Acute Shingles Pain: New Treatment

Shingles is a viral disease caused by the Varicella-Zoster Virus (VZV). An initial VZV infection presents as chickenpox. After completely recovering from chickenpox, the VZV remains dormant in nerve ganglia close to spinal cord for many years, be reactivated if  having favorable conditions to cause shingles.

The acute phase of shingles begins with symptoms like itching and painful, blistering rashes, which eventually heal and scar in approximately 1 to 10 days. In some cases, although the skin has healed, the pain persists and can last for months or even years. Patient may have risk of anxiety, depression with low quality of life for longtime.

Dr. Bui Hanh Tam, with years of experience in Pain Management at the Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Hanoi French Hospital says, "For mild to moderate pain, treatment involves normal medications according to the protocol: pain may relief by the paracetamol group or anti-inflammatories. About 60% of patients respond well to oral or intravenous pain killer.

However, normal treatment proves ineffective, patients may experience many type of pain such as burning, electric shocks, or cutting,… affecting their sleep and daily activities. Shingles can lead to a complication known as post-herpetic neuralgia, a chronic pain. Therefore, acute shingles pain needs to be treated as soon as possible.

Dr. Tam says that nerve block is a technique of injecting local anesthesia medication. The injury nerves will sleep during 10 to 12 hours to relief the pain and reduce the pain level if it comebacks

During the acute phase of shingles (10 days), the nerves inflamed by the virus create nerve transmissions through day and night, causing pain (similar to cutting, burning, and electric shocks). Nerve blocking helps prevent the transmission of acute pain signals by stopping abnormal pain signals from passing through the sympathetic ganglia in the spinal cord's dorsal horn before being transmitted to the cerebral cortex.

Under ultrasound machine guidance, a pain specialist will map the pain and accurately identify the nerves attacked by the Herpes virus.

Therefore, patients experience immediate pain relief right after the injection. The nerve block procedure is performed on the same day, patient can go home to rest.

This procedure may need to be repeated 2-3 times depend on the severity of the acute viral damage to the nerves and each patient's response, with intervals of 2 to 4 days between nerve blocks.

To get more information about acute pain treatment for shingles with multidisciplinary team and advanced equipment, contact us immediately at our hotline on 024 3577 1100, our Facebook fan page at “Hanoi French Hospital”, or Zalo OA zalo.me/2008009049335817955.

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Hanoi French Hospital (HFH)

🏥 Address: No. 1 Phuong Mai, Dong Da, Hanoi

☎ Consultation hotline: 024.35771100 – 0903497078

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