Shingles vaccine?

My 90 year Mum is still getting over it after it was diagnosed 3 weeks ago. For someone of her age, the medical staff say she might be half way through recovering from it - but it may well be longer.
 
Had it once. Shingles is often extremely painful and can lead to long term persistent neuropathy/pain. An outbreak, if it occurs, definitely should be treated with anti-virals such as acyclovir - this appears to at least slightly reduce the intensity and the length of the outbreak.

The new vaccine sounds very useful- I cannot available myself of it yet due to a medical condition but I hope to get vaccinated soon.
 
SusanB-M1 said:
If I remember fcorrectly, I was told I was too old to have the vaccination a few years ago. I had a very mild attack last year. It was only on the left front side of my neck and up into the area behind my left ear. It itched a lot but was not painful and after taking the pills prescribed, it went away quietly. I was obviously quite lucky there.
Click to expand...

There are restrictions on this vaccine but age isn't one of them. The CDC link below would make it sound like the older you are the more you need the vaccine.

From the CDC: "There is no maximum age for getting Shingrix."
 
Last edited:
MikeG said:
I've had it twice. The last time was in October last year. Luckily, I get a mild version, but it's still damned unpleasant, and I'm very glad when it goes away.
Click to expand...


Me too! The first time I had it, I was stressed out by an undiagnosed food allergy. Both times were without the severe after-effects you hear about.
 
Last edited:
So, I am curious. In my case I believe that sleep deprivation, stress, hyper activity, brought on my shingles. Can anyone else pin point a trigger for theirs. Tanya seemed to have a flu, weakened immune system, as a trigger.
 
wasapi said:
So, I am curious. In my case I believe that sleep deprivation, stress, hyper activity, brought on my shingles. Can anyone else pin point a trigger for theirs. Tanya seemed to have a flu, weakened immune system, as a trigger.
Click to expand...

My friend had her outbreak right after cataract surgery, though she says the surgery wasn’t stressful.

Her one prior attack was right before hip surgery, which actually delayed the surgery, so maybe there’s some connection.

I think stress is a known contributor to shingles.
 
Mine cropped up a couple weeks after knee replacement surgery.

And then the shingles infection flared up a lifelong muscle problem.

So yeah, stress has it's down sides.
 
Anything that weakens or stresses the immune system, I think. Unfortunately age suffices.
The number of cases is expected to increase now that most children are vaccinated against chicken pox. Exposure to children with chicken pox tended to boost the immune system against the virus, i.e. against shingles. People who were at higher 'risk' of exposure tended to have higher protection: kindergarten teachers, for instance.
Now that this doesn't happen anymore, vaccine is the only alternative. Unless you have new-age anti-vaxxer friends. In that case you can ask them if you can participate at their next Pox party (Wikipedia). Or maybe there's a future for pox parties for grown ups! :)
I think shingles is just as contagious as ordinary chicken pox.



PS The Danish word for shingles is helvedesild = fire from hell! :)
 
Last edited:
dann said:
I think shingles is just as contagious as ordinary chicken pox.
Click to expand...

I don't think shingles is contagious at all in that sense. If you haven't had chickenpox and you came in contact with someone with shingles, you'd get chickenpox from them and not shingles. Or did I misunderstand what you were saying?

I'm not quite sure what triggered my shingles outbreak. I think it's just kind of a negative lottery. Hopefully never again.
 
Yes, and no. You are right about contagion with shingles causing chickenpox and not shingles - at least at first! :) But in the context, my point was that being around somebody with shingles would boost the immune system of people who had already had chickenpox the same way that chickenpox does.
But I think it's easier to get the new vaccine instead. :)

The first time I had it, it was on the left side of the torso, and I thought I might be having a heart condition. The second time, it was the left side of my scalp and forehead, and I feared that it might impact my eye as well, but it didn't. The pain wasn't really bad and went away very soon after the shingles stopped.
 
Last edited:
casebro said:
It IS a virus infection.

My 52 yo brother went in to the VA one morning on his way to work. Said "You are not going to believe this, but the hair on one side of my head hurts". Nurse says "Shingles!"

53 yo Sis gets a pain on her thigh. Lasted for months. I hounded my Primary Doc at the MO. I wanted it ASAP, nope he says, not until you are 60. I finally got the shot at 59 3/4. I got the Shingles at 63. Only lasted a week or two. But it was inthe medain nerve of my left hand. A row of hot tingley spots- under my thumb nail and down to the nail of my index finger. Like splinters under my fingernails. Glad I had the vaccine, only lasted a week or so. And probably brought on by the stress and pain of knee replacement.

So, had it. Do I need the new vax?
Click to expand...
You shouldn't. It's incredibly rare to get shingles twice. The outbreak essentially acts as a vaccine against another episode.
 
rwguinn said:
I couldn't take the old one because it was/is a live vaccination, and I was on Humeria for Psoratic Arthritis.
Is this one a killed virus, or just a weakened one?
Click to expand...

Nope, it's live as well. Have some acyclovir or valacyclovir on hand and learn enough about the symptoms of onset to recognize it. If you start the antiviral within 24 hours of shingles onset you should have an aborted or attenuated case.
 
MikeG said:
I've had it twice. The last time was in October last year. Luckily, I get a mild version, but it's still damned unpleasant, and I'm very glad when it goes away.
Click to expand...

Getting shingles twice unless you have an immunodeficiency suggests you might have been misdiagnosed.

If it occurs again, get a culture and a doctor who knows what she's doing. ;)

BTW, the antiviral treatment is the same, dose differs but a larger dose isn't likely to be harmful and a smaller dose will still attenuate the course of the outbreak.
 
Last edited:
Fast Eddie B said:
I don’t think that’s correct.

Efficacy goes down with age, but with the new vaccine appears to remain high in the elderly.
Click to expand...
It's not correct but could have been the case when the vaccine was newly released in the US. Such is the nature of FDA approval with new drugs like this one. I'm not sure.

A while back we had a shortage so the vaccine, while recommended for people age 50 and older, was temporarily recommended for age 60 and older.
 
dann said:
Me too! The first time I had it, I was stressed out by an undiagnosed food allergy. Both times were without the severe after-effects you hear about.
Click to expand...
Again, recurring and not that severe sounds like a misdiagnosis.

Hate to break it to you boys but HSV can occur and reoccur in places other than lips and genitals. If these cases were on one's butt, it was much more likely HSV 2 than zoster. But by all means, don't accept a diagnosis from some random person on the internet. ;)
 
wasapi said:
So, I am curious. In my case I believe that sleep deprivation, stress, hyper activity, brought on my shingles. Can anyone else pin point a trigger for theirs. Tanya seemed to have a flu, weakened immune system, as a trigger.
Click to expand...

It varies with some people having a stressful trigger and others not. It's not uncommon for one's shingles to occur in older hospitalized patients, clearly stress triggered.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom