Postherpetic neuralgia is a complication of herpes zoster, also known as shingles, which affects nerves and skin, causing a constant burning sensation in the body, even after lesions caused by the herpes zoster virus.
Postherpetic neuralgia is usually more common in people over age 60, but it can occur at any age, provided that you have contracted chickenpox virus in adulthood.
- Although there is no cure.
- There are some forms of treatment that reduce symptoms and improve quality of life.
- In addition.
- Postherpetic neuralgia generally improves over time.
- Requiring less and less treatment.
The most common symptoms of postherpetic neuralgia include
These symptoms usually appear in the area of the skin that has been affected by herpes zoster lesions, so they are more common on the trunk or only on one side of the body.
The burning sensation may appear before shingles damage the skin and, in some people, may also be accompanied by menstrual pain, for example.
In most cases, the diagnosis is confirmed by a dermatologist only by looking at the affected site and the symptoms reported by the person himself.
When chickenpox virus is contracted in adulthood, the virus causes stronger symptoms and can damage nerve fibers in the skin; when this happens, the electrical stimuli that go to the brain are affected, becoming more exaggerated and causing the chronic pain that characterizes -herpetic neuralgia.
There is no treatment to cure postherpetic neuralgia, however, it is possible to relieve symptoms through various forms of treatment, such as:
In addition, in more severe cases, where none of these forms of treatment seems to improve pain, your doctor may also prescribe opioid medications such as tramadol or morphine.
There are treatments that work best for some people than for others, so it may be necessary to try different forms of treatment before finding the best, or even combine two or more treatments.