There is the vaccine which needs to be given w/in 72 hours of the start, and it will reduce symptoms. Also there are oral agents, like Retrovir and Acyclovir which can seriously help.
If you try to gut it out, it will take a month or more to recover fully.
You get the pain as the virus spreads through an area of the body known as a dermatome.... the section of the torso, for instance that is supplied nerves from the spine, where the little virus has been sitting dormant since chickenpox.
So, get the pills and take em. The nerve endings on the skin surface are killed off and in doing that there are blisters that form,filled with water. You need calamine lotion/benadryl to stop the damn itching of that. Have found that a combination of Capsaiscin cream (for joint/muscle pain and supplies a chemical “heat” sensation) with an Aspercreme, with aspririn in it—will help. Key ingredient is Menthol Salicylate, and it needs to be a good 1%. Wally world has the tubes for like 88 cents each on sale. Combine the two cremes having taken a warm (not hot) tub bath, and leaving your skin damp. Stuff will heat up and you’ll love the absence of itching for a while. The pain meds help too, but will wig you out.
Once the blisters break then everything scabs up, and leaves little scars— not real noticeable. The sensation of the deadened nerve endings remains, a numbness you have to get used to. Depending on where the dermatome is (check this out on wikipedia) this can be very troublesome (like if under your armpit or in your crotch).
My reply to Hinckley Buzzard is # 50 and experience with the run of the shingles. Did not get the pills and couldn’t get the shot— too late. I actually thought it was poison ivy, as had been cutting up a large tree with ivy on it and had contact with the wood chips.
The pain med, antivirals and the combo creams (which can fade out in effect over time and if you lightly moisten the area again.. they will warm up again. This helped. But was immobile in bed a lot at first.