Shingles is awful Have you been vaccinated?

You cannot catch shingles from a child who has chickenpox. If you have not had chickenpox and come into contact with a person who has chickenpox you can catch chickenpox. Some studies suggest that if you have already had chickenpox being exposed to someone who has chickenpox actually build your immunity against shingles. Because it is sort of like being exposed to the live vaccine. Remember the shingles vaccine is alive vaccine.

The chickenpox virus remains dormant in your spine and persons who have had chickenpox may also get shingles. Shingles is another form of the same virus and mostly occurs in elder people and those with a lowered immune system.  

And if persons get shingles it is possible to have it again with some persons having recurrences.  The medical field is still slow on studies or literature of these last cases as it can be frightening to the average person.  

More frightening is the prospect of having shingles but not having the shingles shot as it does greatly help with immunity. With the shot it is still possible to have shingles although a milder form is most likely to occur. 

Hi,

Thank you for the responses.

Yes, if you have had chickenpox and you are exposed to a child with chickenpox that are not yet visible you can come down with shingles....I have...was hospitalized for a month with the left half of my head and neck about four times their normal size...as per the physician who treated me.

Yes, having the shingles vaccination is a great idea.

Some people cannot take a live virus vaccination like the shingles vaccination because they would become seriously ill with full body shingles.

This includes all people on chemotherapy, including rheumatics on infusion therapy such as Rituximab which in actuality is chemotherapy.

I had shingles the first time when I was 11 In 1962...I had had chicken box in early 1953...I have had shingles four more times.

Being immunocompromised, I can not take the shingles vaccination.

But having suffered immensely five times with this excruciating nerve disease I strongly suggest others avoid this possibility and have the shingles vaccination.

Shingles is not an inconvenience...shingles can take your vision, shingles can take your hearing, shingles follows a nerve root...nerve roots come directly off of the spinal cord.

You may have shingles of some lower nerve root that innervates the lower abdomen...not much pain. But you could have shingles of C4, a high cervical nerve root, and require hospitalization.

I had them internally...on my liver, on my gall bladder, on my pancreas, on all of the related ducts and it was a nightmate for four months!

And sometimes, the nerve root is permanently damaged.

Please, talk to your physician about having the shingles vaccination.