Shingles: Treatment and Prevention

 Dr. Mark Hyman and Dr. George Papanicolaou discuss the Functional Medicine Approach to treating and preventing shingles. Several Healthshifter aquaintances were afflicted with shingles during the pandemic. Some suffered hearing loss among other complications. Here are some pearls from the doctors’ discussion:

*Shingles is a very big problem.

*Chickenpox is a virus that hangs out, sleeps and hides in the nerve root of our spine forever. It can emerge, travel through our nerves and cause pain as it rears its ugly head as Shingles.

* Aging, stress, poor diet and a suppressed immune system are drivers of shingles; it is a food and stress problem.

• There are many complications of shingles: it can go to the ear and eye and cause meningitis and nerve pain for years.
• The costs to treat shingles are enormous.
• Conventional Medicine focuses on vaccines to shut down the inflammation and pain. This approach does does not fix our immune system.
• Millions of dollars are invested in vaccines for shingles: In the early 2000s-Zostovax Vaccine showed a 50% efficacy after 8 years; it continues to decline. It lowered our chance of getting shingles by 35%.
• In 2017 a new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, has a 97% efficacy rate. There can be adverse reactions and it requires 2 shots.
• Functional Medicine looks to help individuals build a strong immune system to avoid and/or fight shingles. This approach seeks to aid in the rejuvenation of our immune system in the following manner: First: Food is Medicine: upgrade our food with spices, herbs, seeds, and berries to support a healthy immune system.
• Remove sugar and starch as they suppress the immune system which causes trouble.
• Make sure we have the right minerals to regulate our immune system and help reduce the course of the illness: zinc, Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin C, Lycine.
• Look at other deficiencies in our systems and how those might impact our gut. For example: Hives and yeast infection=bacterial imbalance=imbalance in our gut bacteria.
• Check your proteins as the immune system is driven by proteins.
• Take supplements to address imbalances such as Turkey Tail, Biocidin and L-Glutamine.
• Meditate-it alters our genes that help improve our immune function especially those genes that fight viruses.

To learn more, click the link below to listen to the Doctors’ discussion.