Doctor Lady mentioned that, but I already have it so not sure a $300 shot will do me any good.
More research necessary.
From what I understand even if you've had shingles you should still get the vaccination.
Not everyone can afford it and it is considered only 70% effective.
There is the vaccine which needs to be given w/in 72 hours of the start, and it will reduce symptoms. Also there are oral agents, like Retrovir and Acyclovir which can seriously help.
If you try to gut it out, it will take a month or more to recover fully.
You get the pain as the virus spreads through an area of the body known as a dermatome.... the section of the torso, for instance that is supplied nerves from the spine, where the little virus has been sitting dormant since chickenpox.
So, get the pills and take em. The nerve endings on the skin surface are killed off and in doing that there are blisters that form,filled with water. You need calamine lotion/benadryl to stop the damn itching of that. Have found that a combination of Capsaiscin cream (for joint/muscle pain and supplies a chemical “heat” sensation) with an Aspercreme, with aspririn in it—will help. Key ingredient is Menthol Salicylate, and it needs to be a good 1%. Wally world has the tubes for like 88 cents each on sale. Combine the two cremes having taken a warm (not hot) tub bath, and leaving your skin damp. Stuff will heat up and you’ll love the absence of itching for a while. The pain meds help too, but will wig you out.
Once the blisters break then everything scabs up, and leaves little scars— not real noticeable. The sensation of the deadened nerve endings remains, a numbness you have to get used to. Depending on where the dermatome is (check this out on wikipedia) this can be very troublesome (like if under your armpit or in your crotch).
The vaccine is new and not at all guaranteed to prevent shingles. I think it decreases your chance of getting shingles by about 50%.
I try to avoid all meds and certainly all vaccines. But my neighbor came down with shingles last year and she was horribly afflicted, in miserable pain, suffered for months. It just about sucked the life out of her. (She’s maybe 80.)
I had chicken pox when I was 15, an extremely awful case — remember counting more than 100 red drippy lesions on my face. So guess what?
I got a chicken pox vaccine shot. When I told her that she’d inspired me to get the shot, she burst into tears. Lovely woman, really thrilled to think she helped me and others avoid the dreadful condition.
Hope you will read the vaccine’s pros and cons and give it due consideration.
Seconded. You don't even need a doctor's appointment - most pharmacists do them these days.
Even at drug stores? I will have to look into that. I’d like my 81 yr old dad and mom to get that shot. Given the misery shingles causes, the vaccine would be worth it.