Anybody here have any experience with shingles?

[ghostjmf]

sunflower says:

Once you "catch" it, is there anything you can even do? Or is it like chicken pox in that it kind of just has to run it's course? It has always sounded so awful.

If they catch it at the warning signs, antivirals are supposed to help.

The best thing would be to have had the chicken pox vaccine in childhood, & never have the virus lurking in your nerves in the 1st place; I'm way too old for that, though. I had all the childhood diseases (except polio!; they developed the vaccines for that in my childhood. And gave us both, which made absolutely no sense at all; it was a political thing that Sabin swung for his vaccine, which was developed 2nd.). I had mumps twice, once on one side of my face, once on both sides; the medical profession at the time pronounced this to be "not possible", but believe me it was possible.

Because of current problems, I can't have subcutaneous vaccines; I have to have inhaled vaccines, which there aren't many of. (Or edible ones, which there are even fewer of.) I certainly hope if bird flu ever develops in people in a serious way they'll whip an inhalable vaccine up. I doubt they have one for shingles.

[Hotseat Or Bust!]

I was diagnosed with shingles about 8 years ago. My Dr. prescribed an anti-viral---not to "cure" it, but she said it could possibly cut down the duration of the virus, percocet for pain---the pain was pretty severe, and a short course of steroids. The steroids were prescribed to prevent possible spinal nerve damage which can occur as a result of having had shingles. I still experience fleeting pain on the left side of my back, but nothing compared to the actual pain of shingles. My Dr. thought it was most likely stress-induced, and said I was her youngest shingles patient ever--I was in my early 30's at the time. I suppose it mostly happens at a later stage in life, but have since heard of other young people having shingles as well. I hope your wife will be feeling better very soon.

[Ritterskoop]

Roomie got a vaccination last year for shingles that they claim is most effective for people over 60. I think that just means that's who they tested it on, but it didn't cost him much, so whatever.

He did feel funny for a while afterward but the pharmacists said that was normal. They kept him at the store for a while to make sure he did not get the Bad Side Effects.

[kayrharris]

Chicken pox vaccine has been around a while. My son is almost 26 and he was 10 when he got it as he never had the chicken pox, even when his sister had them when she was 7 (he would have been 5). He had to have two doses since he was older when he got it initially. He's the only one of my kids to receive the vaccine since all the others had chicken pox as young children.

Seems like you have to show proof of it to get into college these days. I know I had to have some kind of immunization record when they enrolled. Of course, I could be wrong about that too.

[Beebs52]

sunflower says:

Once you "catch" it, is there anything you can even do? Or is it like chicken pox in that it kind of just has to run it's course? It has always sounded so awful.

If they catch it at the warning signs, antivirals are supposed to help.

The best thing would be to have had the chicken pox vaccine in childhood, & never have the virus lurking in your nerves in the 1st place; I'm way too old for that, though. I had all the childhood diseases (except polio!; they developed the vaccines for that in my childhood. And gave us both, which made absolutely no sense at all; it was a political thing that Sabin swung for his vaccine, which was developed 2nd.). I had mumps twice, once on one side of my face, once on both sides; the medical profession at the time pronounced this to be "not possible", but believe me it was possible.

Because of current problems, I can't have subcutaneous vaccines; I have to have inhaled vaccines, which there aren't many of. (Or edible ones, which there are even fewer of.) I certainly hope if bird flu ever develops in people in a serious way they'll whip an inhalable vaccine up. I doubt they have one for shingles.

Ghost, what did you mean by the polio vaccine being political, etc.? I seem to recall that there may be some possibilities where it's reemerged lately or something. But, are you saying it was totally unnecessary? I'm just confused.

[nitrah55]

Thanks, all, for your responses.

Bride thinks it's shingles for sure now, because her skin is getting tingly in the area where the internal pain is.

She's on Lyrica, a non-narcotic (what's the fun in that?) painkiller, and some stuff to mitigate the other symtoms. Lydocaine patches at the ready.

No offense to PSM, Uly, et al, but talking to the Bride on Lyrica is like talking to someone from California. A lot of "oh wow" and "far out."

[Ritterskoop]

sunflower says:

Once you "catch" it, is there anything you can even do? Or is it like chicken pox in that it kind of just has to run it's course? It has always sounded so awful.

If they catch it at the warning signs, antivirals are supposed to help.

The best thing would be to have had the chicken pox vaccine in childhood, & never have the virus lurking in your nerves in the 1st place; I'm way too old for that, though. I had all the childhood diseases (except polio!; they developed the vaccines for that in my childhood. And gave us both, which made absolutely no sense at all; it was a political thing that Sabin swung for his vaccine, which was developed 2nd.). I had mumps twice, once on one side of my face, once on both sides; the medical profession at the time pronounced this to be "not possible", but believe me it was possible.

