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Shingles Vaccine and Polymyalgia Rheumatica/Prednisolone

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davidmelville
davidmelville

Hello again everybody,

I have just been booked by the Doctors Surgery for a shingles vaccine BUT I thought I would look on the internet for suitability. Perhaps not to my surprise I find heavy advice against it against various strengths. 

Whilst the big no is to 20mg a day or long term users I am now concerned . . . .

I am on 12.5mg per day and have worked my way down over two fragile years with a number of relapses. I consider myself to vulnerable!

What are the thoughts?

 

2 likes, 19 replies

19 Replies

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  • diana21296
    diana21296 davidmelville

    Posted

    Avoid it like the plague.   My PMR started 2 weeks after the shingles jab and I looked it up on line where it said both the flu jab and the singles jab can be the cause.  I bitterly regret having it as I was very healthy with a strong immune system before.  Not worth taking the risk on the off chance that you might get the shingles.  The surgeries push and bully us into having these unecessary jabs and then we bear the consequences if we are one in so many thousand.
    • EileenH
      EileenH diana21296

      Posted

      Not commenting on the shingles jab and PMR but there are loads of people who developed PMR without ever having had such vaccines - I did. I also never was ill pre-PMR and was also very healthy - and had never had a flu jab or most others for 30-odd years.

      It is not one single thing that leads to the dysfunction of the immune system - it is a catalogue of insults where eventually one thing is the straw that breaks the camel's back and it goes haywire. It may be a vaccine that does it - but it could be having the flu or shingles when you didn't have the jab. 

      The primary reason for the shingles vaccine is to reduce the risk of developing the post-shingles neuropathic pain which can be utterly awful and last for months and months. It's swings and roundabouts.

    • jean39702
      jean39702 diana21296

      Posted

      I agree with Eileen.  I had the flu jab for years while working in the health care field and do not link the onset of PMR with the timing of the any shot.  Also had the shingles vaccine after seeing friends suffer and being warned to do all that I could to avoid being in that boat.  One suffered months with neuropathic pain after the rash disappeared.

      People need to do their own research and make their own decisions when it comes to vaccines.  It's very much an individual and personal choice. 

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