Your retirement plans . . .

[IKE]

Whatever your plans are,get a fucking shingles vaccine if you had chicken pox as a kid. It was on my to-do list, but just struck with a vengeance on abouat the whole of the left side of my face, including an eye swollen shut.

Believe me, you want no part of it!

. It felt like someone was trying to push my eyeball out of its socket from the inside for 2 days before visible signs showed. It hit me at 45, and I'm told most docs won't give you the vax until 50.

There's also a well-documented link between Shingles and stroke/TIA. Researchers have found a marked decrease in stroke among the vaccinated over 50, and there are multiple studies showing a 2- to 4-fold risk of stroke within a year of shingles, especially for the under 40 crowd.

 

[JTS11]

100% concur. It felt like someone was trying to push my eyeball out of its socket from the inside for 2 days before visible signs showed. It hit me at 45, and I'm told most docs won't give you the vax until 50.

Yeah, I don't understand the arbitrary age thing..

Looking back now, several months ago, I noticed that the front left side of my scalp felt like it was sunburned, then a few days later, I noticed a few small blisters. Ignored it, and it went away. This one erupted from the same place. Bottom line, get to a doc ASAP, to get on anti-virals. I wish I would have.

 

[taxi1]

My wife got shingles. I suffered listening to her complain about it. It was bad.

I got the Covid, flu, and shingles vaccine on the same visit to the CVS. Felt *really* bad the next day as each took their turn kicking me in the junk. The cool thing is I could relax and feel sorry for myself, knowing I wasn't actually sick. Just my immune system pumping out the reps.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

Whatever your plans are,get a fucking shingles vaccine if you had chicken pox as a kid. It was on my to-do list, but just struck with a vengeance on abouat the whole of the left side of my face, including an eye swollen shut.

Believe me, you want no part of it!

This was on my list of things to do after talking to my doctor, I said I was fine getting it right then but the medical facility doesn't offer it. I will now move it to things to do right away as shingles seems like an unpleasant thing to deal with.

 

[robav8r]

Got Shingles right after I retired in 2018. It sucked . . . . . Got both of the new Shingles vaccines, no issues since . . . .

 

[MIDNJAC]

So can you or can't you get shingles vaccine? I am 41 now, definitely had chickenpox, and my old man Alaska neighbor/retired USCG warrant/tugboat captain retired keeps telling me to

 

[IKE]

So can you or can't you get shingles vaccine? I am 41 now, definitely had chickenpox, and my old man Alaska neighbor/retired USCG warrant/tugboat captain retired keeps telling me to

I haven't asked my doc, but two CIVs at work were told No by their docs. YMMV.

 

[JTS11]

So can you or can't you get shingles vaccine? I am 41 now, definitely had chickenpox, and my old man Alaska neighbor/retired USCG warrant/tugboat captain retired keeps telling me to

The CDC website says its only FDA approved for 50 and over. You can only get it below that age if you are "immunocomprimised"

Not sure what's magical about 50, as clearly you can get shingles in your 40's.

 

[Brett327]

The CDC website says its only FDA approved for 50 and over. You can only get it below that age if you are "immunocomprimised"

Not sure what's magical about 50, as clearly you can get shingles in your 40's.

We had a 30ish guy at NAWDC get it. Bad times. I got the vaccine right at 50.

 

[johnboyA6E]

is the shingles vax covered by most insurance these days? i few years back, i looked into it and it was going to cost something like $400 out of pocket

i paused to think about it some more, and that turned in to 5 years or so of foot dragging.....

 

[TimeBomb]

The shingles vaccine is fully covered by TRICARE, and by most other plans. If you ever want to know if a particular intervention is effective, check if it covered by insurance. Health insurance companies live and die by minimizing outlay. If there is solid data that it would cost them less to prevent a condition than to treat it, they will usually make the decision to cover the preventive option (vaccines, bariatric surgery, colon cancer screening).

V/R

 

[webmaster]

I never got it. And got the varicella two dose vaccine way back in the day. Yes yes. Need to discuss with doc. But anyone recall if needed if already had the varicella?

 

[TimeBomb]

The varicella (chicken pox) vaccine is a live, attenuated virus. Once you have had either the varicella vaccine, or natural infection, the varicella virus takes up essentially permanent residence in the nervous system. The immune system is usually able to suppress re-emergence, but alterations in the immune system due to age, medications or other medical conditions predispose to reactivation of the virus. A red, burning, painful, or itchy rash in a stripe of skin that does not cross over the midline is a typical presentation. The rash may lag the neurological symptoms by a couple of days. Best to get to the doc ASAP to get put on antivirals and steroids to reduce the chance of developing post-herpetic neuralgia, which is really not ok. The adult shingles vaccine is simply a larger dose of the pediatric vaccine.

V/R

 

[SynixMan]

I met with my doc this week as a prerequisite for some paperwork before I meet with my AME for my Class 1. Asked about the shingles vaccines and they were adamant that at 39 with no complicating factors, I wasn't eligible. I mentioned someone I knew (AW is knowing, right?) got shingles in their 40s, maybe I should get it, and they were unmoved.

 

[OscarMyers]

I met with my doc this week as a prerequisite for some paperwork before I meet with my AME for my Class 1. Asked about the shingles vaccines and they were adamant that at 39 with no complicating factors, I wasn't eligible. I mentioned someone I knew (AW is knowing, right?) got shingles in their 40s, maybe I should get it, and they were unmoved.

This thread influenced me to do a little research and apparently the shingles vaccine has only been tested on the 50+ crowd, which appears to drive the firm min age for the vaccine.
I haven’t found anything regarding why that age envelope was the only tested when younger people have been at risk.