I had a terrible case of chickenpox as a kid, and close relatives have gotten shingles, so I'm doomed. Please pray I have no side effects from the vaccine (sister had nasty flu-like symptoms for two days after); I must keep the $$$ rolling in / work. Thank you.
You have my sympathy. I have had shingles-'ugh! And M D wants me to get the vax. I am so unwilling. Not sure what to do. Prayets tonight in my Rosary.
I thought that if you got chicken pox you were immune to shingles? Aren't they the same virus? I got chicken pox in my teens, a dreadful case, and the doctor said because of my age it was actually closer to shingles.
Understood. It's also rather expensive. I've alternated between relying on God to keep me free of shingles VS why bother God with that, when a vaccine IS available? So here comes the needle...
I had chicken pox as a child and shingles as a young adult. I got chicken pox as a child and shingles as a young adult. So I guess you can have both.
Both my daughters had chickenpox as children, and both also got shingles in their early 20’s. So it can happen to both young and old alike.
Praying you have no side effects with the shot. I had to take 2, a few months apart. The first one was fine. The second one left terrible black and blue marks all over my upper arm that really hurt. It looked like someone had beat the heck out of me. I later read that the reason could have been that the vial may have been refrigerated and should have been room temperature when administered.
I've had shingles four times in the last ten years, all directly after a major surgery. I was given anti'virals that helped, but told it was too late to get the vaccine once you've had it? I do have an auto immune disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, so perhaps part of why they said not to get vaccine... My worst complaint on having shingles were constant muscle spasms in my back and side where the rash was.
Hmmm. My immune system tanked due to stress 10 years ago. No shingles. But I'm also now 10 years older, and I've heard (true?) older = increased chances.
Ah, shingles stories. I had a terrible time with shingles at the base of my spine a few years back. In many cases it is much more involved than just the painful rash, you can have troublesome lingering symptoms as well. To this day, I have occasional tingling/ itchy sensation in my spine. I can certainly understand why you agreed to the vaccine DS, shingles is nasty. I will pray that all will go well for you. As far as the shingles antiviral drug, some people do quite well on it and find it helpful, but this was not the case for me. I had a severe reaction to the antiviral and ended up in the hospital. My doctor has been on me to get the 'new' shingles vaccine, but I have declined.
For those who are interested, the amino acid lysine suppresses the chicken pox/shingles virus. It won’t kill off the virus, just makes the symptoms less severe. On the other hand, the amino acid arginine aggravates the virus, so eating nuts, chocolate, etc. should be avoided during an outbreak since it will make shingles worse. I somehow ended up with ongoing neurological symptoms from the virus, so have used lysine quite often over the past 15-20 years. It’s been a life saver since the prescription med can have bad side effects.
Oh no. Same for a friend of ours; a painful abscess in her mouth and ongoing leg pain. An aunt dealt with itchiness of the scalp for years, until her death. I had to Google for the names of those antiviral drugs; oh! Very familiar. I should've known without Googling. Sorry you ended up in the hospital! Totally understand your further reluctance.
