Shingles

Typical symptoms:

Disease description:

Shingles are caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox, varicella-zoster-virus, which lies dormant long after you’ve had chickenpox. The place where there is shingles rash, redness, blisters and pain typically occur. Although shingles can occur anywhere on the body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of the torso.

Explanation according to the Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Shingles have an acute onset, severe herpes and severe burning pain, so the pathogenic factor is Toxic Damp-Heat. Because the rash is usually distributed around the lumbar ribs and around the eyes, which is the Liver and Gallbladder Meridians covered area. So, it is the Damp-Heat that attacks the Liver and Gallbladder Meridians. In the acute phase, Damp-Heat is flourishing and is treated with the principle of purging Toxic Damp-Heat, followed by nourishing Yin and clearing Heat. Acupuncture has the best effect and assists with Chinese herbal medicine.

Possible syndromes causing these problems:

Damp-Heat

Severe burning pain in the affected area precedes the rash. After about one to four days a painful, itchy red rash of small blisters filled with turbid fluid appears. Over the next few days up to two weeks, the blisters dry out, scab over and drop off.