3 Things your doctor doesn’t tell you about postherpetic neuralgia

what you need to know

If you suffer from postherpetic neuralgia and looking for safe and effective ways to help, give our office a call at (425) 686-4498 to set-up your initial consultation to learn more about how we can help.

3 Things your doctor doesn’t tell you about postherpetic neuralgia

Just go through the excruciating rash and pain from shingles, only to be left with even worse fire-flares of postherpetic neuralgia? You are not alone, it is estimated that 18-41% of people how get shingles get PHN.

What causes the pain of postherpetic neuralgia?

The acute shingles infection causes nerve damage and irritation which results in persistent and relentless pain and hypersensitivity to the area affected. Often accompanying, PHN people report decrease in quality of life, lower mood, fatigue, and anxiety. There is very limited western medicine treatments for PHN. Often antidepressants, gabapentin, and opioids are prescribed. However, in my experience, patients report that the gabapentin does not help eliminate the pain flares and they do not want to rely on opioids for pain relief due to side effects and complex drug complications.

What you should know about postherpetic neuralgia:

1. Often gabapentin is prescribed for nerve pain but there is no evidence that it can help to repair and heal the irritated and damaged nerves. In fact a recent study showed that it can actual hinder the regeneration process.

2. PHN is a very complex condition and often takes 6-9 months to treat due to hypersensitivity of the nerves from the virus damage to the nerves.

3. Acupuncture can help with all aspects involved with PHN including helping the nerves to heal, increasing microcirculation, reducing hypersensitivity, and to help reduce the intensity of the pain flares. Read more about how we can help in our previous post, here.

What do the studies say?

In a recent 2019 study in the Journal of Pain Research, examined at this exact topic. Can acupuncture help those with PHN? Patients with PHN were given several outcome assessment tools to help to measure improvement in pain intensity such as using the visual analogue scale, McGill Pain Questionnaire, and several other outcome assessment tools. This meta-analysis found that acupuncture can reduce pain intensity, relieve anxiety and help to improve quality of life among PHN patients.

If you suffer from postherpetic neuralgia and looking for safe and effective ways to help, give our office a call at (425) 686-4498 to set-up your initial consultation to learn more about how we can help.

Dr. Ellie Heintze, ND, LAc, is a naturopathic doctor and acupuncturist in Bothell, WA at her practice Starting Point Acupuncture. She specializes in chronic and complex cases and commonly treats neuropathy, fibromyalgia, migraines, autoimmune, and infertility cases. Dr. Ellie Heintze is also the author of the book, A Starting Point Guide to Going Gluten-Free and Keep Calm and Zen Out available on Amazon.