A Natural therapy for Shingles

 I would like to introduce to you a folklore natural  therapy for shingles which is to apply a mung bean paste to the affected area and could relieve shingles overnight.

I was lucky to know a folk medicine when I was young. My mother applied mung bean paste on the shingle affected area. She bandaged it with a strip of cotton cloth around my trunk. Over the night, the shingle area dried out, no more itch or pain. And I could remove the bandage, and another day, it was healed.

About 30 years later, my niece told me that her mother ( my eldest sister) had shingles, had been using prescribed  medicine and continued being miserable with pain and itch, with no prospect of healing. I told her the simple folk medicine recipe.  Two days later, she called to tell me that her mother's shingles had gone thanks to the mung bean paste.

The original formula is to chew raw mung beans ( skin on) into a paste and cover the paste over the shingles and use a bandage to keep the paste in place securely overnight. That was how I did it and how my niece did it for her mom.

But I think that way is not safe or hygienic ( may break your teeth) or practical  and we can do it better in the following way:

We can use split or whole mung beans with skin on.

- in case there is no bean grinder, soak a handful of raw mung bean for a few hours until they are soft enough to be blended into paste with a blender and a little added water

Or

- grind a handful of raw mung beans ( with skin) into powder, mix it with water (or better with your saliva) into paste to use.

I told this folklore natural therapy  to some of my friends, but I can't blame them for not using it because it is too simple and perhaps too unscientific for them to believe. It is too risky without scientific backing. To be honest shingles do disappear thanks to prescription medicine but many have to suffer post herpetic neuralgia pain for quite a while. It is not unbearable but it is better without it.

I don’t know if this folk remedy is effective for every one. But as my sister used it while using prescription medicine at the same time, I think it may be worth trying while still using prescription medicine with peace of mind.

Notes: This post is for information only and is not intended to replace your doctor's advice.