Exploring Natural Remedies and Supportive Care for Shingles

Licorice Extract

Posted by Jonathan C. (Shelburne MA) on 10/16/2019 4 posts
★★★★★

I got shingles after doing a triathlon. At first, I thought it was chafing, then went to the ER and confirmed the diagnosis. The doctor said the stress of an athletic event like this could bring it on. Thank goodness for EarthClinic!

At first, I immediately tried the essential oils of geranium, lavender and tea tree and eucalyptus and they seemed to help. Then I tried Licorice Extract, applying it three times per day, and, within days the shingles were noticeably on the retreat; within ten days, totally gone! I had it a total of two weeks and, because of the Licorice Extract, I had very little discomfort. Unbelievably grateful for EarthClinic!

Red Marine Algae

Posted by Gaya (Miami) on 01/13/2016
★★★★★

Shingles:

Red Marine Algae took away my nerve stabbing pain in about 36 hours. Take at least 4 tabs. It also stops the spread and cuts the life span. I'm 90% better in just days.

Tea Bag Treatment

Posted by Bobmike (Arkansas) on 06/07/2015
★★★★★

Shingles was breaking out bad, was in pain and they were getting worse. Just remembered that shingles is a herpes type virus, so last time I had a cold sore, I used a tea bag on it, (heated the bag in a half cup hot water then cooled it down first) it knocked my cold sores immediately, so I thought "could it also work on shingles??" It does work!!! And it is not a painful treatment!

I just took a tea bag, put it in some hot water in a cup, then let it steep for 3 or 4 minutes, then took out the bag, let it cool down and laid the wet tea bag right on the blistered area for 5 or 10 minutes, I also took 2 or 3 lysine tablets and let them dissolve in the tea water. I also soaked paper towel in this liquid and laid it on the blisters now and then. Already, they are drying up!! There is a new separation of healthy skin now between some of them. What was a very angry painful area this morning, is now way less painful, way less red, way less swollen. There is a white area of skin around the lesions where it is healing now. I can stand to run my hand over it now and this morning, that would have been agony!

Tea bags cooled, applied and I did put some lysine in the tea water, but I think the tea bags alone would do the trick! Yeah, and no pain and it is fast fast fast!! Glad I remembered by cold sore trick. This is something I wanted to share because, I would hate for people to suffer another day, when they have tea bags right in the cabinet! You can use black tea or green tea.

Epsom Salt

Posted by Kenneth (Beach Lake, Pa) on 07/12/2014
★★★★★

For Shingles Blisters, use hot bath with EPSOM SALT and bathe 15-30 minutes twice a day first week, second week once per day and away they go. For Shingles Itch, hot water compresses (hot as you can stand) from heated water in pot. A 5-10 minute cycle, once or twice per day as needed and you get relief.

Kali Mur

Posted by Dr Howard (Torrance CA) on 06/12/2024
★★★★★

Shingles: Dr Carey an MD stated in his book on 12 Tissue Salts( minerals) Kali mur is the cure for shingles.This is potassium chloride 6X homeopathic potency.

Some take the 6X and after using a full bottle go up to 12X. One potency can work for one person but another may need a higher potency.
It's a good idea in my view to take Bioplasma by Hylands each day as each small tablet contains a part of all the 12 essential body minerals in homeopathic form. It's a wonderful remedy.
l told an exhausted engineer about BP and he obtained a bottle. It helped him with stress and mental fatigue so he told another engineer.
He later told me ‘l walk past all these engineers now and each has a bottle on their drawing boards! ' They found it helped them with mental and physical fatigue!

Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda Paste

Posted by Angeline (Texas (TX)) on 10/01/2023
★★★★★

Baking soda and peroxide is a universal remedy - especially for spider/venom bites. Using it now with only a tiny sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Seems to be working. BS/Peroxide don't appear to have any major side effects for the skin.

At least the baking soda absorbs the "ooze."

Cayenne Pepper

Posted by Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 11/18/2013

Dear Tabitha,

So sorry about the shingles!

I do not know how long the person who wrote the post left the cayenne in place. It sounds as if people apply it and then reapply as needed. I know a man who used cayenne to pack a bleeding wound and left the cayenne in the wound. It did not cause a problem to leave the cayenne in the wound. (And it stopped the bleeding and left the ER wondering how he got the bleeding to stop! )

I once made an apple cider vinegar/cayenne liniment to put on a sore foot and just left it on.

If you haven't tried it yet, the cayenne may burn upon contact, but that usually goes away quickly. If it bothers you beyond that, you could wash it off.

You may want to take the cayenne internally as well. I like 1/2 teaspoon in some grape juice or carrot juice a couple of times a day when I need the cayenne.

Let us know how it goes. I hope you find much relief with the cayenne!

