Posted on 09/16/2011 5:58:23 AM PDT by GailA
It seems it is the time of year for this dread menace to appear. 3 older people in my church, me included have had a run in with it this month. Mine was minor, some of theirs were not.
This is a repeating issue, especially in times of physical or mental stress.
ANY ONE WHO HAS HAD CHICKEN POX, CAN AND WILL PROBABLY GET SHINGLES SOME TIME IN THEIR LIFE SPAN. IT IS A DORMANT SECONDARY INFECTION OF CHICKEN POX.
If you have NOT had a SHINGLES VACCINE please consider getting one. As this is NOT a pleasant experience to under go. And as I said repeats itself, over and over again, some times years apart.
You cannot give Shingles to any one else, BUT you can give some one Chicken Pox if one of the sores are oozing, and that person has not been vaccinated against Chicken Pox, is what the Minor Med doc told me.
(Excerpt) Read more at shinglesinfo.com ...
Best not wait, as Shingles has no age barrier. At least question your doc about getting one.
I had mine the old fashion way, exposure to some one else who had it, same way with all the other childhood diseases.
I have no info on the Chicken Pox vaccine being a issue, but there are issues for some with all the vaccines.
This is my second bout, and will be getting the vaccine, as I don’t what to go through this again.
I was told I couldnt get the vaccine till age 60. Is this reasonable?
My brother got shingles in his late 30’s...
I did have a severe case oc C Pox as a kid...
“At least ask your doc when you go for your next check up. It never hurts to ask questions and get answers.”
___________________________________________________
Well, I am on a beach in the Philippines, and have never
done the regular check-up routine.
I take the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach.
I know...that can be fatal, but so can walking out the door.
I do, however, get a blood screening every few years, and send the results to my brother, who is a doctor.
Here in the Philippines it is easy.
They take my blood at a lab in Cebu city, two hours north of me.
The next day I go online and get a printout of the results
which I email to my brother.
LOL!
He practiced medicine well into his 90's and passed last Dec. About 5 yreas ago some FBI agents showed up in his office...they thought somebody had stolen his ID and was practicing under his name.
He was an authority on the Shroud of Turin...and had an open inviation to St. Catherine's Monestary.
In the 50's he was on the Atomic Energy Comm.
He was a genius...and a character.
I had them three times last winter and early spring. The first time was the worst by far, and despite all precautions, my husband got chicken pox. The third time I read something about taking lysine and vitamin D. It’s been very effective, thank goodness. I had no idea what it was at first.
I just got my vaccination a couple of months ago—I watched my Uncle suffer this malady for 20 years, my grandmother for 10, and my mother-in-law for about 5 years. Many victims never fully recover and the pain was so bad for my Uncle he couldn’t sleep for days at a time. Response to treatment is poor in many cases and relief is only temporary. I had to wait 2 months to get the vaccination since the vaccine is in short supply(thank lawyers here).
L-Lysine,100mg to 200mg daily,is really a great option. It is an amino acid and helps your immune system defend you from viral infections. IF you get shingles, it will help to shorten the duration of the episode.
Have had an outbreak of shingles and did some research. Best herpes “anti-viral” is l-lysine. Therapeutic dose is 6-8 grams per day (6000-8000 mg) to fight off or resolve an attack. Maintenance dose is 1-3 grams/day. small doses of 100-200 mg will not be very effective- but can’t hurt.
LD-50 (lethal dose) of l-lysine is so large you can’t eat enough to get to it. Adverse side effects are non-existent. L-lysine is cheap.
Be aware that l-arginine is an l-lysine antagonist so don’t take a lot of arginine when taking therapeutic doses of lysine. Taking the two at different times of the day can help.
Vit D-3 is one of the best immune system boosters and should be taken at least 2000 units/day. Most people in the northern latitudes are very deficient in D-3.
Between these two, and other basic supplements, many problems are taken care of.
Merck’s Zostavax Vaccine Approved for 50-Somethings
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Laura J. Martin, MD
69x75_zostavax_shingles_vaccine
March 24, 2011 - People age 50 and older can now get Merck’s Zostavax shingles vaccine, the FDA today ruled.
The vaccine already was approved for people age 60 and older. The approval is based on a Merck clinical trial that showed the vaccine to be about 70% effective in preventing shingles in the younger age group.
The study also found that even when vaccinated 50-somethings did get shingles, they suffered far less pain and far shorter bouts of the painful, sometimes disabling disease.
