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What To Eat & Avoid When You Have Postherpetic Neuralgia?

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Postherpetic neuralgia is a common type of complication that takes place in patients suffering from shingles. The condition primarily affects the skin and nerve fibers, while causes burning pain and sensation. In fact, the problems associated with postherpetic neuralgia continues for a long time even the blisters and rashes of shingles go away.

The risk related to postherpetic neuralgia increases with an increase in age and it mainly affects people exceeding 60 years. Many people may easily overcome postherpetic neuralgia and related problems with time by simply following a healthy diet plan.

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What To Eat When You Have Postherpetic Neuralgia?
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What To Eat When You Have Postherpetic Neuralgia?

Foods Rich In Vitamin B: The nervous system of a person remains under attack by postherpetic neuralgia. Because of this, it is essential for one to include various food items rich in Vitamin B. These include cultured dairy products, grass-fed beef, organic chicken, eggs and wild-caught fishes.

Foods Rich In Vitamin C: You should add yellow and orange fruits as well as veggies in your daily diet to increase your intake of Vitamin C and in turn, boost your immune system for speeding up the healing process.

Onions And Garlic: Both onion and raw garlic contain allicin i.e. a significant component responsible to boost the function of the immune system.

Water Or Hydration: When you keep yourself hydrated regularly, your body flushes out the virus responsible to cause shingle and in turn, prevent the spread of postherpetic neuralgia. To get the best results, you should drink about 8 ounces of water in a period of every 2 hours.

Green Leafy Veggies: You should go with green leafy veggies rich in calcium and beta-carotene to enhance your immune functions.(1)

What To Avoid When You Have Postherpetic Neuralgia?

Sugar: If you are suffering from the complication of postherpetic neuralgia because of shingles, you should strictly avoid having sugar or any of the sugary items in your daily diet. The reason for this is that sugar reduces the numbers of white blood corpuscles, which help in fighting off with your infection.

Fruit Juices: Unlike whole fruits, fruit juices (even if it is orange juice) spike your blood glucose levels. Because of this, fruit juices cause harm to postherpetic neuralgia patients in the same way, as one can expect from sugar and sugary items.

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Caffeinated Beverages: We have already discussed in the section of foods to eat, hydration is one of the effective ways to manage problems associated with shingles and in turn, postherpetic neuralgia. However, if you have caffeinated beverages, they deplete your body from hydration. Hence, to stay healthy, you should avoid having caffeinated beverages strictly. Instead, go with plain water.

Soda And Carbonated Beverages: Soda items and carbonated beverages are also avoidable for postherpetic neuralgia patients. This is because; such beverages promote a highly acidic system. Especially, you should never have such items during your acute illness.

Fried And Junk Foods: Similar to soda items, fried and junk foods promote the acidic environment. Thus, you should avoid or at least limit such food items to stay safe and manage your symptoms related to postherpetic neuralgia and shingles both.(1)

Signs And Symptoms Of Postherpetic Neuralgia

Signs and symptoms of the complication of postherpetic neuralgia often remain limited to the skin area, where the shingles outbreak for the first time i.e. within a band across your trunk and often on a particular side of the body. Common signs and symptoms include the following-

Pain Lasting For 3 months Or Even Higher: Patients with postherpetic neuralgia experience pain, which lasts for more than 3 months even after healing of the shingles related rash.

Pain Causes As Burning Or Aching Type: If you have postherpetic neuralgia followed by shingles, you experience burning, jabbing and sharp pain or a deep ache.

Sensitivity Towards The Touch Of Light: People with postherpetic neuralgia experience a huge sensitivity towards the touch of light. Even a few of them even unable to bear the touch of any cloth on their affected skins.

Numbness And Itching: Even though these are less common problems, postherpetic neuralgia in some cases may produce numbness and itchy feelings.(2)

References:  

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:February 5, 2020

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