Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Shingles Vaccine ???

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.