Nutrition for Your Shingles and Post-Herpetic Neuralgia Patients

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.

Put together a lifestyle plan for your patient utilizing patient appropriate stress management tools. Some suggestions might be:- Exercising regularly. If they're physically capable, a brisk 15 minute walk every day is a good place to start.- Relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, tai chi, yoga or meditation. Any of these will calm the mind and, in turn, calm the body and nerves.- Finding a hobby that will take the mind off postherpetic neuropathy pain.The combination of nutrition and stress management will do wonders for your postherpetic neuropathy patients. When used in concert with the other nutrition counseling cherry hill nj medical treatment options available to you, you may just give these patients a new lease on life and build healthy habits that will remain with them long after the pain of postherpetic neuropathy is a distant memory.We hope this gives you some insight on nutrition counseling and diet planning for your postherpetic neuropathy patients. Offering these services can be the missing piece of the treatment puzzle that you've been looking for in treating this challenging patient population. The addition of these services to your treatment options can help you build a successful medical practice as well.When you're trained and ready to offer these services, let them know you're there.