Maybe you have already had your chicken pox when you were younger but that doesn’t mean that the war is over. Inside your system is a sleeper virus called Herpes zoster that merely hitched a ride on the Varicella virus that causes chicken pox. The Herpes zoster virus reappears when you are in your adult years. This is mainly because you get immunocompromised or immunosuppressed. There are certainly times in your adulthood when you are overwhelmed by stress, malnutrition, and other underlying diseases.
Shingles results from the Herpes zoster virus. It affects one of the cranial nerves that is why it is a very painful disease. It starts as a large, painful, hot, red hive that elevates quickly and in just a few days, the center of that huge hive, blisters start to form, all clumped together. This is usually accompanied by fever. Then, the blisters start to dry up. Crusts form and then they start to heal and disappear. The older you are when you get them, the more painful it gets and the longer the scars heal. Shingles is found only on one side of your body. It never passes over the midline of your body. It just usually appears once, especially when you regain your immune system’s strength. An antiviral will be prescribed to you by your doctor if it is clear that you are really suffering from shingles. Aside from this conventional treatment, you could also try the following  natural remedies for shingles:
1. Cool
One of the effective natural remedies for shingles is to cool the pain. Do this by using an ice pack or a towel soaked in very cold water. This should be applied for about twenty minutes until the pain reduces. You could also use cold milk pack if you want to.
2. Rest and relaxation
One of the main causes of shingles is stress. One of the natural remedies for shingles therefore, is to distress and have lots of rest. Distract yourself from the pain and discomfort through self-hypnosis, mediation, guided imagery, or performing any activity that would definitely help you release any strain.
3. Let them be
Leaving the blisters alone and not popping them is definitely natural remedies for shingles that you should do. This would only subject your open blisters to more infection and would only increase the possibility of deeper scarring. It is really very tempting to pierce them one by one so that they would level out but this is not the way to heal them. Just take a photo souvenir if you want but never try to prick them.
4. Isolation
Remember that shingles is caused by a virus. This is very contagious just like the chicken pox. So, anyone around you who is immunocompromised like very young children (no chicken pox yet), very old people (no chicken pox or shingles yet), and other people with immune suppressing diseases. If you share a home with any of these people, it is one of the natural remedies for shingles for you to confine yourself and your things in a separated room. This is to make sure that any remnants of the Herpes zoster virus are within your area. After you have fully healed from your shingles bout, you should have your room and things sanitized as well. Isolation helps in preventing a rampant spread of this disease. Consider it your way of helping these immunocompromised people.
5. Hot pepper
Capsaicin in Zostrix is one of the natural remedies for shingles that targets the lingering pain. This is an over-the-counter topical cream that you could apply to the affected area to relieve you of the pain. However, this doesn’t work for everybody. You should ask your doctor about this before you apply it on your own.
Before you try any of the given natural remedies for shingles, you should make sure that what you have is really shingles. Correct diagnosis by your physician is needed for best results. Proper guidance with the use of these natural remedies for shingles should also be done. If the conventional and natural remedies for shingles do not work in relieving the pain after the bout of shingles, surgery is done—the nerve block procedure. This is a procedure wherein a local anesthesia is injected into one of the nerves of the spinal cord to stop or block the pain that you experience. This is not common but is said to have helped quite a few patients. Self help and palliative treatment are still safer methods in managing the pain.