Treating Herpes Zoster / Shingles with Acupuncture
This week I had the absolute pleasure of assisting a person in healing from an active Herpes Zoster or Shingles outbreak. The first time I treated a patient for Herpes Zoster it was an absolute nightmare! Let me explain…
Acupuncture Treatment for Herpes Zoster comparing the first treatment and the second treatment, which was performed 2 days after the first treatment. Progress!
When I was a third year student at Emperor’s College, I enrolled for clinic shifts under the advisement of Sensei Doctor M. He struck a particular chord of fear in students due to the (seemingly at the time) extreme level of perfectionism he demanded. One shift, a man in his 60’s arrived in excruciating pain from shingles. One side of his body was ablaze in a maculopapular rash from his upper thigh and over his hip and all the way up to his flank. Due to the long list of medications he was on and complications in his past medical record, this man could not take another pill. He could not use topical steroids. When I walked into the room I was immediately aware of his level of pain because he had a look of desperation and frustration like an animal caught in a trap. He was at his wit’s end.
I reported my intake and findings to Dr. M and he asked me one question: what sinew channel is effected? I hadn’t heard mention of “sinew channel” or “Jing Jin” since the first semester and three years prior. I had a mind full of meridians, extraordinary channels, and divergent channels - because that is what I was learning. I had not yet had a clinic focused on orthopedic problems and… I could make more excuses. Really, it’s on me for not retaining the information from the first semester. Sensei picked-up on my utter ignorance on the subject. So, rather than teaching me a point prescription and how to refine my diagnosis he said “You need to study more. Now is a good time. Go get the book and figure it out.” I looked up at the (limited but large) library of Chinese Medicine books on the clinic shelves and asked “Which book?” He was incredulous: “Which book?” And then I got a lecture on how to be a better student. There were students all around. It was humiliating.
Although I felt that certain type of unease and distress from the humiliation, what was causing me greater anxiety and urgency was my awareness of the patient, waiting in a treatment room for some kind of relief. I was making them wait and this was a huge burden. My hands were shaking as I selected books off of the shelf and thumbed through tables of contents. The minutes were passing and I felt myself become increasingly disordered and frustrated. I wanted to cry. Why wouldn’t my teacher tell me how to find the information I needed?
I finally appealed to Sensei Dr M in terms like: “I cannot find it and now my hands are shaking and my energy is not correct. I don’t think I can provide a beneficial treatment in this state of mind. Won’t my bad energy harm the patient.” And he called me out for thinking I was more important than the medicine. He gave me the point prescription but did not explain Sinew Channels or the importance of that particular diagnostic approach. I needed to prove my devotion to learning for my teacher to find me worthy of receiving the benefit of his precious experience and knowledge.
As I applied the needles, I thought “there is no way this energy medicine is going to work when my energy is so off.” If I’m honest, I had a lot of “EFF-THAT-GUY” hostility in me. So imagine my surprise when I saw the patient 3 days later and he was 80% improved! The redness was nearly gone and only a couple of small patches remained. His whole demeanor was soft and gentle. He thanked me whole heartedly as I stood in amazement.
I became a better student.
These photos from my patient this week, show only the local needles used to treat Herpes Zoster and this approach is called “Surround the Dragon.” Some people “surround” or use a lot more needles than this. I have found that needling in 4 directions and two directions on the path of inflammation is sufficient when the appropriate distal points are used. Surround the Dragon is a classic acupuncture technique used to treat issues manifesting on the surface of the body—things like skin lesions, rashes, scars, abnormal growths and swollen areas. We’ll direct qi and blood flow to the affected area by surrounding it with needles, encouraging the growth of new blood vessels and nerves, which in turn promotes healing.
These local points are not necessary to get an excellent result. In fact, with Herpes Zoster, sometimes the patient cannot tolerate the sensation of needles in the area of pain. In this instance I will only use “distal” or far away points. And understanding which sinew channel is involved will inform my needle prescription.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38758864/
THIS systematic review and meta-analysis of 59 RTCs with 3930 patients concluded that Acupuncture and East Asian Medicine can significantly reduce patients' symptoms such as pain and skin lesions with fewer adverse events than standard Western interventions.
And I can tell you from personal experience that it does not matter if your Acupuncturist is feeling crabby or out-of-sorts on the day! Haha. Acupuncture and herbs work, anyway