Keep forgetting your shingles shot? These sufferers wish they hadn't.

[Cattledog]

Among the worst pain in medicine

Shingles is common and highly preventable. In the United States, 1 out of 3 people will get the disease in their lifetime, but the vaccine, called Shingrix, is 97 percent effective at preventing the disease in people ages 50 to 69 with healthy immune systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Paul Offit, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, said shingles is “one of the worst pains in medicine. It’s right up there with childbirth and corneal abrasions.”

You might think that people would be lining up to get a highly effective vaccine for a relatively common disease that can cause such pain, but that’s not the case. The CDC recommends two doses of Shingrix for everyone 50 and older, yet only 18.6 percent of people in the United States in this age group have received at least one dose, according to CDC data from 2021.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/09/24/shingles-nerve-pain-shingrix-vaccine/

[Hope22]

1. Unfortunately several early versions of a Shingles vaccine were ineffective

And did Cause some harm. It’s hard to get psyched up for it!

[summer_in_TX]

2. After watching my mother-in-law suffer from it 2-3 times,

with it also in her throat the second time, I am all for prevention. One of my friends now has had it twice within a year. She's been homebound with it for six to eight weeks at a time.

I got my pair of shots last fall.

Now I need to get the RSV vaccine and the new COVID update. I don't think I want to do those on the same day.

[sheshe2]

3. I have had my shots.

[Sky Jewels]

4. Shingles can affect your eyes too.

My friend’s sister came close to losing vision in one eye. That freaked me out. I got both my Shingrix shots. They weren’t bad at all, for me. I just felt a bit low energy the next day. That’s it.

[LisaM]

5. Yep, count me in that group.

It just wasn't on my radar, and then a couple of months into the pandemic I broke out with a horrible case all over my face. I had trouble getting seen because it was on my face and the provider thought it was a "headache" (in other words, Covid) so I didn't get the antiviral medicine soon enough. My eye swelled shut for a week. I am still dealing with the residual effects after four years.

Get the shot!

[TBF]

6. Ugh - I got the first vaccine in June

and had to wait between 2-6 months for the second.

I guess it's about time. I'm going to sign up in my CVS app now!

[BamaRefugee]

7. I got both my shots over the course of a few months ago. I don't need any more health issues!

In recent years I went legally blind, with rare subcapsular posterior cataracts, but thank God artificial lenses implanted gave me 20/20 vision back!
Oh and I'm Type 2 diabetic for years.
Then I had reconstructive surgery on my stomach and intestines. 2019
I had been basically crippled for a couple of years, so I had a total hip replacement . FESTIVE! 2020
Then, I had 2 stents put into my heart. 2022.
Then because the cardiologist said I HAD TO TAKE BABY ASPIRIN, after the stents, although my surgeon who did my stomach told me I could never take aspirin again in my life due to the procedure, I woke up one morning and fainted walking my dog and spent 4 days in an ER, on an examining table, no bed, because I was totally bleeding out internally...because of aspirin. 2022
Then, Christmas 2022, I bent down to turn off my vacuum cleaner, and I couldn't get up. Paralyzed from the waist down for 3 months because my L4/L5 ruptured.
Finally had spinal surgery with titanium parts put into me and I walk as good as new. 2023
Then because of mysterious heartbeats, I have a MERLIN device implanted in my chest above my heart to send info 24 hours a day to my doctor. 2023
Then the MERLIN info determines that I have AFIB, and so to greatly lessen the chance of strokes, I had surgery to implant a WATCHMAN device inside my heart, which permanently seals off my left atrial appendage, where apparently 95% of strokes originate. LAA is sort of like the appendix, basically useless. This also let me stop being on 2 blood thinners which is ultra dangerous, you can bleed out just from a slight accident. 2024

Why am I mentioning all this?
Well, a lot of these operations had a LOT of pain involved, especially my back injury and the sort of Civil War surgery they do for a hip replacement. I'm used to pain.
But when I asked various friends about the shingles shot, one woman said , very emphatically "IT'S THE ONLY WAY MEN CAN LEARN WHAT CHILDBIRTH FEELS LIKE!"
So I was at CVS later that week for my first shot!