Varicella Zoster (VZV), a virus known for chicken pox, remains dormant in our systems for years. It attaches itself to a ganglia, which are the spinal nerves. Later in our lives, it reactivates and travels down the sensory nerve to the skin, causing a painful skin rash called shingles. The virus can produce sensory loss, pain, and other neurological complications. If motor nerve roots are also involved, weakness can develop in addition to sensory changes.
Your odds are 5 to 1000 of getting shingles, and immune-compromise, poor nutrition, and aging seriously increases your odds. There are a few remedies to treat shingles but there is no cure, since shingles is a herpes form of virus. As I paraphrase an old tasteless joke, “Shingles, the gift that keeps on giving”.
I remember years ago getting chicken pox, and having my mother hovering over me for days making sure that I didn’t scratch the itchy spots. At one point she put gloves on my hands to be certain that I wouldn’t have any facial reminders of the pox. And having to deal with mess of dripping calamine lotion all over my face and body was not fun for either one of us. But we never realized that by protecting your child’s immunity by having chicken pox, you could make them vulnerable to a host of diseases in the future such as shingles.
Treatment for shingles can be toxic by using over-the-counter medications such as ibuprophen or aspirin, and corticosteriods such as prednisone, whose side effect increase the chances for the spreading of shingles, and meningitis. Not a rosy picture.
Currently we have several clients using Elixer Arnica Sports Rub TM to manage their shingles outburst. Since the product was never designed to address shingles victims, I was greatly surprised to hear how well it did in pain management. An herbalist told me that since Arnica is an anti-inflammatory, and has anti-viral properties, it should be considered as a powerful weapon against shingles.
Since we have little documentation on shingles, we invite you to test try our product in the treatment of shingles.
For more information about Elixer Arnica Sports Rub
As always I’d love to hear your stories…..Nadine, President, Frush Botanicals
