Shingles: Duration, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment

Shingles is a very common, and very painful, condition. If you treat shingles aggressively, it should subside earlier, and you're less likely to develop complications.

Causes

• Shingles is really just chicken pox. The chicken pox virus, "varicella-zoster," lies dormant in the body's nerves and can reactivate, causing the painful condition shingles. Other illnesses or stress can lead to a shingles outbreak, as can age.

Symptoms

• The first symptoms of shingles include tiredness, headache and sensitivity to light. Pain develops, usually shooting or burning, as well as tingling and itching. A rash of blisters then appears where the pain occurs.

Aftereffects

• People who have undergone a shingles outbreak can experience postherpetic neuralgia, a condition in which pain lingers in the rash spot long after the blisters have healed.

Duration

• A shingles rash can take a while to heal--anywhere from two to four weeks. Complications can last longer, although postherpetic neuralgia usually disappears by one to three months after onset.

Treatment

• Treating shingles with antiviral medication within two days of developing the rash can help shorten its duration and reduce the risk of developing postherpetic neuralgia.