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I am so very very sorry you have them. There can be long-run nerve damage. I talked my mother into trying the lysine, evening primrose oil, omega 3, and hefty mulivitamin and she held the worst at bay. It won't help in the short-run, but it might help.

These are from this website http://www.drpodell.org/shingles-treatment2.shtml

• Capsaicin cream (e.g. one brand name is Zostrix). Capsaicin derives from jalapeno pepper. Applied four or five times daily over several weeks, capsaicin gradually depletes the damaged nerve of an inflammatory substance called substance P. Reducing substance P gradually reduces pain. However, capsaicin, during its first days of use, can itself irritate and increase pain. Obviously, avoid getting capsaicin anywhere near the eye.
• Geranium Oil (Neuragen) may have local anesthetic-like effects, reducing nerve pain within an hour, and lasting for 12 hours. One useful technique may be to first calm the nerve with Geranium or Lidocaine (see below), and then add on Capsaicin. Neuragen, made by Origin Biomedicinals, is the only brand of Geranium with published research.
• Origin Biomedicinals Geranium Oil product, Neuragen is the only brand with published research.
• Lidocaine (xylocaine) patch, an effective local anesthetic, can reduce both pain and allodynia in a large proportion of PHN patients. One can apply up to four large patches around the affected nerve. But one usually may not keep the patches on for longer than 12 hours out of 24.

Natural Oral Treatments for Postherpetic neuralgia (postherpetic neuralgia):

None of the following natural products has had double-blind studies specifically for use with PHN. However. most have been used with some success for various kinds of nerve pain-related problems. For example: diabetic neuropathy, migraine headache or fibromyalgia. These natural treatments typically take weeks to a month to work. They may have their effects by improving nerve healing overall. There is no way to tell in advance which ones will be tolerated or effective for whom. And since we are doing multiple treatments at the same time, even with patient we might not be sure which are working. However, as a group they are very safe, so they are often worth a try.

• Magnesium- is known to block the NMDA receptor pain amplification system. Magnesium also acts to improve multiple biochemical metabolic pathways.
• Carnitine and Acetyl Carnitine may improving mitochondrial energy metabolism Note: Carnitine is also available as an FDA approved drug, brand name Carnitor.
• Anti-oxidant vitamins and minerals may reduce oxidative stress damage to nerves, e.g. Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Selenium, Zinc, N-acetyl Cysteine (which helps make glutathione)
• Alpha lipoic acid, an important anti-oxidant, has substantial evidence in short term studies for improving diabetes-caused nerve damage (diabetic neuropathy).
• Evening primrose oil, an important natural oil, has one excellent study showing improvement in diabetic neuropathy. Sadly, since that study was published in 1993, no one has bothered to repeat it. You'd like to see a replication or two before accepting a proof as true. But, the best evidence we have right now is that Primrose Oil is probably very good for diabetic neuropathy, so it's probably worth trying for other nerve damage syndromes also.
• Omega-3 essential fatty acid sources, including fish oil, algae, and flaxseed oil, are critical for making and repairing nerve cells within the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
• B vitamins including thiamine, folic acid, vitamin B12, and vitamin B6 are essential for nerve health.
• The amino acid lysine may help suppress herpes virus infections. However, there's no firm information about whether it helps healing once PHN is established.