It wasn’t asthma that got me on vacation in Hawaii ( I stand corrected on no air pollution in Hawaii - see blog below). It was shingles! Imagine an ice pick stuck in your sciatic nerve and you’ll get the picture. Although no-one knows what triggers an outbreak of blisters on the skin caused by the varicella-zoster (the chickenpox virus), foods high in Arginine (macademia nuts, kona coffee, etc.) appear to make it worse. Compounding my Hawaiian Arginine-rich diet was the Vog in the air on the Big Island - caused by Sulfur Dioxide pouring out of the Kilauea volcano. With a lot of Advil (advil OK, aspirin not OK for treatment of Shingles pain), my little health episode actually made it easier to stop and do nothing except enjoy the company and the view – which is what vacations are all about anyway. The good news, for those approaching a certain age, is that there is now a shingles vaccine. I highly recommend it unless you’re into discovering new types of pain.
http://www.konaweb.com/vog/index.shtml
http://virtualscratchpad.com/2008/04/blogging-vog-local-experiences-with.html
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/shingles/shingles.htm
http://herpes-coldsores.com/diet_and_nutrition_with_herpes.htm
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