Most Helpful in Relieving Pain Following Shingles 2. Early treatment for shingles may help reduce its severity and also may lessen the length and severity of pain that sometimes follows a case of shingles, according to the November issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Shingles is a second outbreak of the virus that causes chickenpox.
During an initial infection of chickenpox, your immune system may not destroy all the virus. Years later, the remaining virus may become reactivated due to illness, medications or stress. It travels along nerve fibers that extend to your skin, causing pain. When the virus reaches your skin, it produces a rash and blisters, known as shingles. A case of shingles usually heals within a month, but sometimes the pain continues much longer.