Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Shingles: itching cure!
Bless my friend Giselle!!! She told me the secret to "scratching" itches that you aren't supposed to touch - such as poison ivy, chicken pox, and my current foe, shingles. Take your hair dryer, set it to hot, and blow over the affected area. Waggle the dryer back and forth so you don't burn yourself. Blessed relief! Thank you, Giselle!! The blow dryer method also lessens the pain. I wish I had known this years ago.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Shingles: treatment and resources
It started with a burning sensation on my skin, following by the most dreadful itching. I thought I had been bitten by a mosquito. The bite, in the middle of my back (aren’t they always) didn’t subside. It got itchier and itchier. Friends of ours mentioned that there is a new strain of mosquito on the Gulf Coast, an Asian import that features allergic red whelps as part of the bite. I decided that was the culprit when red whelps emerged.
A day or two later, to my astonishment and horror, the bite had spread! It followed the line of my bra strap, a burning, itching rash. I could feel the little bumps of the bites and was terrified that I had leaned up against something and become host to a zillion baby spiders. Meanwhile, the rash not only itched, it burned like the worst sunburn I’d ever had. Finally, about the 5th day of this experience, I called my dermatologist. It was after hours and I had to leave a message on the dermatology hotline. It will tell you how freaked out I was to know that I didn’t even laugh at the idea of a skin emergency.
She didn’t call back until late in the evening and because my phone had fallen out of my purse onto the floorboard of the car, I didn’t hear the call until mid afternoon the next day. She told me that if the bites were from a brown recluse spider (my worst fear), it wouldn’t be spreading – chunks of my back would be falling out! I was immediately cheerful to have that fear allayed. Then she said, “Sounds like shingles to me.”
Shingles! That’s what old people get! Oh, right, that would be me. It’s hard when your internal age clock stops at 35, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Bless the internet. David went straight to Google images for a view of shingles and voila! There was my rash, in picture after picture. Some of the pictures looked like advanced cases of purple acne or leprosy. But a lot of them looked like mine. Red rash in a cord of Rorschach blotches, little “bites” or that awful word “pustule” (always makes me think of Prince John in the 1968 version of Lion in Winter).
Once I knew what I had, I went straight to my book, Nutritional Healing by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C. It’s my health Bible. I know that regular herpes is aggravated by arginine (an amino acid found in food such as peanuts). Those of us who get cold sores keep lysine (another amino acid that blocks arginine) on hand to suppress the virus that causes cold sores. The cold sore virus is a herpes virus, cousin or the same as the virus that causes genital herpes, chicken pox and (drum roll) shingles!!
Here’s the shingles treatment:
• Take lysine, 1,000 meg a day, for a start. (I am taking 1500 meg.)
• Quit eating any food that has arginine. I discovered that my favorite bedtime snack of almonds and raisins is chock full of arginine – great.
• Take 2,000 meg of vitamin C four times a day.
• Add cayenne pepper, 100 meg of Vitamin B three times a day, 80 meg of zinc a day for a week.
• Fast, to get that arginine out of your system and let your innards rest. Use 1 T grade B maple syrup, the juice of one large or two small lemons, and 1/8 teasp cayenne pepper in a large glass of water and just sip on it all day. it tastes great, like spicy lemonade. At night I eat a peeled fresh pear or peeled fresh apple to give my digestive tract something to do. This is a great fast and you will not be hungry or cranky - just keep sipping.
• Then work to boost your immune system. A lowered immune system (common complaint of those of us who are mature) opens the door to shingles. Nutritional Healing has a whole section on this.
I am putting fresh aloe vera on the rash several times a day. Aloe vera cures all skin problems – I have 35 years of experience with this plant, which is a living miracle. Bottled aloe vera is almost useless, by the way.
Two days later, I am very much better. I have only one area that is still hyper-sensitive. The bites (I refuse to call them pustules) are crusting over as they should. The rash is several shades lighter.
All of which is fairly serious because three days from today I am getting on a plane to New York to attend my dear daughter’s wedding. And I AM going to wear a bra!
A day or two later, to my astonishment and horror, the bite had spread! It followed the line of my bra strap, a burning, itching rash. I could feel the little bumps of the bites and was terrified that I had leaned up against something and become host to a zillion baby spiders. Meanwhile, the rash not only itched, it burned like the worst sunburn I’d ever had. Finally, about the 5th day of this experience, I called my dermatologist. It was after hours and I had to leave a message on the dermatology hotline. It will tell you how freaked out I was to know that I didn’t even laugh at the idea of a skin emergency.
She didn’t call back until late in the evening and because my phone had fallen out of my purse onto the floorboard of the car, I didn’t hear the call until mid afternoon the next day. She told me that if the bites were from a brown recluse spider (my worst fear), it wouldn’t be spreading – chunks of my back would be falling out! I was immediately cheerful to have that fear allayed. Then she said, “Sounds like shingles to me.”
Shingles! That’s what old people get! Oh, right, that would be me. It’s hard when your internal age clock stops at 35, despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Bless the internet. David went straight to Google images for a view of shingles and voila! There was my rash, in picture after picture. Some of the pictures looked like advanced cases of purple acne or leprosy. But a lot of them looked like mine. Red rash in a cord of Rorschach blotches, little “bites” or that awful word “pustule” (always makes me think of Prince John in the 1968 version of Lion in Winter).
Once I knew what I had, I went straight to my book, Nutritional Healing by James F. Balch, M.D. and Phyllis A. Balch, C.N.C. It’s my health Bible. I know that regular herpes is aggravated by arginine (an amino acid found in food such as peanuts). Those of us who get cold sores keep lysine (another amino acid that blocks arginine) on hand to suppress the virus that causes cold sores. The cold sore virus is a herpes virus, cousin or the same as the virus that causes genital herpes, chicken pox and (drum roll) shingles!!
Here’s the shingles treatment:
• Take lysine, 1,000 meg a day, for a start. (I am taking 1500 meg.)
• Quit eating any food that has arginine. I discovered that my favorite bedtime snack of almonds and raisins is chock full of arginine – great.
• Take 2,000 meg of vitamin C four times a day.
• Add cayenne pepper, 100 meg of Vitamin B three times a day, 80 meg of zinc a day for a week.
• Fast, to get that arginine out of your system and let your innards rest. Use 1 T grade B maple syrup, the juice of one large or two small lemons, and 1/8 teasp cayenne pepper in a large glass of water and just sip on it all day. it tastes great, like spicy lemonade. At night I eat a peeled fresh pear or peeled fresh apple to give my digestive tract something to do. This is a great fast and you will not be hungry or cranky - just keep sipping.
• Then work to boost your immune system. A lowered immune system (common complaint of those of us who are mature) opens the door to shingles. Nutritional Healing has a whole section on this.
I am putting fresh aloe vera on the rash several times a day. Aloe vera cures all skin problems – I have 35 years of experience with this plant, which is a living miracle. Bottled aloe vera is almost useless, by the way.
Two days later, I am very much better. I have only one area that is still hyper-sensitive. The bites (I refuse to call them pustules) are crusting over as they should. The rash is several shades lighter.
All of which is fairly serious because three days from today I am getting on a plane to New York to attend my dear daughter’s wedding. And I AM going to wear a bra!
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