Shingles: Better on Your Roof

Best Single Herb: Calendula

Best Combinations: White willow bark, black cohosh, capsicum, valerian, ginger, hops, wood betony, devil’s claw; elecampane; licorice root; una de gato

Other Helpful Supplements: B-complex vitamins; acidophilus; 1-lysine or all essential amino acids; calcium/magnesium with vitamin D; vitamins A and D; zinc; trace minerals

Possible Causes: Stress; anxiety; low immune system

Complementary Help: Calendula fomentation; vitamin E oil applied externally when healing to prevent scarring; stress reduction

Shingles is an ailment that usually strikes middle-age women and men, but it is especially common and can be more harmful in those with weak immune systems and the elderly. This ailment is recognized as a severely itchy or painful red rash that appears across the trunk of the body and sometimes on the face. Most of the time this rash lasts about three weeks until the blistered scabs heal. However, in some with particularly weak immune systems, the problem may linger for months and can lead to nerve pain that can continue for years.

Shingles is related to the chicken pox and herpes virus (all of the same family). It is thought that the chicken pox virus lurks in the body inactive for decades; when we experience a crisis or other major stress in mid-life that causes the immune system to become vulnerable, the virus then resurfaces as shingles. Therefore, when working with shingles, you will need to take into consideration herbs that nourish your nervous system (see the post “S-T-R-E-S-S: That’s the Way We Spell Success”). You will want to boost your immune system with herbs to help fight off the virus and to help you recover.

Calendula: Scratching the Itch

Calendula (Calendula officinalis) is an excellent herb to help you with your painful rash because it has properties that make it work as an anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antiseptic, anti-spasmodic, a sedative, and an astringent. Sounds like it can ease that itch, doesn’t it?

Make a poultice or fomentation from the flowers of the calendula plant and apply it directly to your rash to help with inflammation and itching. Although I have never had shingles, I have used calendula topically for other skin ailments to prevent infection with success. An old saying states something to the effect of, wherever calendula is, no puss will form. Calendula then, may help prevent your shingle blisters from becoming infected.

When taken internally in small doses, calendula works as a sedative and thus may help ease the stress and tension that brought out your shingles in the first place. You will usually find calendula flowers in topical applications at the health food stores. This herb also may be an ingredient in some herbal combinations, or as a homeopathic ingredient, or you might find the flowers in bulk. I would follow this lead and use calendula topically or in a homeopathic form. Then consider some of the herbs we’ll discuss next for internal use.

About overcoming an ailment with herbs

A vitamin E oil capsule that’s punctured and applied topically to a rash or any other skin wound during the healing process has proven useful in preventing scarring.

Nervous System Support

White willow bark has been used for pain — remember, this was the herb that aspirin was derived from. A good mixture of eight herbs that can help the pain associated with shingles is listed in the table at the end of this chapter. B-complex vitamins also will feed the nervous system, and the amino acid 1-lysine has been reported to help suppress the herpes virus and makes it of value in fighting a shingles outbreak.

Take a calcium and magnesium supplement to help your muscles relax and to accelerate tissue healing once your rash begins to clear. Acidophilus supplementation or eating extra yogurt with live acidophilus cultures will help you absorb your nutrients better and will aid in boosting your immune system, too.

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