Chicken Pox

[graceanne]

It's been around for much longer than that, because I got one when I was a baby (a year old-ish, I assume?) and that was 1990.

Yeah, my little sister was born 1994, and she got hers that year (she was 10 months old).

 

[Rosie_Riveter]

It's been around for much longer than that, because I got one when I was a baby (a year old-ish, I assume?) and that was 1990.

Odd. My older son is a few years younger than you and he didn't get it. His doctor said it wasn't yet routine or still in testing or something.

 

[satindesire]

So there's a Chicken Pox vaccine AND a shingles vaccine?

I guess she should get them both.

Since I had chicken pox when I was a little girl, am I still at risk for shingles or should I go get the booster/vaccination? What about my husband, who got military jabs when he was in the Coast guard?

 

[graceanne]

So there's a Chicken Pox vaccine AND a shingles vaccine?

I guess she should get them both.

Since I had chicken pox when I was a little girl, am I still at risk for shingles or should I go get the booster/vaccination? What about my husband, who got military jabs when he was in the Coast guard?

I think you only need the shingles vaccine if you've had chicken pox.

 

[ecstaticsub]

So there's a Chicken Pox vaccine AND a shingles vaccine?

I guess she should get them both.

Since I had chicken pox when I was a little girl, am I still at risk for shingles or should I go get the booster/vaccination? What about my husband, who got military jabs when he was in the Coast guard?

Right now in the US the shingles vaccine is recommended for people over the age of 60.

 

[graceanne]

.....

 

[BiBunny]

If I remember right, chicken pox and shingles are the same virus. It just lies dormant in your system, as was mentioned before, and can be triggered by things like stress, etc. So if you have the chicken pox virus in your body, then it's possible that you may one day develop shingles.

My daddy had it back when I was in high school. He said it was the worst thing he'd ever experienced. Nasty, nasty stuff.

 

[satindesire]

I think you only need the shingles vaccine if you've had chicken pox.

Right now in the US the shingles vaccine is recommended for people over the age of 60.

Oh, right on then.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

VIP NOTE

Once you have Chicken Pox it never goes away. It lies dormant and almost never re-erupts as CP. However --down the road it can come back as Shingles. My mother had singles in the ear canal at age 85. It resulted in blindness and no hearing in one ear.

Fortunately, there is now a vaccination for Singles. Anyone who has had CP needs the vaccine ASAP - no Excuses!! Singles is like Chicken Pox raised to the 25th power.

25th power? Only that high?

I'll also add that shingles is not just an old person's disease. I had it a few years ago on my face. (about 40yo) I was lucky that it was a mild case but it was very painful and ugly too. We believe it was triggered by enormous amounts of stress I was going through at the time.

I had shingles in my 40s, too, and was told it was a mild case. Sure as hell didn't seem like it to me. Mine ran from my left temple just past the outer corner of my left eye, down to the left corner of my mouth. Hurt like a mofo, and was not a pretty sight. Ended up with six months of going to see a pain doctor for (I think) lidocaine shots in the middle of my forehead because it hurt so badly for so long. One benefit to having had shingles, though: Ever since, when I start stressing enough to cue up a migraine, that nerve from my temple to the corner of my mouth starts tingling, and can serve as a warning to drastically reduce my stress level *soon* if I don't want a full-blown migraine to start up.

And yes, I have had the shingles vaccine just a few years ago, cuz I do NOT want those things back again!

Stress is believed to be a trigger.

I knew a young woman [23 yo] going to College grad school {Physical Therapist Master's Degree} and working PM serving with catering company -- work, stress, little sleep. She had Shingles over the entire upper left half of her body. She spent almost a year in bed, racked with pain.

That makes me feel that maybe my case *was* a mild one, then, and be very thankful it wasn't worse!

I'd zap pox and shingles or just shingles, if it was me and I had the chance.

That would be a good thing. Thanks, even if you are almost two decades late to help *me* with it

So there's a Chicken Pox vaccine AND a shingles vaccine?

I guess she should get them both.

Since I had chicken pox when I was a little girl, am I still at risk for shingles or should I go get the booster/vaccination? What about my husband, who got military jabs when he was in the Coast guard?

Mayo Clinic says, "... if you're younger than age 60, hold off on the shingles vaccine until you reach that age. Children and adults who have not had chickenpox (primary varicella infection) should receive the chickenpox vaccine instead."

 

[satindesire]

Mayo Clinic says, "... if you're younger than age 60, hold off on the shingles vaccine until you reach that age. Children and adults who have not had chickenpox (primary varicella infection) should receive the chickenpox vaccine instead."

Ooh, excellent! Thank you for that head's up!

You guys are always so reliable when I have questions about random stuff!

 

[Miki647]

Get your daughter the CP vaccine. I got CP when I was 19, and it was horrible!!

 

[unregistered]

 

[ThorkelGriersen]

Some general info:

QUOTE

Shingles (herpes zoaster) is an infection that produces a severely painful skin eruption of fluid-filled blisters.

Shingles is caused by the same herpes virus, varicella-zoster virus, that causes chicken pox. The initial infection with varicella-zoster virus, which may be in the form of chickenpox, ends with the virus entering the nerves of the ganglia (a group of nerve cell bodies) of spinal or cranial nerves and remaining latent there. Shingles always is limited to the skin distribution of the nerve root(s) involved (dermatomes).
UNQUOTE

The Merck Manuel of Medical Information: Home Edition

The Merck is the best source for quick reference for any medical question. The Home Edition differs only from the Pro edition (on the desks of Doctors and Nurses) in that it lists both the technical medical term and the common English expression.

There are about a half dozen herpes virus identified, from herpes simplex (cold sores) to genital herpes. Any experience with one raises the risk for infection by other members of the some viral family.

 

[ucleebo]

VIP NOTE

Once you have Chicken Pox it never goes away. It lies dormant and almost never re-erupts as CP. However --down the road it can come back as Shingles. My mother had singles in the ear canal at age 85. It resulted in blindness and no hearing in one ear.

Fortunately, there is now a vaccination for Singles. Anyone who has had CP needs the vaccine ASAP - no Excuses!! Singles is like Chicken Pox raised to the 25th power.

FYI: I was part of the study which developed the vaccine for shingles - and it's essentially the same as the chicken pox vaccine. As TG says, the chicken pox virus stays with you always until some trigger makes it blossom into shingles. Like stress.
Getting the shingles vaccine does not guarantee you won't get shingles; it's about 65% effective. Still, even that much protection is worth the price of the shot. And believe me, from what I've seen & heard, nobody wants shingles!

 

[Sir_Winston54]

FYI: I was part of the study which developed the vaccine for shingles - and it's essentially the same as the chicken pox vaccine. As TG says, the chicken pox virus stays with you always until some trigger makes it blossom into shingles. Like stress.
Getting the shingles vaccine does not guarantee you won't get shingles; it's about 65% effective. Still, even that much protection is worth the price of the shot. And believe me, from what I've seen & heard, nobody wants shingles!

One would have to be a MAJOR LEAGUE masochist to *want* shingles, even a mild case like I had...

 

[ImOnIt]

I had chicken pox age 20. I got to play with kids who had it etc etc but never caught it myself. My sister came home with it and I thought I was immune or something. Fucking sucked.

Those damn pox were so damn thick, there were many many per square inch over my entire body. Eyelids, under the palms of my hands etc, under fingernails.

I was so fucking itchy I couldn't read, watch TV or use a computer. I got myself a rubiks cube and got very very proficient with it.