[BETTER BUT NOT CURED]  01/10/2011: Jessaka from Tahlequah, Ok: "Hi, I have been using Tabasco Sauce for years whenever I had a sore throat and always wondered how well it would do on shingles. Then my friend's husband got shingles, and I told her about it. He tried it and felt so much better that he went to his doctor and bragged to him about it. I have tried capazin on certain things, but it doesn't kill the pain as well as Tabasco Sauce."

[YEA]  03/23/2012: Ernest from Newcastle, Nsw Australia: "I have suffered with shingles for three years on the left hand side of my face the pain has been debilitating, but I have just found a treatment that has eased that pain. That treatment is a bottle of essential oil called hypericum oil, I rub it into the painful areas twice a day. Hypericum oil is oil of saint johns wort."

[BETTER BUT NOT CURED]  02/21/2012: Renee from Pensecola, Florida: "I have read many of these replies of all treatments you have tried, I have suffered for 3 CONSTANT years now with the shingles on both sides of the body, face, arms and other places. I have found to help stop immediate itch and severe pain till anything you have taken orally can work place ICE on the blisters, red bumps, or just when the itch starts this will calm it and feels great! Ice for 20 minutes at every hour soothes the nerves."

[YEA]  08/27/2012: Sherri from North Adams, Mi. USA: "A 75 year old neighbor was suffering with shingles. It followed the nerve from the center of her back, around and under her right breast. The medicine the Dr. gave her did nothing to relieve her. I took a sray bottle and filled it with ionic silver. 3 times a day I sprayed it on her shingles soaking them good. I put a loose gauze under her breast to prevent skin to skin contact. I also had her drink 1 teaspoon of the silver 2 times a day. It gave her immediate relief. The rash developed but never blistered. It has been 3 weeks and there is hardly any outward sign of the shingles."

[YEA]  07/12/2006: Laura : "I heard about Shingles before but this is my first experience and what an experience had been so far!! It affected the left part of my face having my eye pretty compromised. I'm using antibacterial ointement for my eye, and is improving. I'm very careful with cleanness, washing right away towels, pillowcases etc. that had been in contact with my face. My main concern is to avoid the possibility of infecting also my right eye. I have a big property and love to work in the garden. Well, I'll not put my hands in the dirt until am out of the woods. I had been reading about the topical and internal application with apple vinegar and i'm willing to try since I have now those ugly red scars from the rash, maybe will help to heal faster, I'll be glad to let you know. If someone wants to write to me and exchange tips, please, feel free to do so. Following suggestions from the book in Nutritional Healing - James and Phyllis Balch - I'm taking L-Lysine, Vitamins C, B complex B12 - A - regular medication. Diet is important too, maintain a possitive attitude and stay away from depression, it doesn't help at all. "

[YEA]  09/26/2011: Louise from Saint George, Utah replies: "I have used L-Lysine for over 30 years to PREVENT and lessen the outbreak of cold sores and shingles. I first heard about it in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1980's. They apparently did several studies on the subject. At the time I had cold sore blisters on my mouth almost continually. I began to take mega-doses of L-Lysine (at least 3000 mg per day). I took them for about 15 days and because the cold sores were almost gone, I reduced the dose to about 1500 mg a day for another 30 days. I then took about 500 mg a day for another 2 or 3 months.

Then, because I had not had any breakouts, my drive to take the amino acid had become almost non-existant. What I discovered is that if I felt a tingle on my lip--I knew that an outbreak was immenent and I began to take the mega doses of L-Lysine again for a week or so. Then I never had an outbreak of cold sores again. Each time I got the tingle the L-Lysine prevented the outbreak. What I didn't know was that the virus is sneaky. I broke out in shingles on my chest during a time I wasn't taking the L-Lysine and I didn't know what the pain was signaling. When I started to breakout in the blisters I realized what it was and began the mega doses of L-Lysine again. When I was able to see a doctor to confirm my outbreak--I had no pain, and refused to take the offer of pain medication. He, of course, scoffed at the idea the the amino acid had anything to do with the lightness of my outbreak.

By the way, I've not had another outbreak of shingles, either. If I feel the burning/tingling sensation anywhere on my body. I take the mega doses of L-Lyine and I have never had any more outbreaks. IT WORKS!!!! It saved the quality of my life!"

