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Shingles

Believe It or not... It most likely will come back.... I have gotten it a few more time... Especially when I am very very stressed.... Suck... It has not been as painful but defiantly noticeable
 
I guess this is a good start to knowing I really need to take care of myself as much as possible.

When people get shingles and it comes back does it always present in the same place?
or can it be my head this time and my back next time?
 
kjjone said:
I guess this is a good start to knowing I really need to take care of myself as much as possible.

When people get shingles and it comes back does it always present in the same place?
or can it be my head this time and my back next time?
Click to expand...

It can basically show up on the "trunk" of your body...but it does show up on the forhead, hairline, neck and like you said it can affect your eyes.

Normally it does not come out on your arms and legs.
 
littlebuffalo said:
It scares me just reading about shingles. Will shingle shot help?
Click to expand...

My mom got the shot and she still got the shingles.... again. She has had them three times in the past two years.

The only upside about getting them once...is that you know what it is if you get them again..... as soon as you feel the "tingling" feeling...kinda like the start of a cold sore.....get to the doctor and get Valtrix (sp) right away.

The last time mom got them we got her in right away for the medication...in fact I think we called and they gave her a Rx over the phone....she said that it cleared up quick with little discomfort.

Best thing to do is keep your immune system strong.
 
The rash is drying up and should be gone soon. I went to the eye doctor and
everything checked out ok with that. overall all is ok except the pain does get bad at times. It really sucks because it is in my head that i get the pain.
 
Glad to hear it's getting better and that your eye is ok. Is shingles contagious?
 
Shingles is contagious and can be spread from an affected person to babies, children, or adults who have not had chickenpox. But instead of developing shingles, these people develop chickenpox. Once they have had chickenpox, people cannot catch shingles (or contract the virus) from someone else. Once infected, however, people have the potential to develop shingles later in life.

Shingles is contagious to people who have not previously had chickenpox, as long as there are new blisters forming and old blisters healing. Similar to chickenpox, the time prior to healing or crusting of the blisters is the contagious stage of shingles. Once all of the blisters are crusted over, the virus can no longer be spread and the contagious period is over.

from webmd
 
i believe if what i researched is correct then once you have chicken pox you have the virus for shingles in your body. and basically 1 in 3 people will have an outbreak of shingles
 
Swale2010 said:
My mom got the shot and she still got the shingles.... again. She has had them three times in the past two years.

The only upside about getting them once...is that you know what it is if you get them again..... as soon as you feel the "tingling" feeling...kinda like the start of a cold sore.....get to the doctor and get Valtrix (sp) right away.

The last time mom got them we got her in right away for the medication...in fact I think we called and they gave her a Rx over the phone....she said that it cleared up quick with little discomfort.

Best thing to do is keep your immune system strong.
Click to expand...

I am trying to understand the advantage of the shingle shot to decide whether I should get one. Does the shingle shot help at all? Does it make it less painful or the duration shorter?
 
Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. Anyone who's had chickenpox may develop shingles. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus can enter your nervous system and lie dormant for years. Eventually, it may reactivate and travel along nerve pathways to your skin — producing shingles.

The reason for the encore is unclear. But it may be due to lowered immunity to infections as you grow older. Shingles is more common in older adults and in people who have weak immune systems.

Varicella-zoster is part of a group of viruses called herpes viruses, which includes the viruses that cause cold sores and genital herpes. Because of this, shingles is also known as herpes zoster. But the virus that causes chickenpox and shingles is not the same virus responsible for cold sores or genital herpes, a sexually transmitted infection.

Are you contagious?
A person with shingles can pass the varicella-zoster virus to anyone who isn't immune to chickenpox. This usually occurs through direct contact with the open sores of the shingles rash. Once infected, the person will develop chickenpox, however, not shingles.

Chickenpox can be dangerous for some groups of people. Until your shingles blisters scab over, you are contagious and should avoid physical contact with:

Anyone who has a weak immune system
Newborns
Pregnant women

from mayo clinic
 
littlebuffalo said:
I am trying to understand the advantage of the shingle shot to decide whether I should get one. Does the shingle shot help at all? Does it make it less painful or the duration shorter?
Click to expand...


Basically, the shingles shot is a chicken pox booster. Your immunity for it is running low and the virus exists dormant. If your immunity runs too low...you can develop shingles.

I think people are getting it younger and younger (used to be more an "old person" thing to get). My sister just had it at 41.
 
I don't think I've ever heard so much about people having shingles. My neighbor just got over what her doctor thought was a mild case of it. The woman I work with was just diagnosed with it this week.

I can't for the life of me remember if I had chicken pox. I know I had German measles but that's about it.
 
My mother was told at the Doc office ( they were there for my dad ) that she had shingles she got the shot had a very mild case , my girlfriends husband just found out he has it and is the most painful thing - he can't even stand to have a shirt on :(
 
There is a theory that re-exposure to chicken pox by those who have had it before acts as a natural booster to the immune system and prevents shingles outbreaks. Mass vaccination for chicken pox = fewer re-exposures to the virus = more cases of shingles in younger age groups.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/08/16/generation-at-risk/
In fact, most shingles sufferers in Canada are over the age of 60; the lifetime risk of getting the disease is 15 to 20 per cent. But some doctors and epidemiologists believe that the chicken pox vaccine, licensed in Canada in 1999, may alter the dynamics of the disease. Prior to the introduction of the vaccine, about 90 per cent of Canadians were infected with varicella by age 12. Post-vaccine, outbreaks have been drastically reduced; between 2003 and 2009, there was a 70 per cent reduction in the number of children hospitalized for chicken pox. Strangely enough, this decline, says Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, may actually lead to an increase in the rate of shingles among an unfortunate group of young adults who had chicken pox before the rollout of the vaccine.

Here’s why: according to studies conducted in the 1960s by the British GP and epidemiologist Robert Edgar Hope-Simpson, those who are repeatedly exposed to chicken pox—health care workers, say, and families with young children—are less prone to a reactivation of the virus. Greater exposure actually lessens the risk of shingles. It follows, McGeer says, that the immune systems of young adults who didn’t get the varicella vaccine won’t have that extra boosting that would help prevent shingles—the younger, vaccinated generation won’t provide any exposure. So adults in their 20s and 30s have two strikes against them: they’ve had the virus, so it can be reactivated, and they haven’t had the exposure that would heighten their immunity. “They are going to have a problem,†concludes McGeer.

Though it’s too early to know just how big the problem will be—not until January 2007 did all provinces and territories implement routine immunization programs for varicella—the U.S. experience is instructive.

South of the border, the vaccine was licensed earlier, in 1995, and though the incidence of chicken pox has decreased dramatically, “reports are beginning to circulate that the frequency of shingles is now higher,†according to Dr. Richard Whitley, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Like McGeer, he believes “we are going to see cases of shingles in younger and younger people because thereâ€s less chicken pox in the population now.â€
Click to expand...
 
Had shingles when I was 30 on my back and in my mouth. Got it the day before Thanksgiving that year. It was horrible trying to eat anything. Very, Very painful!

Glad you went to the Doctor about your eye and it is OK. My dad had it last year in his eye and it did some permanent damage and he still can't get rid of the pain.
 
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