 |
Chiropractic ShinglesCaused by a virus? Stress? Other ...Chiropractic Shingles usually become associated quite by accident. A patient with nerve pain of unknown origin, mostly around the trunk, consults a chiropractor with back or chest pain, or on the face or scalp perhaps, and very occasionally down the leg, before the characteristic shingles rash becomes evident. Chiropractic subluxations are usually found by the chiropractor in that part of the spine enervating the painful patch of skin, and the patient is duly treated for a chiropractic subluxation. Then the shingles rash appears, much to the chiropractor's consternation: an incorrect diagnosis has seemingly been made. My only defence is that medicine often doesn't diagnose the disease correctly until the rash appears either.
Shingles is an infection of a nerve and the area of skin that is supplied by it, usually causing face pain or chest pain, although it may occasionally cause a sciatic pain in the buttock and leg. It is caused by the herpes varicella-zoster virus which also causes chickenpox. Most people have chickenpox as a child, but after the illness has gone, the virus remains dormant (inactive) in the nervous system. The immune system keeps the virus in check, but later in life it can become reactivated, and cause chiropractic shingles, most likely chest pain. About 1 in 5 people get shingles at some point in their life. Although it can occur at any age, it is most common in people aged over 50. Shingles usually affects the nerve supply on one side of the body. The main symptoms are chest pain, or face pain and a rash. You can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you've never had the infection. The skin blisters that form in shingles are full of the chickenpox virus, which means a person with shingles and chest pain is infectious. You can't catch shingles from someone with shingles (or someone with chickenpox), but you can catch chickenpox from someone with shingles if you've never had the infection and therefore aren't immune. Most adults - about 95 per cent - have been exposed to chickenpox and are immune, even though many aren't aware of it (they may have had only a mild dose of chickenpox when they were young). However, a small number of adults aren't immune and will be at risk. Also, when the immune system is suppressed (for example, when someone is being treated for cancer, or is HIV positive), a person can catch chickenpox for a second time. Who's affected?Around one in four or five people will develop shingles in their lifetime, with men and women affected equally. It's most common in older people, although it can also occur in younger people and those with a weakened immune system, or those excessively stressed. Perhaps too by subluxations, which may be why this condition may respond well to chiropractic shingles.What are the symptoms?The first sign of chiropractic shingles is usually excessively sensitive, tingling or burning skin where the shingles rash subsequently appears. The back is usually painful too.Sometimes, there may be fever, headache and enlarged lymph nodes. After a few days, the characteristic shingles rash appears as a band or patch of red spots on the side of the trunk or face, and occasionally on the buttock and down the leg. In or around the eye it can be serious. It usually appears on one side only. The rash develops into fluid-filled blisters that then collapse, forming small ulcers. These dry out and form crusts.
For more information follow this link
If you enjoy reading then you will love chiropractor Bernard Preston's yarns from his own Coalface and his life. For more information about Preston's books, click here.
FROM THE COALFACETwo years ago, this chiropractor was under a lot of stress. And I mean a lot: deep conflict with another chiropractor. Civil war is always the worst. Fortunately I was still having my regular chiropractic adjustment - about once every two months.The other chiropractor developed the worst torticollis I have ever seen. And I got shingles. Fortunately both the torticollis and shingles responded well to good chiropractic care. Luckily my own shingles was one of the lightest I have ever seen - a few vesicles on the scalp following the course of the Ophthalmic nerve, but fortunately didn't infect the eye. The dumb things human beings get themselves into! That's real chiropractic shingles!
What's the treatment?The shingles virus can be treated with antiviral medication. Painkillers can relieve the chest pain or facial pain, while calamine lotion should help to reduce the itching.Shingles that affects the eye requires antiviral therapy and urgent referral to an ophthalmologist. If someone with a weakened immune system is exposed to shingles they are usually referred to hospital for possible intravenous antiviral therapy, as they're at very high risk of complications from chickenpox. An injection of immunoglobulin or antiviral antibodies from someone recently infected may be effective in treating shingles. This doesn't prevent the disease, but may reduce the length and severity of the infection, and the risk of complications. The sooner immunoglobulin is given, the more effective it is likely to be. It must be given within 96 hours to have a significant effect. The treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia can involve painkillers, capsaicin cream and, if necessary, specific antidepressants. As stated above, chiropractic and shingles treatment is usually applied quite by accident, spinal subluxations being located and presumed to be the cause of the pain. In the author's experience, patients with chest pain from shingles who are treated with chiropractic usually recover from the condition very quickly, and intractable post herpectic pain is rare. Concommitant medical treatment is advised, particularly if the face is involved. To my knowledge, there is no research confirming that chiropractic treatment is an effective treatment for the chest pain of shingles. This is simply anecdotal, and may or may not be valid. But chiropractic shingles is certainly worth a thought before it becomes chronic nasty pain. This salve makes great claims for treating the vesicles. Give it a try. That Green Stuff FOR SHINGLES Post-herpetic neuralgiaA common complication of the chest pain or facial pain from shingles is pain in the area of the rash that persists after the rash has disappeared, called post-herpetic neuralgia. It may be severe and last for several years. Simply the touching of a shirt for example may cause excessive irritation and chest pain.People with intractable post-herpetic pain often become depressed. Post-herpetic neuralgia is more likely to occur the older you are. Don't allow shingles to become chronic. Or any other condition for that matter. Deal with it. Consider chiropractic shingles as one of your options.An aside. When is the right time to consult your doctor or chiropractor? There is no easy answer. No doctor in his right mind would suggest you have to rush off and make an appointment for a cough or cold, or a little pain in the back. My rules for what it's worth are:
Best advice. Use your common sense. With chiropractic shingles too. Like any other problem, if you think it's not getting better as you would expect, then it's time to make a move.
Return from CHIROPRACTIC SHINGLES to CHEST PAIN
Monthly newsletter
|
