There are doctors who will only treat shingles after the disease has spread. If shingles are diagnosed later than 72 hours, most doctors will get that individual to either take a pain reliever or a prescribed pain medication.
Shingles Medicine
When it comes to using pain relievers as your shingles medicine, most health professionals will recommend using Ibuprofen (sold under the brand name of Advil), acetaminophen (Tylenol), and naproxen (Aleve). Topical creams can also be used if you are looking to stop and/or reduce itching.
However, if the pain that you are experiencing is severe, your doctor is likely to prescribe some form of pain medication to be your go-to shingles medicine. Incidences of severe pain include not being able to have articles of clothing touch the areas in which the skin has been infected. If this is the case, individuals can have the following be designated as their shingles medicine:
– (sold under the brand name of Oxycontin and Roxicodone)
– Morphine
– ( and )
– Gabapentin (Neurontin)
If your symptoms include pain and inflammation, you also have the option of topical corticosteroids being your shingles medicine. This is because topical corticosteroids work to reduce both pain and inflammation. That said, these should only be used under the supervision of a doctor because, in certain cases, topical corticosteroids can actually make the shingles infection worse.
If you have had symptoms for less than two days, most doctors will put you on an antiviral drug. There are three extremely common antiviral drugs that can be used as someone’s main shingles medicine. The first is called Zovirax, while the second is called . The third option has been given the name of Famciclovir, which is sold under the brand name of .
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Posted on May 5, 2023