Suggest Treatment For Painful Shingles Infection On The Face

Posted on Sat, 18 Mar 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 18 Mar 2017 Answered on

Sat, 8 Apr 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : My husband has shingles in the face. He has had it for 5 weeks. He has horrible pain in his face 4 to 8 times daily and in the night. He moans with the attack because it hurts so bad. He is on Lyrica and Tramadol 3 times a day. The pain usually is so bad, it totally drains him. He is 72 and pretty active..Not now, he just sleeps on the couch. He has diabetes 2. What can we do to get rid of the attacks. He says he can feel the pain travel all around his head, sometime in the throat and sometime even to his heart. Thank you

Answered by Dr. Ajay Panwar (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Pain usually continues for 3-4 months.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist, here to answer your query.

In natural course of shingles, post herpetic neuralgia usually lasts for a few months(3-4) after shingles.Till that time, it is to be managed with antineuralgic drugs like Lyrica.Other antineuralgic medicines which can be effective are Duloxetine/Amitriptyline/Nortriptyline.You can discuss with your treating doctor to add one of these is symptoms are not getting controlled.

Further, during these few months, it is not possible to completely eradicate this.So, lets hope that these symptoms will improve in due course of time.
Hope this helps.If you need further clarification on this,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.

Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar