Shingles: Other Treatment

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Other Treatment

Postherpetic neuralgia, the most common complication of shingles, is difficult to treat. Your health professional may recommend other treatments, along with medications, to control the pain of postherpetic neuralgia.

Other Treatment Choices

Other treatments for postherpetic neuralgia include:

• Acupuncture, a Chinese therapy that has been used for centuries to reduce pain.
• Biofeedback, a method of consciously controlling a body function that is normally regulated automatically by the body.
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), a therapy that uses mild electrical current to treat pain.
• Diathermy, a therapy that uses heat to increase blood flow for pain relief.

Psychological therapies that help you tolerate long-term pain may be helpful. These therapies can include counseling and/or relaxation techniques that teach you to shift your focus of attention away from the pain. You may want to consider going to a pain management specialist if you have not found relief from pain that interferes with your daily living.

What To Think About

It is difficult to assess the effectiveness of these treatments. Although the pain may last many months or years, postherpetic neuralgia is usually a self-limiting condition and with time may heal on its own.

Last updated:	March 21, 2007
Author:	Debby Golonka, MPH
Reviewed By:	Wajeeh E. Nasser, MD - Family Medicine, Randall D. Burr, MD - Dermatology
Editors:	Susan Van Houten, RN, BSN, MBA, Pat Truman, MATC