Shingles Relief with
Gainesville Holistic Medicine
Many people across the country experience shingles when they reach a certain age. Shingles has become increasingly common in older adults; however, it can also affect younger people with weak immune systems. Living with shingles can be debilitating and painful, making daily life complicated and tiresome.
Unfortunately, Western medicine isn’t always effective at relieving the symptoms of shingles, especially the pain it causes. This is because Western medicine focuses on masking pain through the use of medication. After some time, the body often develops a tolerance to the medication, leading to higher dosages. Side effects from medications can also occur.
If you are seeking an alternative treatment for relieving pain associated with shingles, acupuncture can offer you a safe, natural, and effective treatment option. At Gainesville Holistic Healthcare, we provide acupuncture in Gainesville, FL, for shingles.
What is Shingles?
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is a painful skin rash caused by the varicella zoster virus. Shingles most commonly appears as a band, strip, or small area on one side of the body or face. It appears in older adults and people who have weakened immune systems due to injury, stress, certain medications, or other reasons. Most people typically get it once and then it goes away. Some, however, experience shingles more than once.
After recovering from chickenpox, the varicella virus becomes dormant. In some people, it remains dormant throughout the rest of their lives, but for others, it manifests as a shingles rash when disease, stress, or aging weakens the immune system. Shingles often starts with a headache, sensitivity to light, and the feeling of having the flu but without a fever. When the rash appears, it turns into clusters of blisters that fill with fluid and then crust over. When healed, the blisters can often leave scars. Shingles can cause itching, pain, dizziness, and weakness.
Acupuncture for Pain Relief
Acupuncture has often been used for the treatment of pain relief and it can also be successful at alleviating pain caused by shingles. Acupuncture works by targeting specific points in the body called meridians. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, vital energy, or qi, flows through these meridians. Each meridian is associated with specific organs and different point stimulations are able to treat different ailments and symptoms. When meridians are blocked, qi cannot flow freely, causing complications in the body. The stimulation of specific points in the body with thin, sterile needles improves blood circulation and muscle relaxation while promoting the release of hormones such as endorphins that act as natural painkillers. Because acupuncture restores balance within the body, treatment can also offer additional benefits such as a stronger immune system, improved energy, reduced stress, faster healing, and relief of other symptoms.
Acupuncture in Conjunction with Shingles Treatment
Using acupuncture in conjunction with Western shingles drug therapies can improve the overall effectiveness of treatment. The use of both treatments together reduces the dependency on drugs for pain relief while simultaneously treating other symptoms through medication. The addition of acupuncture into drug therapy has been found to decrease pain levels, require fewer painkillers, and heal herpetic lesions faster. For a safer, more effective alternative of treatment, seek the help of acupuncturists in Gainesville, FL, for treatment in conjunction with your medication.
Acupuncture Clinic in Gainesville, FL
If medication alone has been ineffective at treating your pain for shingles, it is time to give acupuncture a try. Contact Gainesville Holistic Healthcare today for reliable Gainesville acupuncture treatment for pain caused by shingles.