~Mama to Many~

Oregano Oil

Posted by Sara (The Beach, Canada) on 07/04/2012
★★★★★

My husband got a small case of shingles after the passing of his father. He is in good health and low stress otherwise, a traumatic event can bring on shingles as well as stress. Anyone who had chicken pox can get shingles if all the chess pieces fall into place, like stress or trauma or even old injury. He took a couple of drops of oil of oregano in water everyday for a month and the shingles were gone within two weeks of that month. He carried on with the oil after just to make sure.

Shea Butter, Turmeric, Homeopathy

Posted by Quantumchick (Irvine, California) on 04/29/2012
★★★★★

I've received so many great natural remedies from this site that I want to contribute one of my own.

I suffered from a bout of shingles, got the pain to calm down with drinking apple cider vinegar, spraying it on the lesions, and eating raw unrefined coconut oil. The episode lasted maybe a couple weeks.

My mom passed recently, and with the stress of that, it came back and I did not realize it until after the funeral - they were all on the left side of my body, on the front. Talk about painful!

Well, I didn't have anything in the house and I'd bought some salve that had helped previously but it was all gone. I noticed a jar of african shea butter my cousin had left and thought what the heck - it might work.

I put some on, and went out for the day. Almost immediately I noticed that the stabbing pain and itch disappeared and the raised bumps had gone away too!

Needless to say, I scraped that jar then went in search of more on Amazon. com - I ended up buying a pound of it.

Another benefit is that it fades the scarring and marks that shingles leaves.

Even though the skin got 100% better, I had tremendous post-herpetic neuralgia. My skin was so sensitive, it hurt to put anything on it.

For that, what has worked like a charm is Turmeric capsules - 500 mg x 2, 4 times a day, along with homeopathic remedy Hypericum Perforatum (30x 4 times a day). I'm still taking it, but it started working on the post shingles pain after the first few doses.

Because I read about this stuff online, and I was eager to try anything that might work, I just went to my local health food store to get the Hypericum, and went to Walmart and bought the Turmeric.

Hope this is helpful for anyone who is suffering from this terrible, painful condition!

Cayenne Pepper

Posted by Carla (Rusk, Texas) on 04/10/2012
★★★★★

I've had a terrible re-occuring case of shingles in the back of my throat since I was about 12 years old. After slowly removing and adapting to the stress in my life I only have one or two occurences a year now. This last week I've had a terrible case and did not want to use vicious lidocain, so I checked this site and saw that cayenne pepper helped some people. I bought some vitamin supplements of Cayenne Fruit and took one last night as directed on the bottle and did some meditation before sleeping. I had very little pain when I woke up this morning. I have just taken another pill with some wheat cereal and have had only a little pain. I recommend to try this for anyone that has Shingle of the Mouth.

Apple Cider Vinegar, Lysine

Posted by Maryann (Emporia, Kansas) on 05/02/2013

Collodial Silver (liquid dietary supplement) is great to use as eye drops if you want to protect your eyes from your shingles outbreak. It's safe to use in eyes.

Homeopathy

Posted by Elationrelation (Minneapolis , Mn) on 05/01/2011
★★★★★

Natural cures help but are slow, and overall one needs to look at stress, diet, etc.

The best cure for shingles blisters is "Staphaseptic, " which is a natural ointment available in a tube from your pharmacy over-the-counter shelves. Most stock it and others will order it. (The box is white with rust-orange, yellow-gold with black accents, and is good to have on hand for other things, from simple infections, to boils, staph and even MRSA). You will see a dramatic change or even resolution within 24 hours. Apply 2-3 times per day.

The cure for the disease itself and the nerve pain is homeopathy, and though ideal to see a doctor trained in it, Arsenicum 200c works for many people. Pain level can decrease quite quickly. Continue for 2-3 days after symptoms are gone. Dosage is up to your practitioner, but often 3-5 pellets, 3-5 times a day, works.

These two things will bring dramatic change within 24 hours.

Cayenne Pepper

Posted by Lola (Chicago) on 11/21/2014
★★★★★

CAPSICAIN (from hot peppers) for the best topical relief from shingles. You can get it in creme/lotion in a tube at most pharmacies. No burning whatsoever. REALLY HELPS.

Apple Cider Vinegar, Cayenne

Posted by Gene (Sarasota, FL) on 04/11/2009
★★★★★

This is my second shingles attack, folks! First one lasted 60 days and was the most unbelievably painful thing I had ever experienced. Interestingly enough, 100% of the shingles was sub-surface, with no redness, raised areas or pustules. The deep pain was beyond words.

Now, four years later, in a period of incredible stress, I've got the damned thing again -- this time, with a left leg and the front/back of the left side of my torso covered in mega-patches of fiery pustules. Pain inside (emanating from the locus deep inside the nerve) and out.

Then, a friend of a friend mentioned ACV and I went surfing and found your site.

Last night (day 3), I covered the sores with ACV&Cayenne, and took two half shot glasses of ACV mixed with Cayenne. Within about an hour the pain - inside and out - completely went away. Yes, completely, and I had what seemed like one of the best sleeps I had had in a long time.