Because of current problems, I can't have subcutaneous vaccines; I have to have inhaled vaccines, which there aren't many of. (Or edible ones, which there are even fewer of.) I certainly hope if bird flu ever develops in people in a serious way they'll whip an inhalable vaccine up. I doubt they have one for shingles.

Ghost, what did you mean by the polio vaccine being political, etc.? I seem to recall that there may be some possibilities where it's reemerged lately or something. But, are you saying it was totally unnecessary? I'm just confused.

I think she was saying she got two vaccinations for polio, which might mean the second one was unnecessary.

That's what I heard but it might not be what ghost meant.

[ulysses5019]

Thanks, all, for your responses.

Bride thinks it's shingles for sure now, because her skin is getting tingly in the area where the internal pain is.

She's on Lyrica, a non-narcotic (what's the fun in that?) painkiller, and some stuff to mitigate the other symtoms. Lydocaine patches at the ready.

No offense to PSM, Uly, et al, but talking to the Bride on Lyrica is like talking to someone from California. A lot of "oh wow" and "far out."

Hey. Uh, like whattya mean dude?

[Beebs52]

sunflower says:
If they catch it at the warning signs, antivirals are supposed to help.

The best thing would be to have had the chicken pox vaccine in childhood, & never have the virus lurking in your nerves in the 1st place; I'm way too old for that, though. I had all the childhood diseases (except polio!; they developed the vaccines for that in my childhood. And gave us both, which made absolutely no sense at all; it was a political thing that Sabin swung for his vaccine, which was developed 2nd.). I had mumps twice, once on one side of my face, once on both sides; the medical profession at the time pronounced this to be "not possible", but believe me it was possible.

Because of current problems, I can't have subcutaneous vaccines; I have to have inhaled vaccines, which there aren't many of. (Or edible ones, which there are even fewer of.) I certainly hope if bird flu ever develops in people in a serious way they'll whip an inhalable vaccine up. I doubt they have one for shingles.

Ghost, what did you mean by the polio vaccine being political, etc.? I seem to recall that there may be some possibilities where it's reemerged lately or something. But, are you saying it was totally unnecessary? I'm just confused.

I think she was saying she got two vaccinations for polio, which might mean the second one was unnecessary.

That's what I heard but it might not be what ghost meant.

I researched a little bit and realized how ignorant I am about the whole issue. There were the two vaccines, one using an active version, the other a dead version, etc. etc. etc. and I had no idea the extent of "trials" in Africa and the conspiracy theories re:polio vaccine thought to be the genesis of human AIDS due to chimp tissue supposedly being used. Seems that that stuff was debunked, yada yada yada, but it's very complex. I can't remember if I got both vaccines or one. I vividly remember getting my smallpox vaccination since the needle broke off in my arm. But, polio stuff I know I got, but how many?

[ulysses5019]

Ghost, what did you mean by the polio vaccine being political, etc.? I seem to recall that there may be some possibilities where it's reemerged lately or something. But, are you saying it was totally unnecessary? I'm just confused.

I think she was saying she got two vaccinations for polio, which might mean the second one was unnecessary.

That's what I heard but it might not be what ghost meant.

I researched a little bit and realized how ignorant I am about the whole issue. There were the two vaccines, one using an active version, the other a dead version, etc. etc. etc. and I had no idea the extent of "trials" in Africa and the conspiracy theories re:polio vaccine thought to be the genesis of human AIDS due to chimp tissue supposedly being used. Seems that that stuff was debunked, yada yada yada, but it's very complex. I can't remember if I got both vaccines or one. I vividly remember getting my smallpox vaccination since the needle broke off in my arm. But, polio stuff I know I got, but how many?

Do you crave bananas?

[kayrharris]

I just finished a book on the entire research on polio...what caused it, how to treat it, how to prevent it. It was an eye opening book, that's for sure.

[Beebs52]

I think she was saying she got two vaccinations for polio, which might mean the second one was unnecessary.

That's what I heard but it might not be what ghost meant.

I researched a little bit and realized how ignorant I am about the whole issue. There were the two vaccines, one using an active version, the other a dead version, etc. etc. etc. and I had no idea the extent of "trials" in Africa and the conspiracy theories re:polio vaccine thought to be the genesis of human AIDS due to chimp tissue supposedly being used. Seems that that stuff was debunked, yada yada yada, but it's very complex. I can't remember if I got both vaccines or one. I vividly remember getting my smallpox vaccination since the needle broke off in my arm. But, polio stuff I know I got, but how many?

Do you crave bananas?

Why, yes. Yes I do. And I feel like taking this unripe coconut from the pile of unripe coconuts next to me, covering it with what monkeys like to cover things with, and lobbing one atcha.

