I'm due for my second Shingrix vaccine shot in the next month or so (had my first shot in early July). I had a moderate reaction to the first vaccine. Hope the second one is not as bad!
I know I'm repeating myself. But...while shingles is really bad for a time, about 18% of us victims get a follow-on condition which is both extremely painful and incurable: post-herpetic neuralgia. I've related my own situation earlier in this thread. Please heed it. PHN lasts for years, if not for a lifetime. Gabapentin may or may not help. Hydrocodone (Norco) is only a temporary fix and can be addictive.
So...Shingrix is the answer for both. Get it. Do it now.
And special message for Stray Gator: Well done! Good work!
I had the old Zostavax vaccine in 2012 and the first shringrix last week. Thanks guys for encouraging me to get this.
As I've recently posted, I received my second Shingrix shot a month ago. I was fortunate, in that neither shot caused any reaction beyond moderate soreness at the site of the injection in the upper arm that lasted for about 24 hours. Based on the experiences shared here, it appears that reactions to the Shingrix shot, like reactions to the COVID vaccines, have ranged from very mild to seriously uncomfortable; but the symptoms seem to wane within a day or so.
As someone who has had both a bad reaction to the Shingrix shot as well as shingles itself, it's like comparing a rainstorm to a Category 5 hurricane. As bad as the shot made me feel for 24 hours, shingles is not something I would wish on even the most diehard Tarheel supporter. Well, maybe that, but you get my meaning...
Rich
"Failure is Not a Destination"
Coach K on the Dan Patrick Show, December 22, 2016
I just had my second Shingrix vaccine shot about an hour ago. After the first one three months ago, I felt "lousy" for about 12 hours the next day (a worse reaction than for either one of the Pfizer Covid vaccine shots). We'll see how I feel tomorrow from the second Shingrix shot.
Oh I’m 100% getting the shot. I watched my very tough grandmother really suffer for a year or so. Plus I had a very mild case 10 years ago and that wasn’t fun. Just trying to set expectations for the days following the shot so thanks for all the responses.
One aspect of this discussion that I haven't seen mentioned yet, but is very important to parents. Make sure that your children get the chicken pox vaccine. It has been around now for decades. If you don't ever get chicken pox, you won't get shingles. I would like to think that within a generation (or two) the shingrix vaccine will be obsolete, and there will be no need to have discussions about it, reactions to it, and even better no more shingles.
And yes, there is a special circle of hell reserved for anti-vaxxers of all denominations (meaning whatever vaccine they don't like)
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Good question. It made me question my own understanding, which appears to be incomplete. Here is a link:
https://www.historyofvaccines.org/co...ccine-shingles
So, I guess the analog is similar to the covid vaccine. You're not 100% immune, and given the current understanding (above) it probably makes sense to get the shingrix vaccine, or whatever the equivalent is when the current chickenpox vaccinated population reaches 60.This week, new evidence was published showing that children who receive the two recommended doses of the chickenpox vaccine are less likely to develop shingles later in life. This makes sense since these children are given the same immunity a natural infection would give, but they are given a weakened version of the varicella virus. That virus has almost no chance of surviving its encounter with a healthy immune system, so it does not cause disease, does not go dormant in nerves and it triggers enough of an immune response to protect children from infection for the future.
Thanks for getting me to question a long held belief. I learned something.
(Still, the original point is valid - get your children vaccinated for chickenpox)
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