NEWSBRIEF - An effective treatment for shingles.
Shingles (herpes zoster) is an extremely painful skin condition that can take a long time to heal. It is an acute infection caused by reactivation of the chickenpox virus. Orthomolecular physicians now report that large doses of vitamin C are highly effective in curing the condition. They suggest starting out in the morning with 3000 mg of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and repeating this does every 30 minutes until you have a single episode of loose stool (not quite diarrhea). Then reduce the dosage to 2000 mg every hour and gradually adjust to a dosage that will relieve shingles symptoms, but not cause loose stools. For a massive shingles outbreak intravenous injections (infusions) of vitamin C may be required. High stress levels deplete vitamin-C and can be a precipitating factor for a shingles outbreak.
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, June 15, 2005 (www.orthomolecular.org)