I don't know if it has been mentioned before, but getting the shingles shot is very important.. Shingles is a nasty thing to get and it lasts for years.. Extremely painful as well.. The vaccine is well worth the cost to prevent that awful disease from happening.. We got ours a few years ago and the shot lasts for 10 years.. Should you get shingles, you would pay anything for it to go away, so why not protect yourself now..... We paid $90.00 each for the vaccine..
I had them some years ago, predictably, as the doctor said. It was not pleasant but there are things that are worse. I didn't get a shot, though, didn't even know there is one and won't get one now. In about two weeks' time, however, I'll be getting a tetravaccine which will be unpleasant enough. The last shot I got was in 2007. So it's about time for that one. No extra payment needed.
I do not get the shingles shot, and will probably regret it someday. My mother had a small cluster once on her knee. My daughter had it at 8 years old, running up her spine. Just too expensive here, and flu and pneumonia are my bigger concern.
I've never had chickenpox so I'm unlikely to get shingles..thank God!! How Do You Get Shingles? Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zoster, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus, which also causes chickenpox. Only people who have had chickenpox can get shingles. “After you get chickenpox, the virus stays in your body,” Dr. Romine says. “It can then return as shingles at any time. As we age, our body’s defense against the dormant virus weakens. Because of this, shingles is more likely to appear as you age and is most common after age 50.” Dr. Romine says currently about 30 percent of people will get shingles at some point in their lifetime. It’s also more common in adults with a weakened immune system. But, if you never had chickenpox and you had the chickenpox vaccine, Dr. Romine says it would be unlikely you’d get shingles, since you were immunized against the virus. “Shingles itself isn’t contagious, but you can spread the varicella-zoster virus. This could cause chickenpox in those who have not had chickenpox or the chickenpox vaccine,” Dr. Romine says. Shingles Symptoms Shingles presents as a rash, first as red bumps and then blisters. The bumps and blisters appear as a group and normally in a single area on one side of the body. This pattern occurs because shingles spreads along nerve pathways, or “dermatomes,” on the body. The shingles rash usually starts crusting over in seven to 10 days, before completely going away within two to four weeks. “The rash most commonly affects the abdomen or arms, but it can appear anywhere on the body. If shingles is on the face near the nose or eye, it can cause infection of the eye itself, which is a serious infection that can lead to blindness,” Dr. Romine says.
We didn't generally see doctors when I was a child so I don't know what childhood illnesses I might have had, since they were diagnosed and treated by my mother. The only illness I recall was probably the flu, as I was confined to a room by myself, with only mom coming in to see me. There was menthol vaporizer going constantly, which was kind of like breathing in Hall's cough drops. I can remember a brother having mumps once, but I don't know of any other serious illnesses I might have had as a child. Vaccinations concern me, as I fear that they have the potential of doing more harm than good. I have considered the shingles vaccine because I know that shingles is a miserable disease. My oldest brother had it once, and an aunt had it for quite a while before she died. The vaccine is covered fully by my health plan, so it wouldn't cost anything. I probably won't get the vaccination and yes, I might regret it one day. I was vaccinated for the flu once, when Texas began requiring it of healthcare providers, and I was sick for three or four days afterwards. I had the flu a few years ago and it wasn't any worse than the results of the vaccine, so I view that as volunteering to get the flu.
I had mine a couple of years ago, my health insurance plan covered the cost and the local pharmacist gave me the injection. I don't know if vaccinations do any good but I will continue to get them. Next year when I turn 65 I will be old enough to get the pneumonia shot, it's nice to be too young for a change.
I've had the shingles shot, the Hep-C shot, annual flu shots, and Lord knows what else. Never had a bad reaction, never get sick. YMMV
Good vaccines and bad vaccines. I got the shingles vaccine because I did have chicken pox as a child, and several of my friends have been made very miserable by shingles. I had no reaction, and the shot was free for me. I have had reactions to other vaccines, but they are seldom reported to authorities as the medical community encourages vaccines and doesn't want the true risk of side effects known. I had reactions to both the flu vaccine and the pneumonia vaccine which were not reported by authorities. The flu reaction was serious, but the pneumonia reaction was minor and just a nuisance and lasted for over a weak resulting in a skin biopsy. I think many vaccines are good, but you should weigh the risks of not getting it against the vaccine's risks. If you are not at risk for the disease, don't get the shot, as the number of reactions is always worse than reported due to the suppression of reaction reporting. I think of vaccines reactions like UFOs--they are explained away whenever possible and those who do report them are often ridiculed.
I have had the shangles and have refused shots for them since. I knew it was a gamble or thought it might be but figured the odds were on my side, having already had them. I have been thinking about what @Thomas Stearn said, 'they were unpleasant but there were things worse', to paraphrase. I thought the shingles was the worse pain I had endured since being stabbed in the ankle with a large knife due to blood poisoning up to my waist, by a doctor who had first lanced my ankle, saying to me just before he stabbed and asking my dad to help the nurses to hold me down, "Son, this is going to hurt." So, I can imagine pain greater than shingles, like having a limb or two hacked off with a machete or being slashed about the head and face with one of those large jungle tools. Maybe I have a low pain threshold, I don't know, but the shingles in my case hurt like hades. Being a 'real man' didn't enter into my thought process.
We both got our second-of-two shingles shots two weeks ago. Both my VA doctor and my wife's PCP highly recommended that we get it. So, we did. Any, BTW, Holly, even if you've never had chicken pox, you can still get shingles. It's a proven fact.
Not aware of having had chicken-pox as a kid, I had an outbreak of shingles at about age 40. Started on the center of my upper chest, spread around under my right armpit, onto my upper back. The worst of it was the pain in the armpit, tender area, blistery skin, movement of the arm in any way causing pain. Dr. gave me a shot in the behind, presumably a steroid of some kind; whether or not it helped I didn't know, as the affliction was receding I thought by the time of the shot. Painful, very uncomfortable, lasted pretty long, at least a week, but I've experienced worse things in my lifetime. I have never gotten a shingles vaccine, before that incident or since; it was 1982. Frank
It is possible to have a sub-clinical case of the chicken pox and not know you had it, particularly if you were very young. People who I have known who had shingles refer to it as the worst pain they have had with the possible exception of kidney stones. Of course, there are bad and worse cases, too.
Physicians say that most Seniors wouldn't even remember if they had chicken pox or not, so that's why they recommend getting the shots (there are two shots now). I don't remember, but my wife did have chicken pox.
I don't have to remember - I just called my Mother and asked her. And yes I did, as did my 2 older brothers.
Sorry to hear that, Bill. It seems as if the shingles can manifest themselves differently in a human body. When I was younger I heard adults whisper in awe that someone was having the shingles. (They can be really bad when they affect the face and the eyes.) When I had them, though, it wasn't as bad as I had expected compared, for example, to the pig flu which really knocked me down. I thought I was on the verge of passing away. That was really a nasty experience.