Aids HIV FAQ

Shingles again?

Question:

I read here a while back that a person only gets chicken pox and shingles once. I am just about over a case of shingles on my left side – just mild itching occasionally. Now I’m experiencing the same pre-shingles symptoms – pain in side and arm – on my right side. Am I going to get it again <shudder>? I’ve been taking l-lysine ever since I first got the shingles several months ago – about 5000 mg a day, and have upped to about 8000 the past few days. Will this really help protect from the virus or at least lessen the symtoms? Any suggestions? Please, no MLM email stuff. What could have impaired my old formerly faithful immune system? I take a lot of vitamins, eat low fat, and I’m sure I don’t have HIV. Just old age? (63) TIA. Ken

Response:

writes: – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->I read here a while back that a person only gets chicken pox and shingles >once. I am just about over a case of shingles on my left side – just mild >itching occasionally. Now I’m experiencing the same pre-shingles symptoms – >pain in side and arm – on my right side. Am I going to get it again <shudder>? >I’ve been taking l-lysine ever since I first got the shingles several months >ago – about 5000 mg a day, and have upped to about 8000 the past few days. >Will this really help protect from the virus or at least lessen the symtoms? >Any suggestions? Please, no MLM email stuff. >What could have impaired my old formerly faithful immune system? I take a lot >of vitamins, eat low fat, and I’m sure I don’t have HIV. Just old age? (63) >TIA. >Ken

  Relax.  Odds are very good you won’t get it again.  What you read is right– absent HIV or some horrid immune problem, your first bout of real shingles is almost certainly your last.    No, I have no idea what your new symptoms are due to.  Pinched nerve in the neck, perhaps?  If you get no actual skin lesions (probable), a visit to a neurologist for some testing might be a good idea.                                     Steve Harris, M.D.

Response:

Dear Ken: What I found from my research on this illness is to cut down/eliminate NUTS and CHOCOLATE.  These contain arginine which the virus uses, and prevents the healthful benefits of lysine.  It’s Christmas, and if your home is anything like mine, it is full to abundance with foods we rarely eat:  NUTS and CHOCOLATE.  (both of which I adore to near addiction!) Good luck.  EMW

Response:

>Dear Ken: >What I found from my research on this illness is to cut down/eliminate NUTS >and CHOCOLATE.  These contain arginine which the virus uses, and prevents >the healthful benefits of lysine.  It’s Christmas, and if your home is >anything like mine, it is full to abundance with foods we rarely eat:  NUTS >and CHOCOLATE.  (both of which I adore to near addiction!) >Good luck.  EMW

Nope. Not here. I’m on a low fat diet. I LOVE nuts but haven’t tasted one in years, Nor chocolate. I was told a while back in the Holistic forum on Compuserve that there is lots of arginine in seeds. Of course that includes nuts. Unfortunately, it also includes bread, pasta, beans, corn, and a zillion other things. It would be _very_ difficult to stop eating seeds. And I haven’t. <sigh> Ken

Response:

Go and see a good homeopath, and you WILL be sorted out!

Response:

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