Have you ever experienced shingles? If you have, you know how painful it can be. If you haven’t, shingles is a viral skin infection that causes a painful rash.

The Varicella-Zoster Virus Explained

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). It’s the same type of virus that causes chickenpox. If you’ve suffered with chickenpox before, you’re at risk of getting shingles.

After you’ve recovered from chickenpox, the virus may not leave your body completely. Instead, it may hide in an inactive state in your spinal cord’s nerve root. It’s when your immune system becomes weakened and lets you down that the virus may activate and reproduce in great numbers. This results in the skin rash and pain, because there are plenty of nerve endings in that area. Continue reading →

Pain is the first and most noticeable symptom of shingles, as with many invading diseases! It’s our body’s way of letting us know something is going on. The pain begins before any sign of a rash, and may linger even after the rash has gone.

Shingles pain can be mild or intense, and is caused by the inflamed nerves under the skin. At first, the pain can feel like a burn or a tingling sensation. Even the slightest movement or brush of the skin can send a wave of pain. For some, it also may feel itchy. Then the rash develops and turns into blisters.

Types of Shingles Pain – Acute vs. Chronic

We can classify shingles pain into two types, that being acute and chronic. Continue reading →