Why Shingles Could Be The Worst Disease You've Never Heard Of?

Caused by the same virus as chickenpox, shingles is a common condition that affects mainly older adults. It’s a viral infection that causes a painful rash that can appear anywhere on your body. Shingles is usually not a serious condition for adults who are generally healthy, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t risks. Left untreated, shingles can cause life-threatening complications and even death.

How Dangerous are Shingles?

Most people who contract the shingles virus will recover without any complications. With treatment, the uncomfortable symptoms of shingles should clear up within 2-4 weeks. Left untreated, severe cases of shingles can become very serious. Antiviral medication is usually the first course of treatment given when you’re diagnosed with shingles.

shingles vaccination

Some groups are more likely to experience complications from shingles, including: 

  • People over the age of 65
  • People with autoimmune diseases
  • Pregnant women
  • Those undergoing cancer treatment

Shingles Complications

Up to 18% of people who have an outbreak will experience the most common shingles related complication postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). PHN causes long-term nerve pain in the area where the shingles rash appeared. The older you are when your outbreak occurs, the more likely you are to experience PHN.

Other shingles complications include:

  • Bacterial skin infections
  • Hearing loss
  • Vision loss
  • Partial paralysis in facial muscles
  • Meningitis
  • Stroke
  • Pneumonia
  • Permanent damage to your central nervous system
  • Brain swelling
  • Shock
  • Sepsis

Given that many of these complications can be life-changing or even fatal, it’s important to treat shingles and to protect yourself from infection.

Shingles Vaccination in Northampton and Streatham

The shingles vaccine is an effective way to protect yourself against shingles. Given as a single injection into the arm, it can give you lifelong protection against shingles. Even if you’ve already had shingles, a vaccination against shingles can help to prevent the virus from reactivating in your system.

The vaccine is only available on the NHS to over 70s so everyone else will need to get the vaccine privately.

Even if you aren’t in a high risk group, a shingles outbreak can be very painful, uncomfortable, and life disrupting. Reduce your chance of infection by booking shingles vaccination in Northolt and Ramsgate with Touchwood Pharmacy. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Use of Botox® In Treating Wrinkles and Certain Muscular Conditions

Image
As much as all humans will like to keep to their natural beauty, most of the time, the natural beauty is not usually the ideal beauty they want for themselves. It is not a matter of low self-esteem, it is simply reaching out for the best for yourself. Every tick of the clock, comes with skin ageing. A lot of treatment methods have been developed to correct this, but none so far has been as effective as Botox ® which is also a nonsurgical treatment. Also, there are patients who always experience excessive sweating especially at their palm and foots. Our Botox ® treatment has also being effective in treating this too. Touchwood Pharmacy Botox ® treatment in Northampton offers patients a younger look and rejuvenated smile. The treatment takes 1-3 days and rarely 5days and its effect can last for 3-4months. Aside that, it does not prevent you from continuing with your daily activities. How Does Botox ® Corrects Wrinkles? Botox ® injections function by tem
Read more

Botox Clinic London

Image
Are you searching for a lasting solution to your facial wrinkles? then you're on the right article. Research has it that there are processes that facilitate wrinkle formation, thereby contributing to making us have a much older appearance and they include:  our everyday facial expression and loss of skin elasticity. Loss of skin elasticity happens alongside the loss of volume and it gives the long-term effect of sagging; it gives the feel of loose muscles, making them lack the firmness they normally should have.  Also, our everyday facial expressions refer to how we use our facial muscles. There are typical facial wrinkles with negative connotations and they are frown lines or furrows between the eyes which makes us look like we are intensely worried or negative. Dealing with wrinkles should not be so much of a problem because there are now medically acceptable ways to deal with it, they are called anti-wrinkle treatment. Anti-wrinkle treatments are available in differen
Read more

What are the symptoms of Japanese Encephalitis?

Image
Japanese Encephalitis is inflammation in the brain caused by a virus called Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). South Asia is the common grounds to get this disease. The virus is spread from the bite of the infected mosquito. The virus enters the mosquitoes from pigs and birds. Fortunately is not contagious from human to human. Agricultural fields and rural areas are common places where this disease is seen. 90% of the patients are asymptomatic in the first phase. Flu and diarrhoea are seen in the first two days. Headaches, vomiting, raised tones, intracranial pressures increase and seizures are seen in phase 2.  Clinical findings are used to diagnose Japanese Encephalitis.  Lymphocytosis is seen in the blood. Lumbar puncture is done to examine the cerebrospinal fluid. This disease has no cure. Therefore one can only rely on the available vaccine for prevention of the Japanese Encephalitis. Only the symptoms are treated by admitting the patient to a hospital and administering flui
Read more