I was hoping someone here might know of some natural ways of healing shingles. Iam taking valtrex right now, but the pain is really bad. I thought maybe lysine?? I know that helps cold sores. Any suggestions??

Lysine reduces the use of arginine for viral replication.

Another thing is to use zinc supplements, and some selenium if you don't
have it already in your multivitamin. Keep selenium at 100mcg or lower daily.

Neither of these can help once the nerves are damaged and reactive.

If you have pain, consider Lidoderm patches. You cannot put them right on
top of the lesions, but you can numb the pain signals, and hopefully the nerves will heal up.

Attention to omega-3 does help with nerve healing.

Thank you mrsd, This is pretty painful. I forgot to mention that I have it around my eye. The eye dr. just called me and told me to call him if I get pain in my eye or it gets red (in the white part) The vitamin Iam taking (ACES+Zn) has 15 mg or zinc and 100mcg of selenium.

ACES w/zinc is a great product. Good Choice!

My husband had shingles in his EAR... it was very painful.

Taking Zinc like you are doing, helps heal and prevent...shingles can reactivate...he had 2 little flares a couple of years after...but so far his is stable.
People with shingles in the eye...very serious. There are antiviral eye drops you know.

I think you'd need prophylactic care with zinc/selenium in the future to prevent reactivation.

There is a website with foods listed high in arginine to avoid:
http://www.herpes.com/Nutrition.shtml

selecting foods with higher lysine to arginine ratios may help in the future.

Oh my God! thank you so much for that list. I have been eating alot of nuts lately. Although, this is the first time I had shingle. There was a time back in october, that my the skin on my stomach and back was so sensitive I could not stand even my clothes touching it. I did not get a rash, but now I am wondering if that was the begining of shingles.

There can be prodromes with shingles.

I had shingles down my right arm (years ago when I worked midnights), and occasionally I will get a
stiff neck and alot of pain. I think it is the virus just acting up. I only had lesions once. My husband's shingles were triggered by a hornet sting on his arm.

If you get those warnings again, try icing the area on the back where
the nerve roots are. Ice can stop virus replications, and may help.
Watch those lesions around the eye, too. Shingles may become infected easily.

High intake of lysine prevents replication of the virus (which uses arginine).It works for some patients.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if you get a shingles out break near your eyes, I hope you are seeing a doctor. I was under the impression this is quite serious and you should be on antibiotics as you can lose your eyesight.

I have had a couple of friends with pretty serious outbreaks and one ended up in the hospital with an outbreak on his face. Doc said that when it gets close to your eyes, it's very critical to get medical attention as soon as possible. He was a pretty sick guy for about 6 weeks.

I realize that everyone doesn't have the same level of lesion load during an outbreak, but his caution was for anything on the face.

I hope you get well soon!

IN the eye are typically treated with antiviral drugs/ in drop form.

I have only seen this a couple of times.

Shingles AROUND the eye become infected easily and need evaluation,
to prevent infection.

When my husband had them in his ear, he was given Ceftin. (And Zovirax).

My cousin had shingles that went into her eye. That really surprised me at the time. Only makes sense though as they can go wherever nerves go and we have nerves everywhere of course. I have no idea what treatment she had for that. But, she was left with some vision problems in that eye.

When to seek medical advice

Contact your doctor promptly if you suspect shingles but especially in the following situations:

• <LI class=doublespace>The pain and rash occur near your eyes. If left untreated, this infection can lead to permanent eye damage. <LI class=doublespace>You or someone in your family has a weakened immune system (due to cancer, medications or chronic illness).
• The rash is widespread and painful.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shi...098/DSECTION=5

Here's the link to the whole section on Shingles from the Mayo Clinic.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/shi...098/DSECTION=1