[YEA]  04/04/2008: Valeria from Eden Prairie, Minnesota - USA: "I developed shingles in October 2007, however, all I had was all the discomforts of the disease and never developed the rash. About 3 days ago (4-2-08) I began experiencing the same symptoms again. It was jsut a fluke that I began taking vitamin C and Lysine tablets. I had some Lysine on hand and determined that if the Lysine was good for preventing or lessening the pain of cold sores - why shouldn't it work to help allieviate the shingles. So I began taking the Lysine and also the Vitamin C. The dosage of the tablets for the Lysine is 1000 mg. and the Vitamin C is also 1000 mg. I have been taking two Vitamin C and 2 Lysine tablets about every four hours and it is definitely helping to relive the pain. I have also had pain meds which my doctor recommended last fall - but they do not seem to do much of anything. I hope that this will help someone else - I am 77 and never had shingles before last October. I have not developed the rash this time either."

[YEA]  07/19/2009: Michele from Earlville, NY: "L-lysine 500mg/4xday, ACV, red tiger balm, and cayenne pepper works for me. L-lysine is very effective (it literally starves the virus). I found I had stopped too early and the rash (shingles) returned. One started again it receded within a day. For the itching and burning of the patches on my neck I washed with a mild soap, patted on ACV then covered with red tiger balm, then patted on powdered cayenne pepper on top of the tiger balm (not pretty).CAUTION: DO NOT USE THIS ON BROKEN SKIN, NEAR EYES OR MUCOUS MEMBRANES. WASH HANDS CAREFULLY AFTER USE.- IT WILL BURN (I had no open blisters, just a bumpy itchy rash). Not knowing how to calm the itching & burning patches on my neck, I read in the earth clinic mosquito bite section that tiger balm soothes the itch. So I gave it a try AND patted on powdered cayenne pepper on top and left it on for an hour. Capsaicin works by stimulating and then exhausting Substance P, the nerve-related transmitter that sends pain messages to your brain, in the skin. After an hour I wiped both the tiger balm and the cayenne off with a washcloth. The area was red but no longer itched or burned. By next morning all the redness was gone and the itch had not returned. I will continue this for a few days but will continue the lysine longer, to be sure."

[YEA]  07/15/2008: Beatrice from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA: "When I started getting symtems of Shingles, which I had last year, I immediatly came to this site. Luckily I found someone who used L Lysine and Vit. C and Zinc. I followed the remedy and in one day, the jabbing pains were gone. Thank you for this site. I took L Lysine (l000Units) the same for Vit. C and l00units of Zinc every 4 hours for 3-4 days and then went down to l dose per day."

[YEA]  11/01/2009: Benito from Rome, Ny: "Lye soap works on shingles I had them at 22 yrs old very painful I lathered lye soap on them and let it sit for agood 20 minutes and they dried up the next day."

02/24/2013: Tim Evans from Kelowna, Bc: "Has anyone ever tried Manuka Honey on shingles?"

11/15/2012: Willow from Gardner, Co, Usa: "About 4 years ago, I had severe stress reactions to my partner and my family's behaviors and "ran away from home" 800 miles away to a little house that my grandma used to live in. The house is full of black mold. After a month of hiding out there, I got shingles for the first time, I was 46. Now, I'm almost 50 and this illness is returning yet again. I've had it every winter, sometimes severely and it's hung on as long as 5 months. Got some relief that first year by floating in the ocean in February near Boca Raton, FL. Back then, I did not know I had shingles because I don't get the pain others describe. Perhaps this is because I've never used painkillers.

I'm an herbalist, and this year as the stressful holiday season approaches and the itching starts, I'm grateful to find your site. Woke up at 5 AM and stoked the woodstove (we are off-grid) and got a headache from the cold in the house. Can't shake it. And bumps are starting to rise! So, I'm megadosing Vit. C, powdered and made into a paste with cayenne and honey. 2 Tblsp/hour...Plus Lysine--I think I'll try 3 1000-mg. Caps today. Plus ACV in filtered water from our spring. Plus 1/2 a B-complex tablet each half-hour. Quit coffee, chocolate (waah! ), nuts. Eating organic apples, homegrown cabbage, lentils, garlic, and oats. Teas of lemon balm, oatstraw and licorice root. Washing the areas with decoction of lavender, witch hazel and ACV. Will update."

12/06/2012: Butterfly from Sydney, Australia replies: "I don't know if you have been diagnosed so forgive this comment if so, but I was diagnosed as having shingles when young and for 20 years as I continued to experience this just assumed it was a correct diagnosis. Actually I had herpes, HPV2 which manifested as blisters on the buttock. Shingles does not (or rarely) repeat more than once. As I got older I also started to experience sciatic pain with outbreaks. I love natural remedies but to control the constant back pain I developed and stop outbreaks - I use zovirex and havn't found any other remedy. If any one has a similar issue, don't let them talk you into more modern versions."