for several weeks after the rash clears; some might experience lingering pain over a period of several months or even years as the nerve endings recalibrate.

There is no cure for shingles, so if you contract this virus, you must manage your symptoms to reduce discomfort, pain, and irritation.

Treating shingles naturally includes the use of a healthy diet to support your immune system, as well as remedies to treat your itchy and irritated skin.

Common treatments include cool baths, compresses, reducing stress, essential oils, and herbs that can soothe inflammation and boost immunity.