What Are the Common After Effects of Shingles?

Herpes zoster sequelae medical term is called "herpes zoster neuralgia". Shingles (Herpes Zoster), commonly known as "snake", "snake", "waist-flaming dragon" or "spider sore", "snake disc sore", is caused by a chickenpox virus infection, a common virality skin disease. Varicella or recessive infection may occur when a child is first infected, after which the virus invades the sensory end, and then moves and permanently lurks in the neurons of the spinal cord root ganglion. When a cold, malignant tumor, immune disease, acceptance occurs, Shingles are induced when the body's resistance is reduced by radiation or chemical treatment.

Causes of Herpes Zoster

The disease is caused by varicella-zoster virus. The virus enters the human body through the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and is transmitted by blood. Chickenpox appears on the skin, but most people do not appear chickenpox after infection. It is a recessive infection and becomes a virus carrier. This virus is neurotropic, and after invading the sensory nerve endings of the skin, it can move along the nerve to the ganglia of the posterior root of the spinal cord and lurk there. When the host's cellular immune function is low, such as colds, fever, In systemic lupus erythematosus and malignant tumors, the virus is excited again, causing ganglion inflammation and necrosis. At the same time, the reactivated virus can move along the peripheral nerve fibers to the skin to develop herpes. In rare cases, the herpes virus can spread to the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord and visceral nerve fibers, causing motor nerve palsy, such as eye, facial nerve palsy, and symptoms of the gastrointestinal and urinary tracts. Herpes zoster, known by traditional Chinese medicine as waist lobe, and folkly known as "snake rash," etc. Western medicine believes that it is a viral infection, and there is no effective treatment so far. The initial infection of the virus can be dormant in the posterior root ganglia of the spinal cord for a long time. The weakened immune function can induce the varicella-zoster virus to reactivate, grow and reproduce, and spread to the skin along the peripheral nerves, causing shingles. The clinical manifestations are clusters of vesicles, which are clustered along one side of peripheral nerves, with severe neuralgia. Once herpes zoster is mistreated, left untreated, and the patient's autoimmunity is reduced, it will produce a tricky sequelae of clinical treatment-herpes zoster neuralgia.

Herpes zoster sequelae symptoms

Before the onset, the local skin had burning pain, accompanied by systemic symptoms such as mild fever and fatigue. However, there may be no prodromal symptoms. After 1 to 3 days, scattered red spots appear on the skin. Then on the erythema, many clusters of millet as large as mung bean-sized papules occurred, and quickly turned into blisters. The wall of the blister is tense and bright, the blister is clear, and there are small depressions on most of the surface of the blister. A few days later, the blisters became cloudy and purulent, and the erosive surface was formed after ulceration. Finally, the scabs were dried, leaving temporary erythema after shedding. The general course of disease is about 2 to 4 weeks. Mild patients only show erythema and papules, and no blisters, which is called incomplete herpes zoster. Gangrene herpes can occur in malignant lymphoma, acute systemic lupus erythematosus, and the frail elderly, leaving scars after healing, called gangrenous shingles. Shingles can spread throughout the body. At this time it is often accompanied by high fever and pneumonia or encephalitis. The condition is severe. If not rescued in time, it can cause death. It is called generalized shingles.

Herpes distribution is mostly on one side, non-column banded, and sometimes occasionally exceeds the midline of the trunk, which is caused by nerve endings crossing the midline. Chest, neck and facial trigeminal nerve distribution areas are the most common sites. Usually the trigeminal nerve involves only one branch. Local lymph nodes are often swollen and painful. Neuralgia is the main symptom of this disease. The acute stage is due to the inflammatory response of the ganglia. The late stage neuralgia is caused by the post-inflammatory fibrosis of the ganglia and sensory nerves. Sometimes there is severe neuralgia before the onset of herpes, which is often easily misdiagnosed as acute abdomen or angina. Elderly patients with frailty or lymphoma often have sequelae of neuralgia, sometimes lasting months.

Herpes occurs in the trigeminal branch of the eye. Conjunctival and corneal herpes can occur, causing corneal ulcers and blindness, which are serious complications. When the virus invades the facial and auditory nerves, there are ear shells and external auditory canal herpes, which can be accompanied by deep pain in the ears and mastoid processes, tinnitus, deafness, facial paralysis, and loss of taste in the front 1/3 of the tongue. It is called herpes zoster facial paralysis syndrome .

