Hello - I have just been going over my list of vaccinations. They are all up to date apart from the Shingles ( Herpes ) jab. I know I had chickenpox as a child and that I was offered the jab a few years ago but turned it down on the grounds that I was having two others done at the same time and did not want vaccine overload. Has anyone on the forum had this vaccination and did it cause any issues - I am stage 4 ckd and I read that at this stage I can only have one of two shots of this vaccine. Transplant people can't have it at all - so there is a kidney connection there. What are readers views on this subject. I have just got over covid complete with anti virals and I am really hesitant on this one as I seem to be a walking medicine cabinet at the moment - thanks for reading.
Keeping up with vaccinations.: Hello - I have... - Kidney Disease
Keeping up with vaccinations.
I had no side effects to the Shingles vac. Having chicken pox as a child doesn't prevent shingles.
Here's a big wake up call: "the varicella virus (chicken pox) remains dormant in the nervous system and can surface later in life as shingles. nyp.org/patients-and-visito... YOU DON'T WANT SHINGLES.
One morning, in 2021, I woke up and had this burning on the side of my face by my eye. By the afternoon, it had spread and my face broke out in a terrible rash. Ran to the doctor because I thought it was possibly shingles and it was. Shingles travels on connective nerves. My case picked the optic nerve. It traveled up the eye, into the eye and onward up into my scalp. I looked like a burn victim and it hurt like hell. The eye became infected and I developed a blood clot in the eye. It took almost a year for it to dissolve and actually there is a little left. It feels like Vaseline going over my eye, but it is inside. I now have scars on my upper eyelid that will never go away.
As soon as the time frame allowed after the infection was no longer active, I had the shots, both of them I was at a GFR of 13 at the time. It did not affect my GFR.
TRUST ME, YOU DO NOT WANT SHINGLES
This is the kick in the pants I needed on this...thank you
I had it on the lower right side of my back. I couldn't see it but I thought I'd gotten into some poison ivy but calamine did nothing, Had my husband look at it and he said it was NOT poison ivy so I want to the doc but it was too late to take the antivirals. Luckily it did not damage any nerves but I worry about it coming back as I've heard it can.
I'm so sorry you went through this..on top of all the other health stuff we deal with! People don't understand how horrible shingles can be, and scarring! I'm sure I didn't!Did you have vaccine and STILL get it? Either way I'm making my way to it! Thank you for sharing.
No I did not have the vaccine, still don't but am working on it.
Me too!
Totally agree with Bassetmommer. Get the shot. I had a sore arm but it hurt less and for a shorter time than the shingles did. I have 2 friends plus my daughter who got them and have the post hepatic neuropathy that goes with. Not fun. BTW, you can only get shingles if you have had chicken pox.
I agree with Bassetmommer and Jodaer. I'd get the Shingles vaccine, which is a "live virus" vaccine, as soon as you can. When my husband received his transplant, we were warned not to get any "live virus" vaccines as my husband can easily catch any and all viruses because he's now on immunosuppressants. (I was warned, in particular, because many spouses unwittingly get these vaccines not realizing they can shed the virus to their transplanted partners.) The center knew that my hubby already had that vaccine prior to dialysis and transplant - getting on the transplant requires being up-to-date on these things. I regret not getting it, it's the only vaccine I'm lacking, and now it's too late. Anyway, should things move to dialysis and transplant, you will be protected to a good extent. It's a wise thing to do but, to be safe, please check in advance with your nephrologist.
Times have changed. The Shingles vaccine used to be a "live" vaccine and that is why transplant recipients weren't suppose to get Shingrix. Now the Shingles vaccines are not live and can be taken by transplant recipients. In fact, my nephrologist has encouraged me to get vaccinated. He told me that you don't want to get Shingles. Got the first of 2 shots yesterday, and 2nd will be in 6 months. No side effects, no problems.I am 22+ years posttransplant.
Yep, my nephrologist just recommended Shingrix specifically for transplant patients. Also T-Dap and pneumococcal vaccine.
That's GREAT. How do you do with all the meds to prevent rejection? I am a 11-13 gfr and have so much to learn. Thank you so much.
I had a lot of adjusting of my meds that first year. My transplant team worked with me to get me on the right dose for me. They also found that my body did not like generics of my immunosuppressant meds, so I have to take name brand only - Myfortic and Neoral. Nephrologist wrote letter to my mail order pharmacy to only give me name brand drugs. Now almost 23 years later all is well and I hardly think of what I am taking. No side effects.
That is so wonderful. So happy for you. Especially for as long as it’s been since your transplant. It’s good to hear that you’ve done so well because it’s so scary and I hear so many stories about how hard the medicine is to take. Especially since you have to take them every day to keep the kidney working good. Thank you for sharing and may you have continued success for the rest of your life. God bless you.
That's interesting! Our pharmacy told me their shingles vaccine was a "live virus vaccine" - this was about a year ago. I'll have to ask our transplant center if it's okay for me to get it as they told me specifically to avoid them. Maybe they said that was because my hubby had just gotten his transplant and was on super high dosages of immunosuppressants.
I saw my PCP back in January and said the vaccine for Shingles is now not a "live vaccine."The pharmacy even verified that with me when I went for my first shot.
Hmmm, I see that there are two shingles vaccines - Shingrix and Zostavax. Our pharmacy apparently only ha Zostavax (live vaccine) available. I simply assumed all pharmacies had the latest and greatest. Thanks for the heads up. I'll have to check it the availability at other pharmacies.
I had it once with no complications about 10 years ago. I had had shingles before, and my Dr advised me to wait one year after it was gone, to get the shingles vaccine to prevent getting it again. So far, so good. I dont recall it I was stage 3 or 4 back when I got my vaccine.
I had both shots for Shingles last year at stage 4 and they had no effect on eGFR. I did have a very achy shoulder and was achy all over and very tired for a couple of days (good excuse to lay around and binge Netflix), but that was about it for side effects. Was a tad worse than my reaction to Covid Vaccine.
I'm working on getting on the transplant list and my chart shows I need the MMR and dTAP along with the Shingles and I plan on getting those soon. Why do people call vaccinations a "jab" Maybe that term has people not wanting to get a vaccine cause they don't want to be jabbed and that's not how they administer vaccines.
I don’t think you can get the shingles vaccine post transplant. Anyone know if that is correct? I had shingles in my late 20s, when I lost my Dad unexpectedly. Shingles pain is stabbing pain…laying on the floor because it hurts to move pain.
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