I had chicken pox as a lad and thought I should get the shingles vaccine.

Anyone gotten it yet? Or have thoughts. Is it covered by typical insurance?

Rob

I got it.
If you've had chicken pox and want to avoid a very painful experience I would advise it.
My SIL has had shingles twice, it ain't fun.

Cost me $200 at walmart. Now they say ya have 30% greater chance of stroke after shingles. Just wonder how much is hype.

First post using my i phone as a hot spot on my computer. Happy
At the farm for deer hunting.

Yes I got mine several years ago. No shingles so far.
I had to pay cash.

Wife got her's last week, insurance paid all for her. Believe it's
or was about $200 if you have to pay.

Not me but a guy I know..knew nothing of it..and at 66 got it ...told me when the time comes GET IT ….said that he has never been so hurt by a illness,this hard... this guy is a tuff old bird still working hard and 6'4 250lbs ...my f-inlaw got it last year at 80 something ....and was sheding carp scales.... Ugggg not me !!!

If you ever have shingles, you would pay $200 in a blink to make it go away.

Our doc said that mine was the mildest case of shingles that he had seen and I was miserable for over two weeks. In a six inch wide band half way around my upper chest and shoulder it felt like a typist with a needle on each fingertip was typing rapidly on my skin. Nothing would ease it nor make it stop, and it went on 24 hours a day. Didn't sleep for four days until simply exhausted and then only dozed in bits.

Other folks have it in their eyes, lose sight, have big ulcers on their skin. Shingles is unpredictable as to where on the body it will strike.

The shingles shot is among the highest benefit to cost insurances I know.

Yes I did.I also had shingles when I was about 14 years old.I can still remember it.

I was lucky. I happened to walk by the County Health Dept. Clinic at a mall where they weer giving them free to seniors who could not afford them. I asked what the $$$ cut off was.They said come in. They couldn't find enough people to give them to,so I got mine free.

Well, I know what I'm doing Monday then.

My VA doctor looked at my history and asked if I wanted one. I said yes. Know several folks that suffered with case of Shingles so I decided I don't need to know about it first hand.

My dad and a BIL have had episodes, I got the shot.

Moderator, please move this thread to the Shingles Shot forum.

My Wife got it and it was on her head. Doctor said if it had spread to her eyes she could have gone blind. Go mine right away and the insurance paid for it.

I had shingles last year....down my throat, in my ear. Very miserable. So I went to get the vaccine this year and they refused to give it to me. Said CDC guidelines are for 50+ and I'm a good ways off from that. Was not happy but nothing I can do.

Yes, get it. It was in the jected underside my upper arm and stung a little. By the third day I Couldn't move my arm much it hurt so bad. I'm not normally a wimp about vaccines but DANG it hurt. Having had shingles before the shot was well worth it and I'd do it again.

FIL got the shot, within six months he had shingles, though fairly mild.

Had chicken pox and a bout of shingles.

EVen if you have to self-pay for the vaccine the $200 is cheap compared to shingles.

If you have insurance, call and see if the vaccine is covered and if it is HOW they do it. It could be a doctor benefit in which case you will need to go to your primary care Doc.

It maight be covered as a pharmacy benefit, in which case you can get the vaccine right at the pharmacy from the pharmacist who is trained.

While you are there, get the flu and pneumonia shots too.

My wife had to pay I think $100. I can't remember, but think mine was either free, or just a co pay. The new doc redid the pneoumonia with the Prevnar 13, claims it is better than the previous one.

Every one I talk to that has had it says avoid it. A coworker had his on his sack.

Now if they can come up with a shot to prevent oldfartism, I have it made.

I asked my doc about the shingles shot at my recent physical. He recommended waiting until age 60. I think the reasoning was that you can only get the shot once and it gradually loses effectiveness. So, get it too early in your life and you might not have max resistance when you are most likely to need it.

My insurance covered the shot but only after 55 years old. After seeing what my father went through, I got the shot as soon as I qualified.

I have yet to get what I feel is a strait answer from either Doc or Pharmacist, of what can happen if you get the Shot, and have never had Chicken Pox?

I'm 61, parents long gone, so don't know if I had the Pox or not. Doctor said safe to assume you had them. You know what they say about assuming. Like to get the Shot, but still not comfortable with the Idea.

I have several friends that have had shingles. I got the shot.

I thought shingles was a one time deal?

If you don't whether you had chicken pox, I would forget the shingles vaccine and get the chicken pox vaccine. Shingles is painful, but chicken pox will can kill you.

My wife had shingles several years ago and it was really painful for her. She had both of our kids naturally so she can deal with pain but it was bad.

Not long after that I got the shot in the right deltoid and it was no problem.

No it's not. That's why my wife got the shot after her bout with it.

Seems 60 is the census on when to get it. The vaccine, like many, isn't good 'forever'

Rufus, you made my day with that. Wonderful!


My late FIL had shingles, and his bout with it was awful. When the shot came out years later, I vowed to get it as soon as I was eligible to head off getting shingles. And I did.

The shot is not a 100% guarantee you won't get shingles, but it dramatically improves the odds - and minimizes the effects if you do get them.

