Effective Home Treatments & Natural Remedies for Shingles

Hi heres my adapted paste for Shingles, adapted from thi site of course!

1tsp coconut oil.
1tsp cayenne pepper.
2tsp apple cider vinegar.
1tsp neem oil.
2tsp kaolin clay
2 cloves cut up garlic .

Combined all ingredients and applied, results in 24 hours are amazing. Applied quite frequently. regards

I was given the Zostavax Vaccine in early August. By mid-September, I had a small patch of shingles on my arm (about the size of a half dollar). Two weeks later (early October), a large fever blister broke out on the corner of my mouth. Two weeks later (mid-October), I had heart pain and palpitations. The heart pain went away, but the palpitations were so bad that I went to the emergency room - twice! Terrifying! According to cardio tests, my heart was fine, but I believe the heart palpitations are a reaction to the shingles virus and my body's fight against the invader (remember, this is a LIVE virus vaccine). While the doctors did not explicitly agree with me, they did not totally dismiss the thought that heart palpitations could be a side effect of this vaccine. I wish I had never gotten it...

Meanwhile, in seeing my distress, my sister suggested I take Alka Seltzer Gold (it must be the Gold as there's no aspirin in it) and It Worked! Within 15 minutes, the palpitations were gone! Hope this helps someone else.

Thanks EC for all your efforts to help others!

I work in a very high stress job and had a second outbreak of Shingles for the year. I immediately turned to my tea tree oil, applied I with a cotton swab and covered the area with 3m waterproof bandaid. Now three days after doing this once a day, they are well on their way to healing. The pain went away within a few minutes of applying the oil as well as the itching. I am going to keep this oil on hand at all times!

Hi Schuyler; I would recommend high dose B12, even injections for shingles. B12 has antiviral properties, and it used to be used to treat them before the advent of antivirals. Shingles near the eyes may even cause blindness, so I can't help but ask you to hurry. B12 will also treat post herpetic neuralgia, which can be debilitating.

Hi Schuyler, I have sent two friends who had shingles to my friend who is a Chinese herbalist. He doesn't do acupuncture but specializes in Chinese herbalism.

One of my friend's husband was hit with a terrible case of shingles along the same area where yours is. His work sent him home saying he could not return until it was resolved. Of course, he was in pain and upset about not being able to work. He's also a scientist and when his wife told him about my recommendation for this he said he would not go there and have his tongue "read". She said fine, went by herself and told him her husband had shingles and where it was located. He sent her home with herbs and instructions and within 2 days the shingles were gone and he could return to work.

Again, I don't think I can emphasize how powerful Chinese medicine is. I hope this helps. Lisa

P.S. Forgot to mention, my herbalist friend treated his own dad successfully for shingles as well!

I started with shingles Dec. 2012. Have had ongoing problems since then. It was hard to diagnose because it never came out as a rash, but stayed "inside. " It's in the left side of neck, left upper roof gum area, temple, top left side of head, partially down left neck and left shoulder. Been on antivirals & steroids 3 times. Now, back on antivirals alone. BUT... This time, I'm having an actual outbreak on the inside of the lower lid of my left eye. It's very uncomfortable. I've just taken the ACV for the first time after reading all the comments, but can anyone suggest what I might possibly be able to use for my eye to help with the bad discomfort? I know I can't put vinegar in there--UGH! Thanks for any help.

For the post herpetic pain, I had fantastic success with Maca. I took 1x500mg in the morning and 1x500mg in the early afternoon to boost my energy level, but was ecstatic to find that it completely took away the post herpetic pain. A very welcome side-effect indeed!

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.

I used aloe vera gel, cayenne and oatmeal flour I ground up in my vita-mix to make a paste. Worked like a charm- place aloe vera gel in a bowl sprinkle to cover with cayenne, mix then sprinkle to cover with oatmeal and mix again. Clean site with Apple Cider Vinegar and apply it every 6 hrs.

