Nutrition for Your Shingles and Post-Herpetic Neuralgia Patients

Nutrition Planning - A Little Something Extra for Your Family Medicine Center in Hackettstown NJ postherpetic Neuralgia PatientsTreating the postherpetic neuropathy or shingles patient can be challenging.They've already been through the pain of shingles...The rash is gone and they expected to be normal again.What they didn't count on was postherpetic neuropathy.Chances are by the time they reach your office, they're frustrated...depressed...irritable.The medications aren't working and they're looking for a solution.Something...anything...to make their postherpetic neuropathy pain stop and give them back their lives.As a postherpetic neuropathy specialist, you're in a unique position to give them what they need to heal. Whole grains promote the production of serotonin in the brain and will increase their feeling of well- being.- Fish and eggs for additional vitamins B12 and B1.- Green, leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, and other greens) for calciumand magnesium. Both of these nutrients are vital to healthy nerve endings and health nerve impulse transmission and, as an added bonus, give the immune system a boost.- Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables (such as squash, carrots, yellow and orange bell peppers, apricots, oranges, etc.) for vitamins A and Cto help repair skin and boost the immune system.- Sunflower seeds (unsalted), avocados, broccoli, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts (unsalted), tomatoes and tomato products, sweet potatoes and fish for vitamin Eto promote skin health and ease the pain of postherpetic neuropathy.- A good multivitamin and mineral supplement to fill in any gaps in their daily nutrition.Advise them to avoid:- Coffee and other caffeinated drinks.- Fried foods and all other fatty foods. Fatty foods suppress the immune system and that's the last thing they need when fighting postherpetic neuropathy.- High protein foods like animal protein. High-protein foods elevate the amount of dopamine and norepinephrine which are both tied to high levels of anxiety and stress which will only make them more irritable.- Alcoholic beverages. Alcohol consumption limits the ability of the liver to remove toxins from the body and can make a bad situation worse.- Processed sugar. They don't have to eliminate sweets completely, just control them. Keeping blood sugar levels constant will help control irritability.- Control salt intake. Opt for a salt substitute with potassium instead of sodium and stay away from preserved foods like bacon, ham, pickles, etc. Reducing salt intake will help ease inflammation and that alone will work wonders in the healing process.Sit down and discuss your postherpetic neuropathy patient's lifestyle and diet as part of the initial consultation process. The information gained will help you devise a nutrition plan tailor made for your patient and help to build a rapport between you. And pay close attention to the responses you receive in that first meeting - they will give you a good idea as to whether or not you have a compliant patient.Stress Management StrategiesNow that you've addressed the nutrition portion of the postherpetic neuropathy treatment program, talk to your patient about their stress level. Even with good nutrition, if they're letting the stress of life and postherpetic neuropathy get the better of them, their body is working too hard. They're expending energy battling stress that could be used to fight postherpetic neuropathy.