“The likelihood of shingles increases with age. The availability of Zostavax to a younger age group provides an additional opportunity to prevent this often painful and debilitating disease,” Karen Midthun, MD, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, says in a news release.
Shingles — known to doctors as herpes zoster— is caused by the same herpes virus that causes chickenpox: varicella zoster. But when chickenpox gets better, the virus doesn’t go away. It hides in nerve roots. When reactivated in later years, the virus erupts into extremely painful shingles-like lesions.
Zostavax is basically the same as the chickenpox vaccine, given at a far higher dose. Clinical trials show the vaccine to be both safe and effective.
Why get vaccinated at age 50? That’s when shingles risk shoots up. Before age 50, about two people in a thousand get shingles. After age 50, about six people in a thousand get shingles. A person’s lifetime risk of shingles is about 30%.
Even people who already have had shingles can get it again. Their risk of a second case is about the same as the risk of getting a first case.
The biggest drawback to Zostavax is its cost. The catalog price is about $161.50, about 10 to 20 times the cost of flu vaccine.
I got an horrific case of shingles when I was 17. It was on my chest, up my neck, my face, eyes and in my mouth. I still have the scars.
I mostly recall the terrible pain and being treated with Percodan. I spent the first 3 months of my senior year in bed and drugged out of my mind.
I do not wish shingles on anyone and will make a point to get the vaccine if possible.
I had Shingles when I was 17 years old. It was not fun but it went away fast and it wasn’t a bad case of them. I believe they gave me cortisone shots. They were on my back, around the waist line and never spread around to the front. They hurt like hell when they first appear. I thought it was a pulled muscle or something until the doctor saw the bumps, then he knew exactly what it was.
You’re right, it can be incapacitating. My mother had them and she had one that went deep into the nerves and just would not go away. Until the day she passed away that area continued to hurt periodically. She couldn’t wear anything tight around that area.
A neighbor who was in her 80’s at the time, got them on her neck, face and around her eye. She was up in VA Beach at the time and passed out walking her dog. When she came back to FL in the winter, she looked like death warmed over. She was never the same after that. She would have these weird spells where she would just space out and prior to that she was sharp as a tack.
I’ll get the vaccine, too. I have had a different skin disease for the last 25 years (equally tormenting at times) and am not up for an adventure with shingles.
Weird Gail. I just had it 3 weeks ago, first time ever. It came in at the left side belt line and I thought I had diverticulitis. I lost 12 lbs before I saw my doctor. He put me on 1000mg Valtrex x4/day for a week. 10 days later all was well. Mine was pretty mild I’d say and I’m still 6 lbs less.
I came down with shingles two days ago. I am 64 and it starts in my scalp and goes down to my left eye. My doc put me on 800mg Acyclovir 5/day and Trifluridine drops for my eye. Some of the previous posts on this thread scare the crap out of me.
Thanks for the research data. I will up my maintenance dose , especially during flu season or when doing any travel in public transportation.
The outbreak I had was excruciatingly painful, on my chest wall. Didn’t realize what it was for a couple of days, then the pain was so great and no pain relievers or ointments/cremes would do anything. So I started researching and found that l-lysine will handle the herpes virus handily. I started taking 8 grams/day and in about 48 hours, started getting relief. Took a while to go away completely but the pain started diminishing pretty well in that 48 hours.
I continued with the 6-8 grams/day for a long time until everything healed up completely. Now on 2-3 grams/day maintenance dose. If I forget - or take l-arginine - some little twinges will come back and remind me to up the dose. Haven’t had a recurrence of shingles since the one outbreak though. The l-lysine really does work, even when the pain killers won’t. And I wouldn’t take a pharma vaccine. Look up the side effect and adverse reactions, then look up the same for l-lysine. No comparison. And much cheaper and efficacious than any vaccine.
Not just older folks, two years ago I got them ay 41. (well aho am i kidding 41 is old too lol). Anyhow went to the Dr. and diagnosed me with Shingles which was about two weeks after the ex wife left me a broken man. Thanks to the Lord I am over that nonsense and moved on in my life (to a much hotter lady :p). So yes, he says emotional stress will bring shingles out all the time.
The chicken pox virus is dormant in nerve tracts for your entire lifel; shingles is a reactivation of the virus. There is no “treatment” for shingles, although antivirals may lessen the severity. Topical treatments are aimed at easing the itch, but won’t “dry it up” per se. The fluid from the blisters contains the chicken pox virus, so anyone exposed to it that hasn’t had chicken pox can get the disease from this. It is not contagious to those who have already had chicken pox, and you cannot get Shingles from someone else’s Shingles.
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