This AM thru noon, I felt great, but this early afternoon I'm still a little shakey -- a slight twinge here, a slight twinge there. And the pustules are still there, but not increasing in size (and, as I write this, only a very, very, very occasional itch/pain from my little read friends.

I am going to keep this up, and have absolutely no doubt that this will do the trick. In fact, I'm going to apply your ACV/CP elixer as soon as I press 'send'.

Aloe Vera

Posted by Susan (Sulphur, LA) on 04/28/2008
★★★★★

April 24th, 2008 I came down with shingles again. This is something I have dealt with for the last 13 years. In the past I have tried antibiotics, cortisone, etc. anything that I thought would bring relief. I was at my mothers and she told me to try the gel from an aloe leaf. To my surprise it brought great relief. I have done this 2 or 3 times a day. She also told me that once the blisters burst to apply honey to complete the healing process. I fully intend to try this at that time. It has been wonderful to have relief from this awful disease.

L-Lysine and Vitaminc

Posted by Valeria (Eden Prairie, Minnesota - USA) on 04/04/2008
★★★★★

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.

L-Lysine and Vitaminc

Posted by Kelly (Us) on 05/18/2014

UPDATE - I ADDED liquid vitamin B12 by Now & it includes B-Complex also- 2x/day. This has made a significant difference.

L-Lysine

Posted by Laura (USA) on 07/12/2006
★★★★★

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.

Clay

Posted by Jathinder (Kent, UK)
★★★★★

I have taken this opportunity to pass on this cure for shingles after my son suffered a severe case of shingles on his face. After trying several creams by the doctor which failed to work I decided to use a powered form of clay which I mixed to a medium paste with distilled water and put in on my sons face where the shingles first appeared, only covering the blistering ares. This enabled the drying clay to absorb the liquid coming from the blisters, as I found it was this liquid from his face when spread which caused further blisters when in contact with his skin. This helped contain the shingles to a small part of his face until the virus had taken its course. I hope this is of help but I know how helpless I felt when the first bout of shingles spread over half of my son's face with the creams doing nothing to help. The clay paste needs to be applied regularly as if too thick it cracks and flakes of, too thin and it will not absorb the weeping blisters therefore a consistency which you can see absorb the weeping blisters is fine.

Lecithin + L-Lysine

Posted by June (Cincinnati) on 08/27/2025
★★★★★

My husband had a terrible outbreak of Shingles. He took 3,000 mg of Lysine per day and 2500 mgs of soy lechitin twice a day for a few days. All dried up! Then he cut back on the dose but continued taking for week. Normally we don't take soy based products but I read that it works for shingles. It did! No pain, no burning. It's resolved. Thank you!

St. John's Wort

Posted by Susan (PA) on 01/21/2025
★★★★★

St. John's wort helped with my shingles. Within 30 minutes of applying St. John's wort oil to the rash, the area was lighter and less red. When the virus was active, my progression started with redness, followed by itching, followed by a rash. I started applying St. John's wort to every new red area that appeared and it would fade within 20 minutes without a rash developing there. I used the oil initially and switched to the tincture once I located some. I also took a few drops of the tincture (1 drop 4x/day building to 5 drops 4x/day) for 10 days.

For postherpetic neuralgia, I mix castor oil (1-2 TB) with cayenne pepper (1/8 tsp) and apply it to the sensitive area. It is messy but it is helping.

How To Avoid Shingles

Posted by AB (Atlanta) on 03/07/2024

Make sure it is indeed shingles. Shingles is often the first manifestation of an internal malignancy. Not always, but often. How to keep not getting shingles comes to figuring out why she has shingles. Full blood work is a starter. There are specific markers that indicate some serious things are underneath. Ruling out malignancy is the first step. Young people get turbo cancers these days.

Shingles shot for a young person who already has shingles is a recipe for a bigger disaster

So start with blood work Just google what blood markers indicate potential cancer and do the lab work. Keep in mind her doctor must disagree or dismiss, you can do it yourself these days.
Everyone these days must have a stool test for colon cancer, it is cheap March is a colon cancer awareness month, they offer a discount. Do it annually. A family friend, a young mom has recently died, she had stage 4

If your young relative is cleared from malignancies, test her for viruses, citomegalovirus, hpylori, Epstein Barr..

Meantime I'd recommend Cats Claw supplement, L-lysine +high dose vitamin C and Arsenic Album - a homeopathic remedy I learned about here. I get shingles like rash from time to time and I start this protocol and it really works for me. I also add a trace ( not a drop) of antiviral medicinal quality essential oils to a base oil and apply externally. Young living essential oils and Alma ( former Floracopeia) is where I buy directly. Can't guarantee for other companies. Never buy on Amazon.

Do all blood work before starting the supplements

And check the shingles section here on EC site.