just had part 2 of my 2 part shingles vaccine (Shingrix)

[IcyPeas]

wish me luck.

I felt fine after the first one in January. hope this is the same. imagine having flu like symptoms from getting this vaccine right now? holy cow I won't know if its Covid or just reaction from the vaccine.

(well I actually would assume its a reaction from the shot.... but it would make anyone think twice).

Mom had it twice ... I don't know it there is a genetic component. she has the nerve damage from it now too.

reminder to everyone: go get it sooner rather than later!

[Leghorn21]

1. Good, you're all set, Icy! Hope you have no reaction to it, but if you do, I hope it's a miiiiiild

one —-

My first shot, a couple years ago, was the most painful shot I’ve ever had!! Wow! I mean, it was quite doable, but man, that thing hurt for two weeks plus....the second one hardly hurt at all, yay - but hey NO SHINGLES in our future!!

[IcyPeas]

11. Thanks!

I hope this second goes like the first one. Sore arm for a few days that was it.

But yeah, better than getting shingles.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. Thanks for the reminder!

I got a letter saying I was due for part 2. Had part 1 at the end of February and it explained that there's only a 6 month window between shots. My arm hurt quite a bit after the first one, but now I don't have to worry so much about that since it's not like I have plans to go anyplace.

And I agree that it's important to get. What motivated me was remembering a girl I knew who had it - and she said it was so painful that she couldn't stand her hair, so she cut it all off!

[IcyPeas]

18. Do it! Go get part 2!!!

Let us know.

[elleng]

3. Good. I had not problems with either,

except difficulty sleeping on that arm.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Hey Icy! I had my second shot about 6 months ago. It wasn't too bad.

I think I felt a little fluish and my arm hurt a tiny bit, but nothing serious. Just take good care of yourself for a few days and stay inside if you can. I don't think you would get respiratory problems from it, just minor flu symptoms like aches, sore throat, runny nose, etc. However, definitely call your doctor if you get worried.

Do you have a thermometer or a pulse oxometer? Those two items would help you to know better if you were in any kind of danger. Good luck!

[IcyPeas]

8. I do have a thermometer

I don't have that other gadget though. I should've seen if the drug store had them. Next time!

Yeah, my arm hurt for like 4 or 5 days, but it was no big deal. I'm not leaving my house anytime soon. I have all my necessities.

[Karadeniz]

5. Grest...my mother had shingles...you don't want it!

[redstatebluegirl]

6. The pain from the vaccine beats having shingles!

My poor Dad had them for 10 years before he passed. They were miserable!

[rurallib]

7. just found out my niece is going through shingles right now

and she says the pain is terrible.

[IcyPeas]

9. Oh no!! Your niece?

Is she young?

I hope she gets thru it quickly with no lasting pain. It's just a horribly painful thing, and there's not much you can take for it.

Hope you got your shot too.

[rurallib]

10. middle-age @ 50, 51.

I did get my shots last summer and fall. Was among the early folks to get the 2 shot type.

[IcyPeas]

12. Ugghh thats young...

She probably wasn't planning on getting shingles at that age. My best to her.

[rurallib]

13. My daughter had them @ 7 years ago @ age 35

That was a real shocker and so painful.

[Laffy Kat]

16. I had shingles sixteen weeks after my first baby.

That was rough.

[tanyev]

14. Gosh, I need to do that.

Had part one in early Feb, then coronavirus blew up and I don’t want to go near a doctor’s office for as long as possible.

[IcyPeas]

20. I know, right

I thought about going during these strange times and said that to my pharmacist who gave me the injection. She said, no, its important to get it. So i implore you to go and get part 2. Our drug stores do it, i didnt have to go to a doctors office. It was pretty quiet too at Rite Aid. Go!!

[Totally Tunsie]

25. CVS offers them also.

[Laffy Kat]

15. I decided not to have the second one.

I got too sick with the first one. I've had shingles and I don't want it again but I'm afraid the second shot will be worse than the first.

[unc70]

17. Had the shots, then shingles

Was told by my doctor that my symptoms were "milder" because of shots. I was surprised to have gotten it at all after vaccine. Pain was still rather intense and dragged on for weeks.

[IcyPeas]

19. Yes, thats what i was told too

You may still get it but it will be a milder case.

[LeftInTX]

21. I had shingles when I was pregnant 30 years ago

All they would let me take was benadryl. I was sooo miserable

[UTUSN]

22. Had no pain or side effects from both rounds. However, before that, the 2nd shingles episode

Last edited Sat May 9, 2020, 12:46 AM - Edit history (3)

So, had the first shingles episode two years *after* retirement, was told that stress can be a trigger, yet why stress *after* retirement?

Was told that letting go of the daily grind can be stressful. Fine. So I had known of a couple of shingles cases, been told of how painful it was, one person who had a rash that "followed a nerve" around and around the torso such that the person couldn't lie down on a bed, was in agony sitting in a recliner. So my concept of it was that it was a surface rash with the pain being on the skin.

