Is this a good idea? Downside?

RS

Financial outlay versus health outlay.

my wife got the vaccine about a year ago. she has never had the shingles, before or since. i had them maybe 12 years ago. one small spot on beltline. cleared up after about 2 weeks. haven't had them since. my doc said i could get them again, but he doubted i would. he said i wouldn't gain anything by getting the vaccine. we are all different and react differently to the numerous viruses. ymmv.

My doctor wants me to get it, but he also wants me to get a pneumonia shot. He is going to be disappointed on both.

I have a steel roof, don't need it.

I have had friends that have had bad cases of shingles. That convinced me to get the shot, even though it was rather expensive.
To me the shot is better than losing a couple of months of my life, and I know what pain and suffering feels like. I don't need any practice, just to see what it feels like.

The pneumonia shot is a once every five years deal. Not a bad idea.

I am not one for optional med,s I am 71 and pretty healthy and active. A close friend of mine got shingles 2 years ago and it has been a nightmare for her ever since. She can,t sit for any length of time can wear anything to close to her midline. Basically she is a shut in standing for a while,sitting for a while. She is living in hell. 2 other friends of mine have had small cases of it and neither one had a good time. That did it for me,I googled the side effects they are minimal if at all. Cost was $230 my insurance picked up 150. To me a no brainer. Went to the gym after the shot.

Karen and I have both had the shingles shots and we do the pneumonia shots on schedule. Hey, it's our health and it's worth the very small investment.

God Bless,

Steve

I certainly plan to get it when I age qualify. I know two people who have gotten it and in both cases it got in an eye, with scarring the result.

I've had them twice and if you can get a shot that keeps you from getting them then do it!

My Dr recommends both the Pnuemonia and shingles vaccines. I have had shingles and don't want a recurrence of them and at 78 years of age Pnuemonia is a devastating prospect.

got them once when i was in my early 20s, doc gave me something for them and i haven't had them since.

Post-herpetic neuralgia can ruin your remaining years. If you get the shingles get on anti-virals quick and ask your dr to treat you with the more expensive drug called Famvir as it reduces the chance of same.

Sure your not thinking about crabs?

Don't ask me how I know.

raid works for those lol.

I had to put this nasty lotion all over everything, including hair

I got the vaccine about a month ago. Zero side effects, my arm didn't even get sore.

A friend has been in a living hell for 3 or 4 months now, thought he was going to lose an eye. Constant pain. Suicidal thoughts. A lttle better now.

Cost me $169.00. I'd pay much, much more if necessary.

My adult daughter got shingles. After watching that, my wife and I both got the shot.

Don't skip the prescription antivirals, and by all means get them just as soon as you possibly can. A natural antiviral is elderberry lozenges. They aren't expensive, and the Solary brand is very tasty.

What eyeball and others said. If you're pre-medicare age and have to drop the $250 or so cash, and are the really lucky type, it's true there's the chance you wasted your money. If you're Medicare age, it should be covered. What's the lifetime incidence of shingles - I don't recall, google it. It's common enough.

When you find yourself the average-to-worse-to-debilitating shingles case, with permanent pain (perhaps including pleuritic/respiratory pain or ocular pain) that $250 will look awfully damn cheap. More than a few times, folks have said "eh, I don't need that chit" then it's a year later and their family member was struck with shingles. Suddenly, they're banging on the door demanding the shot.

I'm not even 50 and came down with it this spring. JUST in time for a conference in Vegas. Started with joint pain in shoulder/elbow/wrist/fingers on right side, couldn't sleep or function. Got on meds about 4 days after it started just as the rashes were developing.

No drinking while on the meds. While in Vegas. While at a conference.

SUCKS.

I'd get the vaccine rather than risk that again. It's 4 months later and there's still some joint pain, but minor compared to what I hear other people have had.

My 33 yo son went through a bout with them a year ago. It was pretty nasty. Age doesn't always make a difference.

Should have used the old Army cure, pour on a little lighter fluid and light, when they come running out to escape the forest fire, stab 'em with and ice pick.

You do NOT want shingles, I guarantee you, I have seen several cases of it and the people involved were in agony and some still are. Also, especially for older folks like myself, 72, pneumonia can be fatal. Get the shots, guys, get the shots.

How often do you get re-vaccinated for shingles?
Percentage of bad reactions?

Mark

I got my shot. No problems.

I think it's a one time deal, but don't take my word for it.
I've heard you can sometimes get the shot from the county health department for a decent but still impressive price.

Unfortunetly not covered by SS.

The shot cost me 165 bucks.

Took it after first bout of shingles appeared.

Do was amazed other than rash the shingles outbreak as asymptomatic.

Wife never had chickenpox so she almost had to take the shot or suffer serious health effects.

Shingles is the same virus as the chickenpox one (varicella zoster virus). Basically when you get it as a kid it will give you chickepox and then it lives in the nerve roots hiding. When there is a decrease in your immune system (advancing age, stress, certain medications) it can reappear.

Basically adults over the age 60-70 are at higher risk of the virus reappearing as shingles and that is the target age group for the vaccine, which does reduce your risk to about 50%, so if it was me or someone in my family I would get it, even if you dont recall having chickenpox as a kid, and even if you got the vaccine - I have seen chickenpox outbreaks in children who had documentation of adequate immunizations.

Get the shot if you can.

I had a case of shingles, one of the mildest the doc had seen. It was so miserable I did not sleep for the first four days, until I was exhausted. It felt like someone typing rapidly on my skin with needles on each finger, and NOTHING would relieve the flickering pain. That went on for several weeks. Mine was not excruciating nor long term disabling nor did it cost me an eye, as it can.

IMO, if you had average to bad shingles for one day, the cost and risk of the shot would seem like the best bargain you ever bought if it would make it go away. But then it is too late.

