So along the cascade of adverse events that seem to just keep piling up, my brother now has shingles. He’s had it for about three weeks.
Unfortunately it is in his eye, his throat and mouth and along his nose and lip all on one side. Swallowing food is difficult and it burns all the way down his esophagus into his stomach. He cries out in pain and trembles when the nerve in his eye reacts. Internal shingles can attack organs and even caused death. It can go on for years.
Anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer of any sort should definitely be advised to get this vaccine. Unfortunately no one mentioned this to my brother and we weren’t aware of the added risks.
I’m hoping to help some of you avoid all of this by talking to your doctor about getting the vaccine. I had no idea.
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Faith1111
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Sorry to hear about Bob... I just got over shingles about 3 weeks ago -- I had it on my left leg and the left side crotch area. It still hurts when I move in certain positions. It took 5 weeks for the sores to completely clear up.... How is Bob doing otherwise.
He is not doing well George . He had that spinal surgery, radiation, a mesh put in to stop a blood clot that he developed, then his lungs started filling with fluid so after two trips to the ER to drain them they put in a permanent catheter to be drained every other day by the nurse. He started chemo with side effects and now has shingles on his face. He uses a walker now to get around the house but is just happy he regained the use of his legs. It’s been a rough three months for him. He’s very depressed. It’s been really rough on all of us.
I hope I can post with some better news soon. Thank you so much for your concern. I will let Bob know. He always enjoyed your conversations.
At this point it looks like Bob needs a hail Mary --so watch these 2 videos --Leukine may be a miracle as it was for Dr. Snuffy Myers' own advanced PCa and the patient he describes in the video...
How awful! So sorry for him. I never heard of internal Shingles before. Hope it can be healed and pain relieved. Both my hubby & I got the shot. We both have cancer (he - APCA & I, stage 1 lung) so we are careful & get all vaccinations available to us. Now waiting for 2nd Covid booster. . .
I had shingles in my ear and mouth. I couldn't shut my eye for about a month and eating and drinking was very difficult. I became wise after that and got the shingle vaccines.
I got my 1st of 2 Shingrix Vax 4 weeks ago. I've heard horror stories similar to your brothers over the years. Seems like a no-brainer to get the Vax. I also, as of my recent PCa DX, got the Pneumovax 23 shot. I hope your brother has a quick recovery!
thx, I'm curious because the CV19 2nd shot caused injuries to my shoulders and heart beat problems. Nowadays I'm more worried about side effects due to the CV 19 vaccine and the levaquin damage two years ago, as well.
I got my two Shingrex shots last summer. Absolutely no side effects other than the injection site soreness. I had had the older version shingles vaccination 11 years prior to that at age 60. Heard that this vaccine was better so I went for it. No doctor's referral needed. Got it at my local Walgreens.
Thanks. None of cases I’ve heard of come anywhere near what your Brother is going thru. So sorry. Please tell your Brother we send good wishes for him to find comfort and less of a tough road. He deserves a break…sometime soon. I’m on first of 2 vaccines required. I am soon able to receive the 2nd. I know of people w vaccine who came down with Shingles, but always a minor form of it. Patients with No Vaccine, who contract Shingles who were Healthy non cancer patients have been in bed, unable to move too much for 4-6 weeks.
I had them on my face by my eye 20 years ago and some expensive medicine cleared it up, since then, this year I got the two part vaccine. It went well, arm very sore for about 3 days but as with the covid vaccines I am more protected, all with underlying health issues should get it.
My wife has a form of multiple myeloma. At one point, when her immune system was low, she had a dreadful bout of shingles (in spite of having the then new vaccine.)
Her doctor had her on 4-days of an antiviral, which did nothing.
Her oncologist said that shingles was very common in his patients & put her on an antiviral full-time - 500mg Valacyclovir. However, her symptoms did not subside until she began using astragalus, which is an immunomodulator.
Shingles is an oportunistic condition which emerges in the immunosuppressed.
Thank you for your response. Bob also did an antifungal that just made him sick. He was on it for five days and it did nothing. I will look into astragalus. Thank you again for mentioning that
I'm so sorry to read this. Your brother has been through so much! I think of him often and keep hoping to see something turn around for him. Shingles is something that hasn't occurred to me but will bring up at our next appointment. Again, I'm so sorry Faith. You all must be so exhausted. You will be in my prayers for strength and Bob for comfort.
Shingles is nothing to mess with............ Get your shingles vaccination asap.
Shingles is sneaky. It’s caused by the same virus as chickenpox — varicella-zoster, which lays dormant for decades in the body, ready to pounce when your immune system is weakened by stress, certain medications (for example, long-term steroids) or disease. Those with rheumatoid arthritis, for instance, are twice as likely to develop shingles as healthy older adults.
In the U.S., 1 in 3 people will get shingles, usually after age 50. Since the risk rises with age, half of those who live to be 85 will experience at least one episode. Shingles’ most common symptom is an angry, blistering rash. About 10 to 18 percent of people who develop that rash will also experience a complication known as postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a condition that affects the nerve fibers and skin, causing burning, and sometimes incapacitating, pain that can last for months (or even years) after the rash disappears. “Shingles rarely kills you,” says William Schaffner, M.D., a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, “but it can make you wish you were dead.”
Enter Shingrix, a vaccine approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017. Unlike Zostavax, its predecessor, Shingrix is, in the words of Schaffner, “spectacularly effective.” The numbers support his claim: Shingrix is 97 percent successful at preventing shingles in people in their 50s and 60s, and 91 percent for those in their 70s and older. (That protection stays at over 85 percent for four years in people 70-plus after getting the vaccination.) What’s more, studies suggest the vaccine may also lower the risk of shingles-related strokes in older adults.
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