Shingles pain hard to control

Q. I'm a 72-year-old female. I just returned from my doctor's office because of a rash that was bothering me a great deal. I've always been very active gardening and golfing. Now I'm in so much pain I can't pick up a shovel or swing a club. While I thought I'd walked into poison ivy or something, my doctor told me I actually had shingles.

I was too startled by the diagnosis to ask many questions but would like to become better informed. Can you fill in any of the blanks? Is it contagious? Can I pass it on to family members?

A. Shingles is a dormant viral infection that typically presents on one side of the body. It is the same virus that causes chickenpox in children. Anyone who had chickenpox as a child runs the risk of developing shingles later in life. Transmission is through direct contact with the open lesions of the rash. The condition is contagious in that anyone with shingles can pass the virus on to people who have never had chickenpox. Once infected, even as an adult, that person will develop chickenpox the first time around, not shingles.

Symptoms include pain, rash, tingling and numbness, fluid-filled blisters, headache, fever, chills and more. Some people experience excruciating pain at the slightest touch. When pain develops without rash, it becomes increasingly difficult to diagnose, since the pain leads a physician to consider other diseases.

At greater risk are people with weakened immune systems, a history of bone or lymphatic cancer, or on steroids, radiation or chemotherapy.

Shingles ordinarily heals on its own within a few weeks. However, the pain can continue long after any blisters have cleared. The condition is not life-threatening but can cause a debilitating complication known as post-herpetic neuralgia. Pain medication and antidepressants are available for pain relief. Oral antiviral medications such as Zovirax, Valtrex and Famvir are commonly prescribed. Topical ointments that include capsaicin may also provide pain relief.

One home remedy is to crush an 81-milligram aspirin into a therapeutic moisturizing lotion and apply the ointment to each lesion.

A vaccine is now on the market to help prevent shingles in adults 60 and older who have previously been diagnosed with chickenpox. The Zostavax injection does not guarantee a person will never develop shingles.

© 2009, Newspaper Enterprise Assn.