Anyone had shingles?

My wife just went through it. I've never seen her more uncomfortable. Rash, stinging like fire, and pain. Even just a light shirt touching the rash caused pain and irritation. I've now had both doses of the vaccine (with no side effects) and I hope to never get it, after what she went through. It lasted like 3 weeks.
 
Here is what I would offer that I hope is helpful.

Yes, everyone I have known who has had shingles say it is awful--something to be avoided. In addition, if you get shingles you are more likely to face several other serious diseases, including some that are often fatal. So, taking steps to avoid getting shingles have several benefits.

Your best defense against shingles is a robust auto-immune system. You'll see lots of graphs and tables suggesting it is age-related. It's not, it's auto-immune related. They use averages and make one of the most common mistakes in critical thinking: correlation is not causation. In fact, correlation alone tells you nothing about causation. Across a large population, the health of the average person's auto-immune system tends to degrade as we age. But it doesn't have to be that way. Nutrition, exercise, and other efforts focused on wellness can make for a robust auto-immune system well into your senior years.

The currently popular shingles vaccine (Shingrix) is worth considering. I passed on its predecessor, because I found studies, even those by the supplier, showed it only reduced your change of getting shingles by half. Shingrix drops the rate of shingles by an order of magnitude and, for most people, appears to be safe.

You sound like a doctor :)

I have had shingles. I caught it fairly early and they put me on some medication that helped mitigate the impact. If you don’t catch it super early apparently the medication doesn’t help.

The auto-immune stuff is right on. My doctor explained it like this; basically if you have had chicken pox every one has the shingles virus in them. Every day your immune system beats it down so that it can’t get out and you can go about your life pretty much feeling ok. If you get worn down the shingles virus might win out over your immune system and you get the shingles.

My case was when i was recovering from significant illness and wore myself down too much when I went back to work.

It is tremendously uncomfortable and it can feel like your skin is on fire and there is little you can do about it. I had a very difficult time sleeping even though I had a comparatively light case.

I haven’t gotten the vaccine but keep thinking about it. I likely will soon.
 
Are you a doctor, or did you stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?
LOL

Great explanation, my doctor said Shingrix is the way to go even with my other auto-immune disease that I deal with and take Entyvio for.
Since you and others asked. No, I’m not a doctor. I do have a background/degree in the sciences and am one of those lifelong learners who is a big advocate for my own health and can/will do deep dives.

The back story in this case is like some of you, my mom was badgering her adult sons to get the shingles vaccine. My mom is from the generation that does whatever a doctor recommends without question. Her heart is in the right place.

So, I dug into the medical literature and studies and related what I had learned here, hoping it would help others.
 
Yes and i hope i never get it again. Mine was on a shoulder snd it felt like someone was touching me with a hot poker. Not fun at all, hurt like hell. After it cleared. Got the vaccine and knocking on wood, so far so good.
 
It definitely was not fun at all.
 
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I have not. However my Wife had them maybe 35-40 years ago. So long ago that at the time the ER doctors had no idea what she had. They thought had been bitten by a spider. A shingles infection was very rare back then.

Her pain was the worst she had ever had she said. Even worse than delivering two, 8 pound babies. The out break was between her eyes at the bridge of her nose. 40 years later she still has the scars from the infection.
It was so severe if with in a few days, left untreated, she would've lost both her eyes.

For 2 days after admitting they still couldn't figure what she had. At her request, a much older doctor she worked with saw her, and immediately identified it as shingles, and they started the proper treatment. 5 days later they released her from the hospital.

The treatment back then was the same meds they were treating aids/hiv patients with. Im not sure what the current treatment is.
 
My mom keeps telling me to get the Shingles vaccine. I am 56 years old. She says that shingles are awful. I am not averse to vaccines. I have been vaccinated for lots of stuff. Has anyone had shingles? Is it as bad as they say?
I made a post about this not too long ago... my father in law said it was the worst pain he'd ever had in his life, and he worked on a farm.

My friend got it, again, terrible pain.... and it never went away. A small percentage of people that get it, it becomes permanent, and he's taking all kinds of pain drugs.

Go get the frickin shots already.
 
Back when my Mom was still alive, I asked her whether or not I should get the Shingles vax! She asked me why since I had never had small pox! Question answered!
I believe shingles is contagious. Its just tougher for some individuals to contract it. I think it works that if you never had small pox, if infected by a person with shingles, you can get small pox from the infection. Google it to be sure.

My doctor Grandson has told me that shingles outbreaks keep getting hite every year.
 
I got it about a year and a half ago while on vacation in Ireland (not a golf trip). It was very painful but I feel fortunate I got it on my face and not my back as a lot of people do. I had to deal with a bad rash for about 2 weeks and bad pain for about 4-5 days that went down after that. However I can't imagine it on an area of the body where clothes were constantly rubbing against it. I tried to make the best of it and didn't tell my wife how painful it was until on the flight back home as I tried to make the best of it. I'll also add that going to the doctor in Ireland was super easy and inexpensive.
 
I had it and it wasn’t too bad. I caught it really early. I saw a rash starting on my chest. It actually looked like an allergic reaction I get from certain bug bites and I know right away go to the doctor to get medication. My brother in law though ignored the rash and next thing he knew it was on his face and he had crazy pain. Get the shot.
 
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