So If You Are 40+ and Doc Recommends A Shingles Shot...

[chuckman]

I had shingles once, 2002ish. As far as shingles go it was pretty minor.

I did get the vax and had a horrible reaction.

[Det-Sog]

Wusssies. The first shot was very minor and I hardly noticed. Time to live a little...

For the second shot, I thought since I was there... I'd get the flu shot at the same time. DONE. One in each arm.

I stayed in bed most of the next day feeling like I did that one time when I wrecked out on a flat-track race going about 70 MPH. I won't do that again. I'm glad I got the shot though. DO IT! I have a friend that had shingles pop up on his gonads. F-that.

[SteyrAUG]

The big thing is that just because insurance won't pay for it to your head early age doesn't mean you shouldn't get it.

"They" recommend age 55 and I would have happily paid a hundred bucks to avoid permanent issues (missing part of the tip of my nose) and long-term medication to deal with the nerve twitches.

I waited till 60 because my doctor told me insurance wouldn't pay for it and I never asked how much it would be out of insurance.

With the rabid anti-vax noise out there right now my bet is some people are going to learn this the hard way.

Yeah, it's nothing to F with. Honestly if I understood it better, I'd have done it at 40. I'd have been in much better shape anyway and the vaccine probably wouldn't have banged me up nearly as bad.

[WillBrink]

Go get it.

All my life Shingles has been explained to me as something like adult chicken pox and I listened to a lot of dipshits talk about how the vaccine made them way more sick and who cares about a temporary rash thing.

Well the truth of the matter is it's a bit more like adult POLIO. I had a very minor rash, something I attributed to mowing the lawn on a really hot day. Perhaps this is a heat rash or something...after all I'm getting older.

But then my left side began to hurt. Chest, side and back and I thought maybe I slept funny or took more hits than I remember last sparring session. Then I found myself pressing on muscles and thinking "holy crap" where are the bruises because this F'ing hurts. Next day I felt like I owed the mafia $20,000 and didn't have it so three Vito's worked me over with baseball bats.

Thinking perhaps this might not resolve itself I contact my doctor about an appointment and when he told me "shingles" I thought that's BS...shingles is just a itchy rash.

Turns out I was very, very misinformed. Seems it's actually a virus that attacks nerves in the body that sometimes manifests itself with a skin rash. The chicken pox you might have had as a child might technically be the same virus but the experience is very different.

I'm also pretty resistant to the idea of pain killers beyond ibuprofen so I told my doc to skip that, I'll tough it out and lets just get going on the drugs that actually stop the nerve damage. Good idea and bad idea, I have a pretty high pain threshold but HOLY CRAP did that hurt. And for a month it hurt really bad, like insanely bad. I'm now about seven weeks in and things are starting to be normal and I can go through a day without a nerve band lighting up and momentarily crippling me.

In my adult experience I have been beaten, stabbed a couple times and hit with more blunt instruments than most people still walking around and shingles was still a uniquely painful experience for me. If I could have gone back in time and gotten a shingles shot and skipped the entire experience I'd have gladly paid $1,000 to do that instead.

So in short, if you are at that age...go get the shot and save yourself a lot of needless suffering. And if anyone tells you the shot is worse than the virus, you have my permission to tell them to FRO.

You could have googled up pictures of the Shingles to correct that misinformation, especially when it's on the face and in the eyes and such. Anyone who has had a bad case of that, as you found out, will tell you that it's a very unpleasant experience up there with some of the worst. When my doc mentioned they now had a vaccine and did I want that, I was all too happy to get that done. Aggressive treatment with some anti virals and other meds can help a lot too, but are often not used. See also:

https://www.lifeextension.com/protoc...s-and-shingles

[WillBrink]

My wife had shingles twice in her 20s and early thirties. She said it was terrible.

I’ve never had Chicken Pox so I don’t know what boat I’m in.

There's a chicken pox vax and getting chicken pox as an adult is far worse than as a kid, and can be deadly. My ex wife had it in her early 30s thinking she was immune, and it was a very bad experience for her. You do not want chicken pox as an adult.

[mrbieler]

For the second shot, I thought since I was there... I'd get the flu shot at the same time. DONE. One in each arm.

That's what i did for my second shot. Not sure which of the two knocked me on my butt, but I was hurting for a bit.

[dpadams6]

Good info...I am getting close to 50 so I take a greater interest in my health now and just got a full blood work and physical. Surprised my doctor didn't recommend the shingles vax.

I know a coworker who got Shingles and wouldn't wish it on anybody..

It's recommended after age 50

[jbjh]

It's recommended after age 50

This is because of the piss-poor guidelines that presuppose only “old” people get shingles. Funny thing is that most people I know who’ve had it are under 40.

Insurance covers it when you turn 50. Ask how much the vaccination costs without your insurance covering it.


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[rero360]

My old machine shop professor got shingles and said it felt like his skin was on fire whenever he breathed or if a puff of air hit his skin. I’m 38, probably will be asking my Dr about it next time I have an annual checkup.

[SteyrAUG]

You could have googled up pictures of the Shingles to correct that misinformation, especially when it's on the face and in the eyes and such. Anyone who has had a bad case of that, as you found out, will tell you that it's a very unpleasant experience up there with some of the worst. When my doc mentioned they now had a vaccine and did I want that, I was all too happy to get that done. Aggressive treatment with some anti virals and other meds can help a lot too, but are often not used. See also:

https://www.lifeextension.com/protoc...s-and-shingles

While true, and not making excuses, by the time I started looking up everything I had already fallen in with the "bad information" crowd and assumed I was good to go. Hopefully this will be a wake up call for some who can then do their own independent research.

But once I had it I didn't mess with it at all. Did aggressive Gabapentin right from the start. I didn't want anything to become permanent. The insidious part of Shingles is once it starts doing real damage it's already done real damage so if you don't get on it quick you might just have to live with some things forever. My doctor initially recommended pain killers and the starting on Gabapentin, best decision I made was to begin Gabapentin the same day. Of course that decision was based upon research into best treatment plan.