Nicola and Shingles

Nicola is a 44 year old woman who came to see me after having contracted shingles seven weeks previously. She had been to see her GP several times in that seven week window. Her GP gave her anti-virals and finally anti-pain medications like Gabba pentin because they couldn’t control the nerve pain she was feeling in her arms and in her upper back. After one Acupuncture session and one week of an herbal formula, her nerve pain went from a ten to a one and she was practically pain free.

She continued to have some slight nerve sensations on the right side of her chest which were about a 2/10 pain scale and only in the evening after a long day of work. She has some blood and qi deficiency making her prone to this type of pain. She also had painful menstruation with large clots and bleeding at ovulation. I diagnosed her with blood deficiency and stasis and gave her an appropriate formula. This formula also addressed her digestive disorder which allowed her to ween off of the omeprazole she had been taking for her acid reflux. Proton Pump Inhibitors such as these make digestion harder in the long run because it reduces the amount of acid in the digestive tract. That acid is actually very important for the break down of food so people on PPIs often end up with very sluggish bowels which leads to more reflux and continuation of the cycle.

After three acupuncture sessions and three weeks of formula, she is relatively pain free. We are continuing to work on her menstrual irregularities but her bloating and cramps are much diminished and she is no longer spotting at ovulation.