Shingles

[Beckey]

OK here's another question. Does anyone get herpes zoster outbreaks, and if so, is the culprit the PD or the meds?

[Hikoi]

Well I got it before diagnosis and that wasn't the meds.

[Serenity_finaly-1 in reply to Hikoi]

Ditto. I would say stress. I had shingles 5 months before I was diagnosed.

[lempa_nik in reply to Hikoi]

Likewise, came down with shingles several years before diagnosis or PD meds. But, I can't swear that stress was above-average at that time.

[Bailey_Texas]

Herpes zoster (shingles) is caused by the chicken pox virus. I can find no relationship with Parkinson's.

Pd does not cause it and meds do not cause it as for as my research shows (searches on the web)

This site said 50% of all Americans get shingles.

parkinsonsresource.org/educ...

[Beckey in reply to Bailey_Texas]

Wow! I had no idea it affected that many people!

[Hidden in reply to Beckey]

Shingles is caused by the chickenpox virus as Bailey_Texas says. The childhood version remains dormant and then erupts as shingles in adults. There is now a shingles vaccine available in Australia, the Practice Nurse at my local medical centre told me about it. Beckey, and Hikoi - ask your GP about it being available in your countries. For senior citizens in Oz, there is also a pneumonia vaccine as well for free.

[surfgirlhj]

Mostly likely stress

[enjoysalud]

I remember when I was researching the causes for PD a short blurb that the medication (acyclovir) for herpes was one of numerous suspects. My hunch is genetics, but maybe someday we will find out.

[superjanet]

Shingles occurs when the herpes zoster virus, latent in the body after having had chicken pox, is triggered, when body is run down or stressed. Mine earlier this year was caused by Parkinson's - the stress of caring for my husband with Parkinson's that is!

[999---666]

just read something in alteaclub.com that blames chicken pox viruses that lodge in spine after recovery, in waiting.

[aspergerian]

A recently published, open access study concluded:

"Older people with herpes zoster confer a slightly increased hazard of

developing Parkinson's disease when compared to those without herpes

zoster. We think that herpes zoster correlates with increased risk of

Parkinson's disease in older people. When older people with herpes

zoster seek help, clinicians should pay more attention to the

development of the cardinal symptoms of Parkinson's disease." (1)

1. Herpes zoster correlates with increased risk of Parkinson's disease

in older people: A population-based cohort study in Taiwan.

Lai SW, Lin CH, Lin HF, Lin CL, Lin CC, Liao KF.

Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Feb;96(7):e6075.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/282...