Treating Shingles at Home

Elderly Care Guelph

Shingles can really slow down your elderly loved one, particularly if this is one of her first outbreaks. How you manage shingles at home can really affect how difficult the situation is for your loved one, though, and there are things you can do that will help quite a bit. The key is to remain patient, because the shingles rash will finally go away.

Take All Medications as Prescribed

When your loved one was first diagnosed with shingles, her doctor probably prescribed a treatment plan to help with any existing breakouts and to hopefully help prevent additional ones. This might include oral medications as well as prescription creams, so it’s important to follow the treatment plan exactly in order to help your loved one heal. If the prescribed plan doesn’t seem to help, then definitely talk to your loved one’s doctor to adjust the treatments as necessary.

Avoid Scratching

Since shingles is related to chicken pox, there’s a lot of itching and scratching involved. But just like chicken pox, scratching at a shingles rash just makes everything worse. It can also help the rash to spread to a larger area than it occupied before, which just means more pain and more sores. It’s difficult, but try to encourage your loved one to avoid scratching. Try engaging in activities that occupy her mind and hands in other ways. Your loved one’s elderly care providers may have ideas that can help.

Cool Compresses Can Help

Cool compresses can help to relieve some of the pain and itching associated with shingles. Simply moisten a soft cloth with cool water and lay it directly over the affected area. You’ll need to change out the compresses as they warm up and dry out, however, since that’s part of the magic that helps your loved one to feel better.

Creams and Lotions

Your loved one’s doctor may prescribe specific creams or lotions for her shingles, but there are over-the-counter versions that might help, too. Calamine lotion is very helpful with itchy ailments, and it can be applied right after cold compresses are removed. If you’re in doubt about using any sort of topical cream on your loved one’s shingles, always be sure to talk to her doctor to be sure.

Once your loved one is on the other side of a shingles outbreak, you’ll both feel a lot better.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care services in Guelph, contact the caring professionals at Staff Relief Health Care 24/7 at 905.709.1767.