The Professional Geriatric Care Manager’s Blog

Shingles

It can start out with burning or shooting pain, tingling, or itching on one side of the body or face. The pain can be mild or severe. Blisters then form and can last one to 14 days. It’s shingles, a disease caused by the varicella-zoster virus, the same virus that causes chickenpox. Once one has had chickenpox, the virus stays in your body, and can cause shingles many years later. Other symptoms of shingles include fever, headache, chills and upset stomach. Sometimes a shingles infection can lead to pneumonia, hearing problems, blindness, brain inflammation or death. The pain of shingles may last for weeks, months or even years after the blisters have healed.

You cannot catch shingles from another person with shingles. A person who has never had chickenpox, though, can get chickenpox from someone with shingles. Shingles is far more common in people 50 years of age and older. It is also more common in people whose immune systems are weakened because of a disease such as cancer, or drugs, such as steroids, or chemotherapy. There is no cure for shingles. Early treatment with antiviral drugs, such as Zovirax or Valtrex, that fight the virus may help. Medication may also help prevent any lingering pain. Taking a cool bath or using cool, wet compresses on your blisters may relieve the itching and pain.

Two vaccines may help prevent shingles. The chicken pox vaccine has become a routine childhood immunization to prevent chickenpox. The vaccine is also recommended for adults who have never had chickenpox. In 2006, a vaccine was approved for the treatment of shingles. It is recommended for adults 60 years and older. It does not guarantee you will not get shingles, but will reduce the course and severity of the disease if you do. A person should not get the shingles vaccine who has had a life threatening allergic reaction to gelatin, the antibiotic neomycin or any component of the shingles vaccine, a weakened immune system, or is pregnant. Minor problems associated with the shingles vaccine have included redness, soreness, swelling and itching at the site of the injection and headache. At least one million people a year in the United States get shingles. The shingle vaccine is used only as a prevention strategy. It cannot be used to treat people who currently have the disease. Speak to your doctor or other healthcare provider to learn more and if the shingles vaccine is for you.

Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management serves Bergen, Passaic, Rockland and Orange County with nurses licensed in New Jersey and New York.   We help families dealing with various issues related to their elderly loved ones and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have related to long term care.

Please contact us in our Ramsey or Ridgewood Office to schedule a consultation.

201-587-5283.

145 N. Franklin Turnpike, Suite 311, Ramsey, NJ  07446

45 N. Broad St., Suite 503, Ridgewood, NJ  07450