What dietary taboos should you pay attention to when you have shingles?

Herpes zoster is an infectious skin disease caused by the reactivation of the chickenpox-herpes zoster virus. There are no 100% absolute dietary taboos. The mythical "food fasting theory" that is popular among the people currently has no unified evidence-based medical support. However, proper adjustment of diet during the attack can indeed avoid a lot of suffering and reduce the probability of worsening discomfort.

In fact, there has always been controversy about whether to avoid food. Western medicine generally believes that as long as you eat foods that you are not allergic to, you can eat them normally, especially high-quality proteins such as eggs, milk, and lean meat, which can help restore immunity and suppress viral activity faster.； However, the traditional Chinese medicine system usually recommends eating less beef, mutton, seafood, spicy and other hair-growing, pungent and warm foods during the attack period to avoid aggravating the local inflammatory reaction. The advice we usually give to patients never sticks to a standard. We always let everyone follow their own body feelings. After all, everyone's physical constitution is very different, and rigid rules can easily lead to problems.

Last month, I met an aunt in her 50s who had shingles on her waist. She was recovering well and the pain was almost gone. After hearing from her neighbors that she needed to supplement her nutrition, she ate steamed shrimp every now and then. She forgot that she was allergic and would occasionally get red spots when eating shrimp. As a result, the rash became swollen the same day after eating it. She was so painful that she couldn't even straighten her waist. When she came for a follow-up examination, she couldn't sit still. She suffered for almost 10 days. On the other hand, there was a young man who usually ate seafood every three days, but he did not stop when he got herpes zoster. He had no reaction at all after eating, and his rash cleared up faster than patients of the same age.

Of course, there are also several types of things that we usually remind patients to touch as little as possible. This does not mean that it will aggravate the condition, but it is mainly because it will most likely cause you more pain. For example, strong alcohol, extremely spicy hot pot, and hot soups that are so hot that you are grinning will expand blood vessels in the skin. The original rash area will be red, swollen, and painful. Once the blood vessels expand, the neuralgia will double. There was a young man working in the Internet who got sick just in time for the annual meeting. He drank two glasses of white wine and ate a lot of spicy kebabs. A new red rash broke out on the rash that was about to scab. It was so painful that I couldn't sleep all night. The problem that was supposed to be cured in a week ended up dragging on for half a month. Also try to eat as little as possible of the overly sweet milk tea, freshly fried chicken and chips, and other high-fat and high-sugar foods. Eating too much will raise the body's inflammation level. Nerve pain is already excruciating, so there is no need to buff your discomfort.

There is really no need to go into extreme dietary restrictions. I met a girl before who heard the elders at home say that eggs and milk are hair-raising substances. She only drank white porridge and pickles for a whole week after the onset of the disease. When she came for a follow-up examination, her face was pale and she almost fainted due to hypoglycemia. Her rash recovered faster than a patient with the same symptoms by a week. It was completely unnecessary suffering.

To put it bluntly, the core of dietary adjustment for shingles is to "not cause extra trouble to the body." Don't dare to touch anything just because you don't listen to what others say you can't eat. Don't eat hazelnuts just because you are young. If you feel more pain after eating something, or the rash becomes red and itchy, avoid it next time. If you don't have any reaction after eating, just eat normally. After all, enough nutrition can help you get better quickly.