Herpes zoster sequelae complications

Bacterial infection may occur after herpes is partially damaged. Shingles lesions that occur in specific areas, such as the eyes, can have serious consequences. If secondary bacterial infections occur, pancreatitis or even meningitis can occur; sequelae such as vision loss, blindness, and facial paralysis can occur after the illness. Herpes zoster is mostly distributed in the front of the head, the first branch of the trigeminal nerve, which can cause hair loss and permanent scarring. After the skin lesions of herpes zoster have healed, the pain can persist for some time. Some elderly patients may have neuralgia for months or years. Can seriously affect sleep and mood; more severe pain, longer duration can cause mental anxiety, depression and other manifestations. Shingles can occur in the trigeminal nerve segment of the face. There is a nerve fiber in the trigeminal nerve, namely the eye nerve fiber. Part of the nerve fiber is distributed in the cornea, conjunctiva and even the entire eyeball of the human eyeball. Infections can occur with keratitis, corneal ulcers, and conjunctivitis. Patients can suffer from photophobia, tears, and eye pain, which can cause vision loss. In severe cases, pancreatitis can lead to blindness.

When herpes virus infects the motor nerve fibers in the facial nerve, facial paralysis will occur, and the affected side's eyes cannot be closed, the affected side's facial expressions are dull, the corners of the mouth are skewed to the healthy side, and it is impossible to perform air blowing. Shingles that occur in the auricle and ear canal can cause symptoms of inner ear dysfunction. The patient presents with dizziness, nausea, vomiting, hearing impairment, and nystagmus. When the herpes virus invades the central nervous system from the nerve roots in the spinal cord, that is, the human brain's parenchyma and meninges, viral encephalitis and meningitis will occur, manifested as severe headache, jet-like vomiting, convulsions, and limb convulsions. And consciousness, coma, and danger to life. When the herpes virus invades visceral nerve fibers from the nerve roots in the spinal cord to the body, it can cause acute gastroenteritis, cystitis, and prostatitis, manifested as abdominal cramps, dysuria, and urinary retention. Therefore, it is necessary to check the patients with shingles in a timely manner to detect and treat the complications of shingles in a timely manner.

Herpes zoster sequelae and herpes zoster are diagnosed

Pain is on one side of the body; Pain is beating tingling; The pain site is not fixed; The pain site has a fever; The pain is aggravated between 12pm and 3am at night. Timeliness. "

Four characteristics of herpes zoster sequelae

1. Addictiveness (ie, the thick fibers of the peripheral skin of the fond of eating, which exposes the nerve wires, which is the root cause of sequelae neuralgia); 2. Migratory, leading to rashes that may appear elsewhere when repeated; 3. Hot, the worse the rash is, the colder it is, it is better to apply it coldly. 4. Recognizing the time, it is active at 12 ~ 3 in the night, so it feels awake during sleep.

Herpes zoster sequelae treatment

(A) systemic treatment

Antiviral drugs include acyclovir, cytarabine, and adenosine. Among them, acyclovir is most effective. Acyclovir can be absorbed by herpes-infected cells and formed by phosphorylation in cells. Acyclic guanosine triphosphate. This salt is a competitive inhibitor of guanine triphosphate, that is, a competitive inhibitor of DNA polymerase, which can stop the extension of the viral DNA chain, and has a strong inhibitory effect on the activity of the viral DNA polymerase, thereby blocking it. Herpes virus DNA replication. Acyclovir does not easily enter normal cells. Therefore, the inhibitory effect on normal cells is very small, which is about 1/10 to 1/30 of the virus inhibitory effect. This mechanism indicates that acyclovir has the characteristics of high efficiency and few side effects in the treatment of herpes, so it is the drug of choice for the treatment of herpes. Acyclovir is suitable for severe patients with generalized herpes zoster or with pneumonia or encephalitis. The intravenous drip dose is 200-250mg, and it is added to the 100ml rehydration solution for 1 hour, 2 to 3 times a day for 3 to 7 consecutive days. The oral dose is 200 mg 5 times a day. Although adenosine arabinoside and cytarabine have some curative effects against viruses, they are not often used for herpes disease since they have acyclovir because they are expensive or have many side effects.

Patients with neuralgia can be given painkillers, such as aspirin and Qutong tablets. Patients with severe pain can take prednisone 15 to 30 mg / d orally at an early stage; gradually decrease the amount after 1 week. Prednisone taken early can eliminate inflammation of nerve roots. For herpes neuralgia, prednisone can reduce fibrosis in the later stage of neuritis, and thus reduce pain. In addition, vitamin B1, vitamin B6 or injection of interferon can also be used.

(2) External application of traditional Chinese medicine plaster.

