Posted 7/30/2015 4:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hi nclymer—
I'm guessing you had chicken pox as a kid? Chicken pox and shingles are in the same virus family and most people carry the shingles virus if they had chicken pox. But it will remain dormant in most—UNLESS your body gets overwhelmed, immune system starts to under-function, which is status quo for people dealing w/ lyme.
When I was younger, I used to get outbreaks on my shoulders, ear, and more recently, when my viral load gets dominant, my scalp feels like its on fire.
The symptoms can be stressful so for that reason alone, it's good to treat with antivirals (and if you're breaking out that badly, you probably need some high doses of the hard Rx stuff in order to get it under control— and save the antiviral herbs for maintenance.
But it's also critical to treat ASAP because the outbreaks are a sign that your viral load has trumped your immune system, and that is also stressful to the body and can leave you vulnerable to other immune issues and if your immune system is under functioning—or too busy trying to manage the high viral load, it struggles to protect you like it should from all the other stuff out there and it can also create an environment where the lyme & co can get a stronger foothold… three good reasons to treat it.
I used Alcyclovir and Valcyclovir and Valtrex is another brand. And there are lots of natural antivirals like Olive Leaf Extract.
Hope this helps.
-p