Too many people know the pain of having shingles. Shingles, or zoster, occurs when a herpes virus, the same one that caused chicken pox in childhood, reemerges from dormancy in a spinal nerve. Symptoms include nerve pain and tingling followed by an eruption of a blistery red rash over the distribution following that nerve.
Typically, the rash of shingles lasts up to a couple of weeks, but for some patients the associated nerve pain can continue and even be permanent, a condition known as post-herpetic neuralgia. A minority of patients are left with a chronic pain that can be very difficult to treat.
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