Herpes zoster treatment with TCM

What is shingles?

===========

Herpes zoster, known as "herpes zoster" in traditional Chinese medicine, is an acute herpetic skin disease with clusters of blisters on the skin, most of which are distributed in a belt-like pattern and are accompanied by pain. Because it often occurs on one side of the waist, it is also called "waist-wrapped fire dan", "waist dragon", "spider sores", etc. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this disease is mostly caused by emotional frustration, liver dysfunction, depression and heat, or dietary disorders, spleen dysfunction, dampness and turbidity, or insufficient positive energy and toxic evil.

Common symptoms

Before the eruption, there may be systemic symptoms such as mild fatigue, low fever, and poor appetite. The skin in the affected area will feel burning or neuralgia, and there will be obvious pain sensitivity when touched, which will last for 1 to 3 days. The eruption may also occur without prodromal symptoms. The most common sites are the innervated areas of the intercostal nerves, cervical nerves, trigeminal nerves, and lumbosacral nerves. The affected area often first appears as a flushing spot, and soon there will be papules the size of millet to soybeans, which are distributed in clusters without fusion, and then quickly turn into blisters. The blister wall is tense and shiny, the blister fluid is clear, and the periphery is surrounded by a red halo. The skin between each cluster of blisters is normal; the skin lesions are arranged in a band along a peripheral nerve, mostly on one side of the body, generally not exceeding the midline. Neuralgia is one of the characteristics of this disease, which may occur before the onset of the disease or accompanied by skin lesions, and is often more severe in elderly patients. The course of the disease is generally 2 to 3 weeks. After the blisters dry up and the scabs fall off, temporary light red spots or pigmentation remain.

From the perspective of symptoms in traditional Chinese medicine

There are two types of herpes zoster: dry and wet. The dry type is bright red, like a sunset cloud, with small blisters on it, and the local area feels hot and itchy. This type generally belongs to the liver meridian and heart meridian with severe wind and fire, and the general treatment is mainly to dispel wind, clear heat and cool blood, and Longdan Xiegan Decoction is often used for treatment; the wet type is generally yellow-white in the local skin of the lesion, not very red, and the blisters vary in size, often manifested as more severe pain. This type belongs to the spleen and lung meridians with damp heat, and the treatment is often mainly to strengthen the spleen and dispel dampness, promote qi and relieve pain, and Chushi Weiling Decoction is often used for treatment.

The main pain that herpes zoster brings to patients is neuralgia, especially postherpetic neuralgia, which can even cause patients to sleep all night, seriously affecting their quality of life. The occurrence of neuralgia or postherpetic neuralgia is related to whether herpes zoster is treated in time and the patient's age and physical condition. Data show that the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia in herpes zoster patients over the age of 50 is higher than that in patients under the age of 50. At the same time, timely and sufficient antiviral treatment of herpes zoster is also the key to preventing the occurrence of postherpetic neuralgia. Traditional Chinese medicine has good characteristics and effects in the treatment of herpes zoster, especially postherpetic neuralgia. For example, early syndrome differentiation and treatment of Chinese medicine, blister puncture, Chinese medicine liquid wet compress, red light irradiation, circumferential puncture, etc., can accelerate the improvement of the disease and relieve neuralgia. Since the onset of herpes zoster is mostly induced by fatigue and decreased immunity of patients, and the digestive function of some patients with skin lesions on the trunk will be significantly weakened during the onset of the disease, it is important to have sufficient rest and a reasonable diet structure during the illness.