Heads up!

[themanintheseersuckersuit]

I was aware of the vaccine. I think the Chicken Pox vaccine is completely unnecessary.

Of course, we eschew the rest of the panoply as well.

I gotta ask, do you avoid giving your children all the usual childhood immunizations?

[ghostjmf]

Beebs says:

Ghost, what did you mean by the polio vaccine being political, etc.? I seem to recall that there may be some possibilities where it's reemerged lately or something. But, are you saying it was totally unnecessary? I'm just confused.

I said the Sabin vaccine was political. The Salk vaccine was developed 1st. It works the "usual" way vaccines do; you get injected subcutaneously with an attenuated (not able to make you sick) polio virus, which sparks your body's immune system to make antibodies to the polio virus. Then, when it meets the real-thing polio virus, it starts manufacturing antibodies & clobbers it & you don't get polio.

I don't know about the Salk vaccine itself in this next regard, but these days most virus vaccines don't even use the whole virus, even a completely non-viable whole virus; they use parts of the virus's outer coat, which generally are the things that provoke the immune response. The part of the virus you want to avoid transmitting, if you can, is the DNA (or RNA, if its an RNA-based virus). That's the part that lets the virus take over your cells' machinery to reproduce itself. They didn't know all this back in the 50s.

The Sabin vaccine by contrast is a viable mutant form of the polio virus which supposedly isn't able to give you polio. You eat it. On little sugar cubes, in my case. The mutant form of polio hangs out in your stomach, occupying sites that real polio would like to occupy, but can't because this mutant harmless form is lurking there.

There are a lot of problems with viable virus, even supposedly harmless forms of viable virus. There are recorded examples of this stuff back-mutating & giving people real polio. There are recorded examples of this stuff back-mutating & giving real polio to kids' parents, who had no defense against it because they hadn't been given either form of vaccine.

Sabin had a lot of friends in high places who basically rail-roaded use of his vaccine through. I can see arguments for using one vaccine instead of the other; I can see no reason why people like myself, who had already been given the Salk vaccine, & could probably have demonstrated our immunity to polio at the time (of course, to do it in a test tube would require today's medical tests, which of course they didn't have in '58 or whatever) to have to be given the Sabin vaccine.

That's what I mean by "political".


And, of course, look at what started this discussion; that a supposedly harmless (except for the people for whom its deadly, of course) childhood disease like chicken pox turns out to live on in your body & in later years give you very dangerous shingles. I dunno what that supposedly harmless Sabin-vaccine polio virus living in my stomach could do.

[ne1410s]

Woody Allen:

"Here's a picture of my ex-wife standing by our summer cottage. She's the one with shingles."

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

I was aware of the vaccine. I think the Chicken Pox vaccine is completely unnecessary.

Of course, we eschew the rest of the panoply as well.

I gotta ask, do you avoid giving your children all the usual childhood immunizations?

I chose not to get the girls Gardasil because I don't think that it was tested enough. They are not in a "risk group" and when they become closer to being in a "risk group" where the vaccine might help, I will sit down with them, look at research and let them decide if they are going to get it.

For some reason, I thought that Gardasil was mandatory in Texas.

[Ritterskoop]

For some reason, I thought that Gardasil was mandatory in Texas.

They tried to make it so, until folks figured out the politicians owned stock in the drug company that makes it.

Also, plenty of parents don't think their daughters need it, because they are not and will not be having sex until they get married.

I'm not saying I am for it, because I don't know enough about it. I like the idea of preventing more diseases in the community. But I don't know at what point it's right to force individuals to do stuff for the common benefit that may be to their individual detriment.

[TheCalvinator24]

I was aware of the vaccine. I think the Chicken Pox vaccine is completely unnecessary.

Of course, we eschew the rest of the panoply as well.

I gotta ask, do you avoid giving your children all the usual childhood immunizations?

I chose not to get the girls Gardasil because I don't think that it was tested enough. They are not in a "risk group" and when they become closer to being in a "risk group" where the vaccine might help, I will sit down with them, look at research and let them decide if they are going to get it.

For some reason, I thought that Gardasil was mandatory in Texas.

Governor Perry issued an Executive Order mandating it for all girls of a certain age and above in public schools. (how very "conservative" of him).

The State Legislature passed a bill that over-rode his Order. He didn't sign it, but we don't have a Pocket Veto in Texas. If the Governor fails to sign a bill within some set time period, it becomes a law without his signature.

Wouldn't have affected us anyway. Our girls aren't that old, and they aren't in public schools.

We did the vaccines for the oldest daughter (except Chicken Pox), but have done none for any of the girls since. We didn't do Chicken Pox for the oldest because it is a completely unnecessary vaccine.