Recently I learned that someone with a bad case of shingles was given the H2 Inhibitor Cimetidine as an immune stimulant to support his immune response to Herpes Zoster. At the moment I heard this from him, I thought, huh….Does that make sense"? I went home and googled a little bit and came to the following conclusion:

Research, easily accessible on the internet, attests to the efficacy of adding Cimetidine for patients in colon and colorectal cancer treatment. The mechanism by which inhibition of the Histamine 2 in the GI supports lymphocytic infiltration of tumors appears to be that it acts as an anti inflammatory, which disinhibits immune stimulating cytokines. The question is: would this also help a Herpes Zoster infection? And the answer is: probably; if that person had allergic reactions to foods in their GI acting as pro inflammatory mediation. And since pretty much everyone has this to some degree or other, it probably has some efficacy. And in fact, this particular person may have more of this going on than most people. Yet, it’s not really helping. Or, at this point symptoms are not remitting. I think maybe because the immune issue is not in the GI, as in the case with a lower GI tumor, but in the blood and the lymph closest to the inflamed nerves. Further, the open wounds of the herpes blisters require an inflammatory response in order to heal. The quickest way to do that is Vitamin A, but the nerves themselves are infected with the virus, so something else is needed to address this. There are probably many herbs that will work for this, including all the zinc ionophores that are now well known. However, St. John’s Wort has a particular affinity for the nerves. Naturopaths often prescribe 900 mg daily of St. John’s Wort to treat depression, but this also a good dose with which to saturate the lymph and reach the fatty material wrapping the nerves.