So my first bout of it was what I think now is the mildest possible: First thing: I didn't know what it was. It started for a barely noticeable little something "off", not quite a fever. Then there were blisters on the arm at the top of the shoulder, and itching. I should have known (from childhood chicken pox) not to scratch or break the blisters. But I scratched and broke the blisters. Went to the doctor for a separate, routine appointment and was told it was shingles and that the neuropathy in my thumb in that arm meant that the thing had chosen to travel down the nerve ending up in the thumb, and that it was too late for meds, that just to let it ride until it was over in a few more days.

Lesson: It has to be caught BEFORE it starts. Funny, right? So since you don't know what's happening, it's too late.

So many years went by and, silly me, thought it was gone forever, that my mild case was lucky and gone forever. Silly me.

**********And then last year on a Thursday I had a *terrific* continuous pain in the upper right abdomen (same side as the arm from before). A solid, non-stop pain those 24 hours. Once again, I had NO idea what was happening, thought that my beer had caught up with my liver or pancreas or whatever other organs (and I have no idea of the location of those). So the next day the pain was more tolerable and thought this toleration might increase, so just waiting to see what happened next. And I don't remember, but the next five days it turned into a one day better, another worse, another day NORMAL, the next day horrible. So on the Tuesday I decided I had to do something, and knew that if I went to my regular general practitioner I would have to get lab done and then wait two more days for results, so I went to the E.R. to ask whether this was qualifying for E.R. and was told it was.

So spent the entire Tuesday until 4 P.M. in the E.R. waiting room, with lots of very concerning/scary things plus other drama, couple of hours here and there between being called in for lab and eventually (what's it called, MRI? or going into the tube), more waiting for results, until finally results happened, and this pleasant young doctor told me from the papers he was looking at that all the tests were showing that I have an inguinal hernia, which I didn't know anything about, and he told me it was a weak thing down there. This blanked me out, just hearing the location he was citing. So I asked why it was down there if my pain was "up here" in the upper side of the abdomen? He looked unsure in his delivery, saying that (really, who-knows?) those hernia things "move around."

Bottom line, he referred to making an appointment with a surgeon "within two days" (forcefully said), to see whether surgery was indicated. Fine, so make the appointment. So that happened, and the surgeon did his exam thing, him doing a contortion to hold a sheet with one hand to shield my magnificent parts from his modest assistant, while he was genuflecting. I told him he didn't have to trouble so much, that I had no illusions of enticing anybody. He said that he still had to spread the sheet "to maintain decorum." Fine.

So, by these late days the pain had subsided, and the surgeon said that there would be no surgery, that there was no sign that the hernia was bulging, that this surgery would result in five months of recuperation with WORSE pain than what I had had. i just kept on being totally blanked out, something not ADDING UP. I asked him, "But doctor, *why* is the pain UP HERE, not down there?!" and with that I pulled the shirt/shirt-tails UP to point to the upper side abdomen.

He looked and then yelled, "YOU. HAVE. SHINGLES!!!!!!!!!!!11"

Thoughout the E.R. until now, nobody had looked at the place where the pain was, and not with all that incredibly expensive machinery. And I had never looked in a mirror there.

There were three dots in a line along the right side waist line. Like mosquito bites. I have since learned from Teh Internet that some kind of marks on the waist somewhere, like a belt, gave the name in Latin for shingles or something.

So, here we go again, the surgeon said it was too late for medications, that I just had to wait until the couple of weeks until the thing ran its course.

Next lesson: I had thought the thing was a SURFACE skin rash type of thing, but my pain this time was totally internal, like some big injury on the inside.

I still have the neuropathy in the original thumb from years ago, can feel the numbness whenever turning the ignition key to the car.

Another thing, I found out from my doctor afterwards that it was still needed to take the vaccine *after* having had the thing over with, since having a second episode indicated there might be another one.

My big surprises were that the onset sneaks up, don't know what it is when it starts, then too late for meds, all the vastly sophisticated and expensive medical know-how and machines don't guarantee diagnosis, and something basic like looking under the shirt might matter.

[IcyPeas]

23. O.M.G.

well, glad you didn't have unnecessary surgery. this shingle thing really sucks. everyone that gets it will tell you how painful it is. deeper than just the skin rash. And they can't do anything for the pain.... sure you can take pain killers but they don't help a lot of people with shingles. ugh!

I hope yours doesn't recur again. I hope you got/get the vaccine. The shingles is worse the older you are too -- more likely to be left with that post herpetic neuralgia.

[UTUSN]

24. On yea, got the shingrx, both rounds last year. Doc said it was new improved vaccine

[Totally Tunsie]

26. Had a rock-hard sore arm from the first one, but the second

really did me in - fever, lethargy, nausea and pain for three days. Nevertheless, I'd do it again in a heartbeat to avoid shingles.

Hope you get through the "after" easily. Everyone reacts differently. Don't let us scare you!

[IcyPeas]

27. I'm like you...

I'd rather go through a week of feeling shitty than a bout of shingles and possible lifetime of pain.

I hope everyone gets the vaccine because this is a nasty piece of work virus.

[LuckyCharms]

28. I'm almost a bit late on the second shot.

Had to push it out to June because of Covid-19. I too felt fine after the first one.

Here's hoping you have no symptoms after the second shot.

Good for you for getting the shingles vaccine!

[In_The_Wind]

29. I'm glad I had both but my body's reaction was less than lovely.