Shingles sequelae are caused by the virus stagnating in the body and destroying the nerves. The occurrence of shingles sequelae is related to the early diagnosis of shingles and the failure to properly treat them in time. Most patients are initially misdiagnosed as heart pain and radiation pain. Cholecystitis is treated for the onset of pain, during which the virus multiplies in the body, aggravating the damage of the virus to the nerves, and pain that is difficult to cure. Postherpetic neuralgia is one of the stubborn pains that is difficult to cure with modern medicine. I believe that the pain is caused by the virus stagnating and damaging the nerves in the body. As long as there are uneven purple scars left in the original herpes, the virus can be expelled from the body to repair and clear the damaged nerves, and the pain can be eliminated. Oral medicine is mainly to detoxify fire, topical plaster is mainly used to dredge nutritional nerves, and topical plaster is used to improve local blood circulation and promote blockage of nerves. Topical administration is accompanied by oral administration to detoxify fire, orally and externally, Tongzhi inside and outside, so that qi and blood flow, smooth veins, repair and clear the damaged nerves (pain is unreasonable, the general is painless), can relieve pain and heal. Generally, patients with medicine can recover for 1-2 months.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment of Herpes Zoster

Many patients with shingles suffer from sequelae because they are not treated in time. Most of the sequelae are residual neuralgia, which makes patients always nervous about not knowing when they will suddenly be attacked by pain. And this kind of neuralgia can't be treated by many drugs, but Chinese medicine treats the sequelae of shingles very well. TCM treatment of herpes zoster sequelae

The effect of traditional Chinese medicine treatment is significant, but patients are required to persist for a period of time to take effect. This is because the absorption and conversion of drugs requires a certain period of time, so patients need to be patient. Of course, there are some remedies that have a certain effect on the treatment of herpes zoster sequelae, but these are unproven, it is best to seek the advice of the attending physician before using:

1. Take one golden fruit, remove the shell and take the kernel. Repeat grinding and grinding in a large bowl containing vinegar. After the juice is ground to gray-yellow, wipe it with a sterile cotton ball and apply the juice;

2. Take the appropriate amount of the king without leaving, and burn it to a yellow-brown torrefaction, grind it to the fineness with the degree of non-focus, adjust it into a paste with eggs, and smear the affected area;

3. Take 30-50 grams of Cimicifuga, fry the thick juice, and use gauze to dip the medicinal juice to wet the affected area to keep it moist. At the same time fasting ginger, garlic, pepper, fish, eggs and other spicy and hair products;

4. Take an appropriate amount of fresh Lobelia, wash it, and apply it to the affected area. Cover it with gauze to fix it. If the medicine is dry, moisten it with cold water.

5. Take 20 to 100 grams of fresh grass to carry the whole grass, mash the medicine and add vinegar to make a mud, apply it to the affected part, and then cut it with a clean plastic film into a strip to cover the medicine surface and fix it with adhesive tape

6, take an appropriate amount of mulberry, put the scorch in the pot, grind it into fines, add an appropriate amount of sesame oil and mix thoroughly, and coat the affected area with feathers;

7. Take 10 grams of blood charcoal. It is better to use natural thick black ones. Ignite and make them fully burn, make the red, finely ground, honey sealed, stored in colored bottles. The affected area does not need to be bandaged;

8. Take an appropriate amount of ground dragon, roast the ground dragon ground flour, and add an appropriate amount of sesame oil to the affected area.

Important role of psychotherapy for herpes zoster sequelae

1. Root-digging therapy: regardless of age, the basic reason is that the patient's immunity is significantly reduced, which causes the latent shingles virus that is latent in the body to be activated, which causes rash and pain. There are generally the following reasons for the decline in immunity: tiredness, lack of consciousness, playing cards, watching TV, too long a computer, getting angry, sickness, trauma, chemotherapy, improper diet, etc. The patient must carefully find out the cause and resolutely correct the bad lifestyle. Only by digging out the root of the disease can the medicinal power be effectively exerted, and even the magic effect can be obtained.

2. Supportive therapy: that is, patients must be supported to establish the belief of victory, so the disease is a self-limited disease, and it will inevitably become better and better after active treatment, so patients need not be alarmed. Because only by establishing the belief of victory, patients can secrete a happiness hormone (endorphin) in the brain and also have a strong analgesic effect.

3. Doubt-solving therapy: the doctor must patiently explain the occurrence and development of the disease to the patient in detail and explain the problems and countermeasures in the course of treatment, and the patient will cooperate closely to obtain magical results. ^[1]