Prevent the Pain of Shingles

You don't have to suffer, as long as you take two important steps

- Beth Weinhouse

I F YOU'VE HAD shingles, or you know someone who has, then you know what a painful condition it can be. It's also surprisingly common: One in three people will develop shingles (medical name: herpes zoster) in their lifetime, adding up to an estimated 1 million cases in the United States each year. Fortunately, there are very effective ways to prevent getting shingles, and effective ways to treat it if you are unlucky enough to get it.

What It Is

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV)-the same virus that causes chickenpox. When you're exposed for the first time, you develop chickenpox. But when you recover, the virus doesn't leave your body. It lies dormant in nerves that emerge from the spinal cord and causes no problems until something reactivates it. Then you get shingles. Things that make reactivation more likely: getting older, being immunocompromised, feeling generally run down or dealing with a lot of stress.

"It's almost like the body's way of kicking you when you're already down," says Esther Freeman, MD, director of Global Health Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

While shingles is usually associated with a rash, most people develop skin sensitivity-tingling, itching, or a burning, shooting pain-in a specific area of their body first. Then, one to five days later, small red spots appear, which turn into fluid-filled blisters.