Shingles - Could It Be Related to Gluten/ Celiac

[Ginger38]

I’m 43, just newly diagnosed with a horrible case of shingles last week . They are all over my face , around my eye, ear , all in my scalp. Lymph nodes are a mess. Ear is a mess. My eye is hurting and sensitive. Pain has been a 10/10+ daily. Taking Motrin and Tylenol around the clock. I AM MISERABLE. The pain is unrelenting. I just want to cry.   But Developing shingles has me a bit concerned about my immune system which also has me wondering about celiac and if there’s a connection to celiac / gluten and shingles; particularly since I haven't been 💯 gluten free because of all the confusing test results and doctors advice etc., is there a connection here? I’ve never had shingles and the gluten/ celiac  roller coaster has been ongoing for a while but I’ve had gluten off and on the last year bc of all the confusion

 

Edited November 26, 2025 by Ginger38

[trents]

I don't know of a connection. Lots of people who don't have celiac disease/gluten issues get shingles.

Edited November 26, 2025 by trents

[Scott Adams]

I had the same thing happen to me at around your age, and to this day it's the most painful experience I've ever had. For me it was the right side of my head, above my ear, running from my nerves in my neck. For years before my outbreak I felt a tingling sensation shooting along the exact nerves that ended up exactly where the shingles blisters appeared. I highly recommend the two shot shingles vaccine as soon as your turn 50--I did this because I started to get the same tingling sensations in the same area, and after the vaccines I've never felt that again. 

As you likely know, shingles is caused by chicken pox, which was once though of as one of those harmless childhood viruses that everyone should catch in the wild--little did they know that it can stay in your nervous system for your entire life, and cause major issues as you age.

[Flash1970]

Hi. So sorry to hear about your shingles. There is a lidocaine cream that you can get at Walmart that will help numb the pain.  That's what I used for mine. It can't be put near your eyes or in your ears. I hope your doctor gave you valacyclovir which is an antiviral.  It does lessen the symptoms. If it is in your eyes,  see an ophthalmologist.  They have an antiviral eye drop that can be prescribed.  Shingles in the eye could cause blindness.  I was unsure whether you have celiac or not.  If you do,  follow the diet.  I believe that extra stress on your body does affect everything. Shingles can recur. If you start getting the warning signs of nerves tingling,  see the dr and start taking the valacyclovir to prevent a breakout. If I sound technical,  I am a retired pharmacist. 

[Ginger38]

On 11/27/2025 at 1:46 PM, Scott Adams said:

I had the same thing happen to me at around your age, and to this day it's the most painful experience I've ever had. For me it was the right side of my head, above my ear, running from my nerves in my neck. For years before my outbreak I felt a tingling sensation shooting along the exact nerves that ended up exactly where the shingles blisters appeared. I highly recommend the two shot shingles vaccine as soon as your turn 50--I did this because I started to get the same tingling sensations in the same area, and after the vaccines I've never felt that again. 

As you likely know, shingles is caused by chicken pox, which was once though of as one of those harmless childhood viruses that everyone should catch in the wild--little did they know that it can stay in your nervous system for your entire life, and cause major issues as you age.

It has been the most terrible illness ever! Going on 3 weeks now… I had chicken pox as a kid… crazy how much havoc this dormant virus has caused after being reactivated! No idea what even caused it to fire back up. I’m scared this pain and sensitivity is just never going to improve or go away 

[Scott Adams]

As recommended by @Flash1970, you may want to get this:
https://www.amazon.com/Curist-Lidocaine-Maximum-Strength-Topical/dp/B09DN7GR14/

[Ginger38]

On 12/3/2025 at 12:32 AM, Flash1970 said:

Hi. So sorry to hear about your shingles. There is a lidocaine cream that you can get at Walmart that will help numb the pain.  That's what I used for mine. It can't be put near your eyes or in your ears. I hope your doctor gave you valacyclovir which is an antiviral.  It does lessen the symptoms. If it is in your eyes,  see an ophthalmologist.  They have an antiviral eye drop that can be prescribed.  Shingles in the eye could cause blindness.  I was unsure whether you have celiac or not.  If you do,  follow the diet.  I believe that extra stress on your body does affect everything. Shingles can recur. If you start getting the warning signs of nerves tingling,  see the dr and start taking the valacyclovir to prevent a breakout. If I sound technical,  I am a retired pharmacist. 

Thanks, I’m still dealing with the pain and tingling and itching and feeling like bugs or something crawling around on my face and scalp. It’s been a miserable experience. I saw my eye doc last week, the eye itself was okay, so they didn’t do anything. I did take a 7 day course of an antiviral. I’m hoping for a turnaround soon! My life is full of stress but I have been on / off the gluten free diet for the last year , after being talked into going back on gluten to have a biopsy, that looked okay. But I do have positive antibody levels that have been responsive  to a gluten free diet. I can’t help but wonder if the last year has caused all this. 

[Flash1970]

You might try Heallix.  It's a silver solution with fulvic acid. I just put the solution on with a cotton ball.  It seemed to stop the nerve pain. Again,  not in your eyes or ears.   Go to heallix.com to read more about it and decide for yourself Also,  I do think nerve and celiac combined have a lot to do with your susceptibility to shingles breaking out. 

[Russ H]

On 12/4/2025 at 9:39 PM, Ginger38 said:

Thanks, I’m still dealing with the pain and tingling and itching and feeling like bugs or something crawling around on my face and scalp. It’s been a miserable experience. I saw my eye doc last week, the eye itself was okay, so they didn’t do anything. I did take a 7 day course of an antiviral. I’m hoping for a turnaround soon! My life is full of stress but I have been on / off the gluten free diet for the last year , after being talked into going back on gluten to have a biopsy, that looked okay. But I do have positive antibody levels that have been responsive  to a gluten free diet. I can’t help but wonder if the last year has caused all this. 

