When you have shingles, there are certain types of medications that can be given to you. When combined, you will find that there are many things that can help with this. Let's take a look at the different sort of medications you might be told to take to help you with your condition.
The first type of medication that is often times prescribed would be antiviral medication. Since shingles is caused by a virus, this would take care of that. This is usually only prescribed to those who have just been recently diagnosed with this condition. This would be when they first start noticing the outbreak. They are normally given the first seventy two hours after someone has been diagnosed with this. They are to take this sort of medication then for five to ten days. There are two main types that they might choose to use. One of these is known on the market as Acyclovir. This is to be used forty eight hours after the onset of the rash. The down side to this medication is that you are to take this every four hours. Then there is Valacyclovir. This is almost like Acyclovir. The thing with this is that you don't have to take this as often. This is good to take every eight hours. You are to take this for seven days.
Another sort of medication that you might need to take are pain medications. The one most uncomfortable things about having shingles is that they cause harsh pain. This might only be at the rash sight, but either way, it's not something that is too pleasant to experience. Normally, a doctor will just tell you to take over the counter pain reliever. When you have this, you will find that it can take some of the pain that you are experiencing away. There are still more things they might have you take as well.
There are what is known as topical medications. Some people use calamine lotion. Others use oatmeal. There are also topical things that are prescribed by their doctor. This can help reduce the itching that is associated with the shingles. This can also help you to reduce the pain that they might experiencing. The way this does this is by actually numbing the skin. What is found is that when you have shingles, you will find that the rash disturbs some of the nerves in the body. This will only affect a certain area of the body. So, this will have to take part in reducing the effects that this plays on those nerves.
These are the things that you can use. Most of them as you can see are over the counter which means that these are safe to use without a prescription. They can be bought at many locations too. So, that's the good part. However, if you can catch the rash that accompanies shingles early on, then you will find that more treatment options are available to you when this occurs.
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