The CDC says 5 years max. During that time, it cuts the chances of getting it by 51%.

Yep got mine at the VA, free.

Got my shot at 59.

Insurance wouldn't cover it, But i figured it was well worth the $200. I had to pay out of pocket.

Shingles is nasty stuff.

Virgil B.

You can get Shingles after the shot and again after you have had it

Can you just get it every 5 years?

Got it. NBD

That's still a good deal.

Seen some people get it on the face. Read that you can get it in one of your eyes. And it can recur.

My Doc says that the shingles shot is a waste of money.You still have a 50% chance of getting shingles.My BIL got the shot and still got the shingles.I had them last summer.Painful for about two weeks,.Not the worse thing to happen to a person.

The doctor is right...back in the day, they used to have "parties" so all the kids would have it at the same time....I had to google "death by chickenpox" and it looks as though about 7,000 die (globally) each year...

Rufus, you made my day with that. Wonderful!

+ 1,got a good laugh out of that one,,

Somebody didn't like you...

Both parents had shingles, mother in her hair and on her face, narrowly escaped it progressing to her eye. It was exceedingly painful for her, my dad got it on his side and did not seem to complain about it too much. Must have been a mild case, I got my shingles shot at age 60.

All in all, Zostivax is a good idea. The 60+ age recommendation didn't come from research, it came from a bureaucratic decision (IIRC, it was the Feds) because there wasn't enough vaccine to get everyone down to age 50 (which was the age the research said was ideal). You can get the vaccine at any age if you're willing to pay for it, and at $200, it's not a huge expense.

The bottom line is that it reduces your chance of getting Shingles by about 50% (lifetime risk), but more important than that, it reduces the severity of pain and disfigurement by 60-70%, and there does not appear to be a lifespan on that protection. I don't know where that "5 year" number came from, I haven't seen anything to support that in the medical literature on that.

But yes, you can still get shingles if you've had Zostivax. It happened to me... I got shingles less than 6 months after I got the shot, in my left ophthalmic nerve. I reported it here on the 24HCF, but the summary is this: pain came on about bedtime, and by 0400 it was excruciating... burning, throbbing, stabbing pain in my temple area to the edge of my eye which I'd call a solid 9 out of 10 on the pain scale. I took a strong pain pill and it reduced it slightly (to 7/10), and in the morning I called an optometrist here on the 'Fire who called in a Rx for Valtrex. Within 2 hours of starting the Valtrex the pain dropped to 1-2/10, and stayed that way for 5 or 6 days. I went to an ophthalmologist and he said he could see a few very small Herpes zoster lesions inside my eye, but no lesions ever broke out on the skin, cornea or anterior chamber of the eye. He rechecked me a year later and there was no scarring and my vision was unaffected.

Comparison to pre-Zostivax results: my ophthalmologist colleague told me that prior to the vaccine, he had never seen anyone with ophthalmic shingles have as good an outcome as I had; and since he saw me, he's seen half a dozen more similar cases.

Consider that of the locations that shingles breaks out, the ophthalmic nerve is second most common (most common is the chest/high abdomen), and without question the most painful. I've had people on high-dose narcotics, steroids, and nerve agents for 6 months after an attack of ophthalmic shingles. No thank you, I'll take the Zostivax!

I had shingles 2 years ago....hit me and landed on my backside.....left @$$ cheek was solid blisters.....the worst part was driving in the UPS truck for 11 hrs a day riding in a pkg car....as far as pain goes?....not that bad....

The "five year" came from the CDC under "Vaccines and Immunizations" on their site. They suggest waiting till 60.

My wife and I got them last year. Both of our personal physicians recommended them strongly. No side effects from the shots whatsoever. Those TV commercials scare the crap out of me.

My bride and I both got the shot last year. I haven't got the shingles since I took the shot - of course I never got them before I had the shot, either. I had chicken pox twice as a child, about two years apart. Could that mean I had twice the chance to get the shingles as an adult? Or twice the antibodies to repel them?

I recently got my shingles shot. I must have been asked 6 times when I made the appointment, the clinic when I checked in, the doctor and his nurse if I had contacted my insurance company in advance to get their approval/assurance they would pay for it. I had called them in advance and it was pre-approved. I suspect that my MD was being proactive in advising me to get insurance pre-approval since as others have mentioned it is about $200. (This is also the case with Medicare which will cover the cost only under pharmacy coverage (Part D) and not Part B for clinic services.) Perhaps he had patients in the past that thought their health insurance would cover it and later discovered this was not the case and complained to the clinic.

Part of my reason for getting the shot was that my mother had shingles at about 70 years of age around the bottom of her ribcage and I remember the the pain she experienced for several weeks.

Everywhere I look in this place there are single shots, and parts,/ pieces therefor.

Whoops, mis-read,...disregard my last.

GTC

I;ve not had it, but given it to a bunch of old geezers.

Damn wonderful news. I had Shingles early this year & its nasty.
Get the shot.

I had shingles in the 2nd grade on the right side of my face!

They gave me meds that kept me pretty goofy sleepy and my mom kept me slathered in calomine lotion.

Sucks doesn't do it justice.

Mike