Shingles shot?

[GinaD]

Has anyone had trouble after receiving a shingles shot?

[KellyO]

Didn't think we were suppose to get a shingle shot. Isn't it a live virus?

[Jillymo]

Hi GinaD,

I suffer with shingles, i have had it a few times now.

This is the first time i have heard of a shingles shot is it a new thing ?

I thought it was a living virus the same as kelly.

In what way has this shot affected you Gina ?

Jillymo x

[Hidden]

Yes, am intrigued - what is a shingles shot?

APS and shingles is a hobby horse of mine (after getting shingles aged 21 despite being very healthy) and in some empirical research I found that around 30% of APSers have had shingles at some point.

Please can you give more information as I'd like to follow this up.

Kate x

[GinaD]

First of all, here in the States we see ads urging us to get the shingles shot all the time. So yes, there is one. Live virus or not? I don't know.

I nearly died of the chicken pox when I was 4. I has gone through mumps, 3 day measles, 2 week measles and the flu all in short order and when chicken pox came along I was in bad shape. I remember laying on the couch watching TV when I began to be sucked under the bottom shelf of the coffee table in front of me. I was paralyzed and could not resist or cry out. I somehow knew if I did not make a noise I would be sucked into the darkness and never come back. My Mom was in the kitchen cooking when she heard me make a strange grunt. She rushed in, felt my feverish head and yelled at my sister to phone my Father home from the hospital, which was a block away.

Meanwhile I was being sucked under the table. Then I opened my eyes to the bright light of the bathroom and Father was lowering me into a bath tub filled with water with ice cubes floating about. My sister was there with another ice tray in her hand asking ," is that enough? Or shall I get more from the Myers?"

I have been hearing those ads and have wondered if my unusual experience with chicken pox makes me more or less likely to get shingles. My GP thinks it is more likely.

And since I'm going to get what may be the first in a series of steroid shots at the end of this month, I should get the shot soon

But does the shot play havoc with our immune systems?

So that's the context of my query.

One other wierd note: I was seeing an alternative medicine doc for a while. He sent me to a biochemist who did these wierd blood readings. I am somewhat if a skeptic and the method seemed half based in science, half in sorcery. But I thought it might be at least worthy good story.

So I went.

She drew blood, then placed that vial in a high resolution microscope and compared the blood to a series of thingees she also placed in the machine. Supposedly, this was allowing her to inspect my blood for contaminants and latent germs.

At one point she frowned and began to move her equipment around a lot. " Oh dear. This can't be right, I'm afraid that this may not work for you because it's giving me a reading I've never seen before.".

"what's that?" I asked.

" "Well, it's telling me you nearly died of chicken pox. That your blood is brimming with dormant cytomegalovirus virus. NOBODY gets that sick from chicken pox!"

I, of course, told her that actually, yes, I did nearly die of the chicken pox.

My alternative medicine doc says that my immune syatm is probably not, strictly speaking, misbehaving wiith respect to APLS. Rather my immune system is going after those dormant viruses so they won't wake up and give us shingles. And if I nearly died of chicken pos, what will the shingles do to me?

But, for that mater, what would the shingles shot do to me! Is my immune system going to go all hyper and re-double it's attacks on my blood?

[SueLovett]

Hi,

I do know that you shouldn't have any vaccinations when you are on steroids.

Like the others I've never heard of a vaccination against shingles.

Hope your medics can give you appropriate advice.

[CanaryDiamond10]

Whoops.. This is a very clear succinct one:

foxnews.com/.../why-more-ba......

[CanaryDiamond10]

Here is some information on the shingles vaccine for anyone interested.

webmd.com/skin-problems...,

cdc.gov › Vaccines Home › Vaccines & Preventable Diseasesby WYS Know,

mayoclinic.com › ... › Shingles › Expert Answers

commonhealth.wbur.org/2013/03/scariest-reason-shingles-vaccine

nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus...

well.blogs.nytimes.com/.../depression-may-stifle-shingles-vaccine-res..

hmmmm. ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zostavax

Lots of information at these sites. Lots of answers too.

Hope it helps anyone who wonders.

Smiles,

CanaryDiamond

[GinaD in reply to CanaryDiamond10]

Thanks for the input.

[GinaD]

Well, my Duke rheumy's office called today. They think I am already out of the window of opportunity given that my steroid shot is the end of April. So, I'll wait for now and talk it over with her at our next appt this fall. By then I'll know if periodic steroid shots are in my future.

( by the way -- I biked 14 miles yesterday as well as doing a number of various weighted leg lifts. Today my hip feels healthier and stronger then it has in months. Of course, it's sunny here with a projected high today in the high 50 s. Now my right knee isn't too happy. The left hip loves cycling; the right knee doesn't. And the immune system throws temper tantrums. Can't we all just get along?)