Folk Remedies/Common Sense Remedies for Shingles - Shingles

Keep the affected area clean, dry, and exposed to air (without clothes covering it) as much as possible. Don't scratch or burst the blisters. If you have difficulty in sleeping because of the pain, bind the area with an elastic sports bandage.

Crush two aspirin, mix them with 2 tbsp rubbing alcohol, and apply the paste to lesions three times a day. This will provide relief by desensitizing the nerve endings.

For relief of itching, get the following preparation from a drug store:

Calamine lotion - 78 percent
Rubbing alcohol - 20 percent
Phenol - 1 percent
Menthol - 1 percent

Apply this mixture continuously on the affected parts until your blisters scab over.

Mix 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar with 2 cups of water. Moisten a clean cotton face-cloth with this solution. Wring slightly and rub affected area with the moist towel upwards towards the heart after the shingles attack subsides and the blisters dry up. Repeat this procedure for an hour daily, as needed.

Dust colloidal oatmeal powder on the parts of the body where clothes rub against your skin. This may reduce pain.

Apply aloe vera gel, raw honey, or fresh leek juice over the rash several times a day. You can also use hydrogen peroxide on infected blisters.

Sponge the following over the sores or apply as a cold compress:

Vitamin E oil
Apple cider vinegar
Cool goldenseal, mugwort, or peppermint tea
A solution of baking soda and water

Take a 20-minute soak in a tub of tepid water enhanced with a cup of colloidal oatmeal or cornstarch. This helps to have a goodnight sleep.

For pain that lingers after the blisters have healed, apply a mixture of 2 tablespoons of hand lotion and a crushed aspirin tablet, or vigorously rub the area with cloth-wrapped ice cubes.

Place plain yogurt mixed with zinc oxide, if available, along the path of the nerve (two to three times daily.) This treatment, if started at the first sign of the outbreak, will often clear up herpes zoster in twenty-four to forty eight hours.

A gel made from licorice root appears to be an excellent topical application. Doctors report that serious pain and inflammation are totally cleared in three days after this application.

Pear juice is rich in antiviral caffeic acid. Drink it as a fruit juice and eat lots of pears for shingles.

Avoid foods containing the amino acid arginine, such as chocolate, cereal grains, nuts, and seeds.