I hope you are on the mend soon. About 1 in 5 people who contracted chicken pox as a child go on to develop shingles in later life - it is not uncommon. There are 5 known members of the herpes virus family including chicken pox that commonly infect humans, and they all cause lifelong infections. The exact cause of viral reactivation as in the case of shingles or cold sores is not well understood, but stress, sunburn and radiotherapy treatment are known triggers. Some of the herpes viruses are implicated in triggering autoimmune diseases: Epstein-Barr virus is suspected of triggering multiple sclerosis and lupus, and there is a case where it is suspected of triggering coeliac disease. As to whether coeliac disease can increase the likelihood of viral reactivation, there have been several cohort studies including a large one in Sweden suggesting that coeliac disease is associated with a moderate increase in the likelihood of developing shingles in people over the age of 50.

US 2024 - Increased Risk of Herpes Zoster Infection in Patients with Celiac Disease 50 Years Old and Older

Sweden 2018 - Increased risk of herpes zoster in patients with coeliac disease - nationwide cohort study

[Jmartes71]

On 11/25/2025 at 4:39 PM, Ginger38 said:

I’m 43, just newly diagnosed with a horrible case of shingles last week . They are all over my face , around my eye, ear , all in my scalp. Lymph nodes are a mess. Ear is a mess. My eye is hurting and sensitive. Pain has been a 10/10+ daily. Taking Motrin and Tylenol around the clock. I AM MISERABLE. The pain is unrelenting. I just want to cry.   But Developing shingles has me a bit concerned about my immune system which also has me wondering about celiac and if there’s a connection to celiac / gluten and shingles; particularly since I haven't been 💯 gluten free because of all the confusing test results and doctors advice etc., is there a connection here? I’ve never had shingles and the gluten/ celiac  roller coaster has been ongoing for a while but I’ve had gluten off and on the last year bc of all the confusion

 

Yarrow Pom works really well with the skin issues I found out.I had to stop so my doterra because dealing with medical celiac circus. I had shingles in Feb 2023. Prayers for healing 

[knitty kitty]

Hi, @Ginger38,

I've had shingles in the past.  I understand how miserable you're feeling.  

Not only do i have the chickenpox virus lurking about, I also have the cold sore virus that occasionally flares with a huge cold sore on my lip when stressed or exposed to gluten.  The virus lives dormant in the nerves on the left side of my face.  It causes Bell's Palsy (resulting in drooling).  The cold sore virus is also in my eye.  My eye swells up and my vision is diminished permanently whenever I have a flare, so it's of the utmost importance to keep flares away and treat them immediately if they do happen so I don't lose any more vision.  

I take the amino acid supplement L-Lysine.  Lysine messes with the replication of viruses, which helps the body fight them off.   I haven't had an outbreak for several years until this year when exceptionally stressed and contaminated, it flared up again.

Lysine has been shown to be beneficial in suppression of viruses like the cold sore virus (a herpetic virus), the chickenpox virus (also a herpetic virus), as well as the HIV virus, and even the Covid virus.  

I also take additional Thiamine in the form TTFD (tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide) because Thiamine has antiviral properties as well.  

For pain, a combination of Thiamine (like TTFD or Benfotiamine or Thiamine Hydrochloride), with B12 Cobalamine, and Pyridoxine B6 have been shown to have analgesic properties which relieve pain and neuropathy.   

The combination of Thiamine B1, Pyridoxine B6 and Cobalamine B12 really does work to relieve pain.  I take it for pain from crushed vertebrae in my back.  This combination also works on other pain and neuropathy.  

I usually buy a supplement that combines all three and also Riboflavin B2 called EXPLUS online.  However, it's made in Japan and the price with the tariffs added makes it really expensive now.  But the combination of Thiamine B1, Pyridoxine B6 and B12 Cobalamine (and Riboflavin B2) still work even if taken separately.  

I can't take Tylenol or ibuprofen because of stomach upsets.  But I can take the vitamin combination without side effects.  However, you can take the three vitamins at the same time as other pain relievers for added benefit.  The vitamins help other pain relievers work better.

I hope you will try it.  Hopeful you'll feel better quickly.

Interesting Reading:

Thiamine, cobalamin, locally injected alone or combination for herpetic itching: a single-center randomized controlled trial

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23887347/

Mechanisms of action of vitamin B1 (thiamine), B6 (pyridoxine), and B12 (cobalamin) in pain: a narrative review

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35156556/

Analgesic and analgesia-potentiating action of B vitamins

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12799982/

A Narrative Review of Alternative Symptomatic Treatments for Herpes Simplex Virus

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10301284/

Edited December 10, 2025 by knitty kitty
Typo correction

[Flash1970]

Thank you for the links to the articles.  Interesting reading. I'll be telling my brother in law because he has a lot of pain

[knitty kitty]

Here's one more that shows Lysine also helps alleviate pain!

Exploring the Analgesic Potential of L-Lysine: Molecular Mechanisms, Preclinical Evidence, and Implications for Pharmaceutical Pain Therapy

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12114920/

[Jmartes71]

On 11/25/2025 at 5:23 PM, trents said:

I don't know of a connection. Lots of people who don't have celiac disease/gluten issues get shingles.

Shingles is dormant and related to chicken pox when one has had in the past.Shingles comes out when stress is heightened.I had my 3rd Shingles in 2023.