Get a bottle of licorice extract and apply it to the lesions. Do this for 3 days and they will be gone at the end of the third day. Of course keep the bottle in case it re-surfaces. $8.95 here in the states... Cheap fix.. Don't get a vaccine for shingles.

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.

I went to the doctor with a fist sized rash, and was told shingles... The whole mess started with deep muscle itching in my leg for a week, then I thought I scratched the skin and had an infection/rash. There were also two bumps on the sole of my heel that made it painful to walk-- the doctor listened to my description of events and except for the heel thing, diagnosed shingles right away. She thought maybe the heel break out was because the nerves in the heel are connected down the leg. She prescribed Valtrex, I refused steroids. I wasn't really in any pain. I filled the scrip and then went home and googled it.

Everything I looked at and read said I was in for 6 weeks or longer of intense pain, seeping sores and so on... Yikes, I could not take even a week off work!

I read about Vitamin C and started taking 1000mg at different intervals from the Valtrex, 3X a day for Valtrex and 4X a day for the Vitamin C. I applied Caladryl (calamine lotion with itch reliever) to my rash as needed, about 3 times a day. I was back at work after three days.

I never got open sores from the rash, just bumps. I did get more rash and bumps, some would go away and others came, up and down my upper thigh (and butt), but I did not experience weeping sores or have intense pain, and was walking fairly normally after three days. The bumps on my heel stayed dark, but hurt less to walk on.

I think it was the vitamin C, but I did not stop taking the Valtrex. I didn't seem to take enough Vitamin C to cause diarrhea, just loose stool one day. Another thing with the C, it seemed to calm me down a little bit. I work on my feet 12 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week as a restaurant manager, and have never been good at sitting still, but the C, I think, might have calmed me a bit.

I've tried many things but BUTT PASTE is by far the best thing.

Hi, this is about treating SHINGLES.... Put pure oil of cinnamon on the soles of the feet, and the palms, twice a day. Also I would put oil of sage on the affected areas. I have found this to be a reliable treatment for anything viral.

I'm in my 80's and got a case of shingles, the perscription my Dr. gave me was too expensive and it was to treat shingles. So I didn't buy it I saw that shingles looked like poison ivy so I treated it with calamine lotion by soking toilet paper with it, placed it around my middrift and wore a white T shirt. My shingles was gone in 2wks.

I used an essential oil mix that has provided so much relief in only a day and a half. Tried bc it was all I had that had Eucalyptus oil in it and turned out to be amazing.

I found complete relief from shingles with peppermint essential oil. My impression was that the peppermint overwhelms the nerve endings, that's probably how the eucalyptus oil works. I first prepped the area with cider vinegar, but it works without that. Also, to help with my energy I found that a massive dose (8x) of Lysine daily works.

I came down with shingles, searched the internet and luckily listed was this post. First, I used what Gloria suggested - which I could see some improvement but not enough. Then I combined some of the suggestions from Gloria and David T. Used the ratio of ingredients:

1 T. Coconut Oil

1 t. Alo Vera oil from capsules which is approx. 4-5 capsules

1/2 T. Vitamin E oil

1 T. Cayenne pepper

Plus added corn meal to thicken the mixture. Applied the mix to the shingles, as it was spreading; let the application dry then removed as suggested by David. I followed this treatment for 2 to 3 times a day. Depending on the severity and process of healing. After 2 days, the shingles were starting to heal, then I made another batch of the mix without the corn meal and applied the mix to the shingles area. Thank you to all that contributed to this subject of shingles.

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!

A reliable cure for Shingles is the crushed herb Turmeric used in curry or to boil with rice which gives it a bright yellow colour. This herb is a wonderful antiseptic for shingles. Simply take a teaspoon of it with jam or peanut butter twice a day and within a week your painful shingles is history. I use it on a daily basis but I have never had shingles and am quite healthy, I am 76yrs old. Lou