The relationship of Vitamin B 12 with Two Symptoms of Shingles:
Who has Pain and Who has Itch?
Abstract
Background; Both herpetic pain and itching in shingles are two symptoms
whose pathogenesis has not been elucidated, although they are thought to
be due to nerve damage. These two symptoms are difficult to treat and
negative impact quality of life. In addition, It is unclear which
patient will have the symptoms of itching or pain. Vitamin B 12 is a
neurotropic agent which is contributes to the treatment of nerve damage,
and effective in treating neuropathic pain and itch. In this study we
investigated that is relationship between vitamin B12 both herpetic pain
and herpetic itch.
Methods; In this study, we investigated the effect of vitamin B12 values
on itching and pain symptoms that patients with shingles have in the
acute period. Vitamin B 12 values of 53 adults with patients with
shingles with herpetic pain or herpetic itching were recorded and
compared with the control group.
Results; We found that patients with herpetic pain had lower vitamin B12
values than the control group (p =0.046) and patients with
herpetic itch (p =0.021). Vitamin B12 values of herpetic itch
patients did not show significant difference from the control group
(p =0.816).
Conclusions; Although vitamin B12 deficiency plays a role in the
etiology of herpetic pain, it has no effect on herpetic itching. Our
study supports that the etiopathogenesis of HI is different from
herpetic pain, and will help studies focusing on herpetic itching
etiopathogenesis.
Key words: herpes, itch, pain, shingles, vitamin B 12