According to some experts, a regimen of concomitant tricyclic antidepressants and antiviral drugs offers protection against postherpetic neuralgia. Standard tricyclic antidepressants may provide some elevation of the pain threshold and gradual improvement in symptoms, but results achieved rarely equal expectations. Researchers largely agree that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors lack efficacy against either acute or chronic pain. While short-term analgesic therapy may temporize pain, it rarely eradicates it. In spite of claims to the contrary, neither aspirin nor other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs seem to offer any advantages over acetaminophen.
Narcotics cause a plethora of complications, especially among seniors, without optimizing outcome.
No substantial evidence shows merit in transcutaneous electrical nerve-stimulating therapy or nerve blocks. As with any medical condition, avoidance of varicella offers the only guaranteed method of preventing complications. In 1995, the US Food and Drug Administration licensed the varicella virus vaccine for use in children between ages 1 and 12 years. This live attenuated vaccine provides long-lasting resistance against varicella. Suggestions that inoculation in senior citizens may stimulate sluggish immunity against the varicella-zoster virus offer a novel approach to disease prevention.