I had chickenpox as a kid and then nothing. Now however, I am doing chemo every week with the subsequent reduction in immune system. The oncologist has me on daily regimen of Acyclovir pills to try to hold off the shingles. Never had the shot though.

I am not RC's son but, Yeah, tell me about it.... First I couldn't hardly take the light sensitive headaches for the first two days, then I thought what I had was a bacterial infection crawling up the back of my neck, went up the left side of my head and stopped behind my ear. Felt like someone poured a fresh 2" thick strip of tarmac on the back of my head.... Hardly could move for the next few days. When I went to the doc he winced and said I was lucky, and that he has seen them in the eye and nasal area, and that I should be happy they stopped where they did.....

Had one more bout with them about a month and a half later...... Nothing since, but man do I get nervous when my neck starts to itch..... I am in my late 30's and would eagerly take a six gage needle in the cheek if it stops them from coming back....

I'd get it.
A good friend of mine had it recently.It was mis -diagnosed for the first week as something else and wasn't treated for shingles for nearly 2 weeks. She was in extreme pain and lost the month of June. It's the end of August and she still has lingering pain.
Bad stuff.

I had shingles a few years ago and can tell you it's no fun. I spoke to the doc about getting the vaccination to insure no recurrences. He told me that if you had chicken pox at any time the vaccination was wasted money.

My case wasn't the worst possible but was lucky because I received treatment within 24 hours of the outbreak. I'm told this is critical to minimizing the effects. I still have places on my body where, if I run my fingers over the skin surface, can feel a tingling sensation. Not debilitating but a constant reminder to hope it never comes back again.

Jim

I'm 56 and got the shot with no problems. The wife talked me into it even though she had a very slight allergic reaction from it.

Jim, am just trying to be helpful here. The above is not accurate. It is true that the shingles vaccine is not 100% reliable. However, it is efficacious after having had chicken pox (by definition, shingles is a reactivation of the same herpes zoster virus - you can't get shingles without having been exposed previously to chicken pox). Secondly, the vaccine is efficacious after having had a prior episode of shingles.

There is logic to what your doctor told you, but this is an example of "the exception to the rule." So if you want the shot, go for it.

sandcritter md

Once and done.

I got it this year, and I'm two years younger than the recommended age EXCEPT I'm a healthcare provider so I'm s'posed to get it.

Do NOT mess with risking shingles. Incidence is only about 0.1-0.3% of adults per year up to age 65, but after age 65 the incidence goes up to about 12% per year. LIFETIME, your risk of shingles is 50%.

If you get to your doctor early in the disease, treatment with antivirals and other drugs can reduce the severity of the outbreak and the pain, but post-herpetic neuralgia (nerve pain after the rash goes away) can be sheer agony that lasts anywhere from 4 months to forever. The older you are, the longer your post-herpetic neuralgia is likely to last, and in 15% of people, the pain lasts more than a year.

Side effects from the immunization are extremely uncommon. This is true of all recently-developed immunizations, but the anti-vaccine Nazis and their lawyers are attacking it hard anyway.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR YOU WHO ARE UNDECIDED: The anti-vaccine Nazis and their lawyers have managed to quash several very good and very safe vaccines in the past several years through heavy-handed litigation using junk science to persuade juries that these life-saving treatments were "bad". The most notable of these was the Lyme Disease vaccine (Lymerix), withdrawn from the market by the manufacturer after lawsuits lost on very flimsy evidence. So don't count on the shingles vaccine being available in 2 years if you decided you want it then. It might have been pulled from the market thanks to these vultures' legal activities.

Bingo.

This is one shot you should get. My wife had shingles a couple of years ago and it was ROUGH. She described the pain as being like thousands of hot needles on the skin. When she had her outbreak, I thought that's what it was and she got to the Doc right away. He prescribed what I think were self adhesive lidocaine patches which made a huge difference. Luckily she didn't really have any lingering pain.

DocR - recommended age for vaccination?

Mark

If you ever get shingles, the only disappointment you'll have is that you DIDN'T get the shot. I had them last year for 9 weeks, and believe me, YOU NEVER WANT TO HAVE SHINGLES. Not fun. Get the shot...

And once you have them, they NEVER completely go away. The rash will, but may come back. The nerve damage is always going to be there and will cause periodic pain.

Age indications are 50 years of age and older. I second DocRocket's comments. As soon as our immunizations clinic gets Zostivax in, it goes fast.

Last I looked it was 50. Dunno when Medicare will pay for it, some private insurance will pay for it. You can get Zostivax at any age if you pony up the dough and your doc has some on hand, but most immunization clinics are restricting it to 50+

Get it. I tried to get one several times along with my annual fly shot but they were always out of it. My doc told me they only make it in limited quantities and it goes fast. He had some on hand, fortunately, so I got mine with my last physical. As it was my Medicare baseline physical, they paid for a big chunk of it.

Shingles is a silly-sounding thing but it is a serious disease that you REALLY want to avoid. If you have ever had chicken pox, you almost certainly already have the virus inside you - and the clock is ticking on when it decides to become active.

Probably those that think they don't need or won't get the Shingles vaccine, would not have gotten the polio vaccine. Same mind set. Wait until you or some one in your faimily gets it and you wll change your mind.
I had shingles at an early age for 3 months but my Dr. still reccomended me getting vaccinated.I also get flu shots every year and a pneumonia shot when it's time.

yeah i dont get it either.....vaccines are one of the more basic types of meds....they flat out work with your body to improve its immune system....the science is basic and proven....always laugh bout the idiots that bring up mercury as there is more mercury in a couple decent sized tuna sandwiches or a swordfish steak than all the vaccines you would ever get in your life....