Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dear Doctor: Shingles outbreak happens due to immune system failure, not because of exposure
The Oregonian ^ | 5/16/24 | Dr. Keith Roach

Posted on 05/24/2024 11:40:56 AM PDT by DallasBiff

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am 70. I got my shingles vaccination in 2018. I took two doses of the Shingrix vaccine. I was invited to dinner at someone’s house where someone just got shingles. Am I still protected? -- S.C.

ANSWER: About 99% of North Americans are immune to the varicella-zoster virus that causes chicken pox and shingles, either because they had it as a child or because they got the vaccine. Exposure to the virus, whether it was due to chicken pox or shingles, can cause chicken pox in a person who does not have immunity.

(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: bigpharma; chickenpox; shingles; vax; wboopi
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last
To: catnipman

No you are correct. Acyclovir will work fine.


21 posted on 05/24/2024 12:22:33 PM PDT by boop (YOU sit in YOUR seat!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: JBW1949

Notour fault your parents raised you in a closet!


22 posted on 05/24/2024 12:23:04 PM PDT by Chickensoup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Chickensoup

Nope...Raised on the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park on a cattle and tobacco farm...Had other farm kids to play with in the streams and woods...

Dad sold farm when I was 14 and we moved to Knoxville in a subdivision...BIG culture shock to me...But I had great teen years and enjoyed playing football and track in HS...

No closet for me.....


23 posted on 05/24/2024 12:46:16 PM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Flaming Conservative

“But I thought having had chicken pox in the past increased the likelihood of getting shingles.”

Here’s my understanding. The virus remains in some nerve cells where it is normally dormant. As we age or experience stress, our immune system fails to counter the virus which it apparently normally does on a daily basis. The virus emerges as patches on the skin. My aunt eventually died because she couldn’t tolerate any of the treatments. Apparently, it was a hard way to go. My father had an outbreak while visiting family in Sweden and suffered horribly. I got special dispensation to get the vaccine because at the time the standard treatment model was to only give the vaccine after a certain age unless you met whatever the criteria were. I told my doctor I didn’t want to risk going through what my father and his sister had suffered and he made it happen for me. I have on occasion, had a horrible itchy sore which my doctor identified as shingles. It’s always in the same spot as it appears in whatever nerve is carrying the virus. It’s just one tiny spot and it hasn’t happened in the last few years. It happened when I was under terrible stress at work.

I plan on asking my doctor if I need a booster as I’m seventy now and I was fifty-something when I got the shot.


24 posted on 05/24/2024 12:56:40 PM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff; nickcarraway; ransomnote; Jane Long
Speaking of immune system failure...

Viral reactivation following COVID-19 vaccination: a review of the current literature

...A total of 48 articles involving 2067 patients were selected. Of these, 32, 6 and 17 articles reported varicella zoster virus (VZV) reactivation (1758 patients), herpes simplex virus (HSV) (238 patients) onset and PR (71 patients), respectively (some articles discussed more than one of these three reactivations). Possible pathogenetic mechanisms underlying viral reactivation are still not understood...

In light of that, especially loved this bit...

...Certainly, vaccination should not be discouraged.

Note to Deep State, Big Med, and Big Pharma: In my case, please do hold your breath while you wait. 😄

25 posted on 05/24/2024 1:03:43 PM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

😂🤣

Do the exact opposite of what these lying grifters say.

Thx for the ping.


26 posted on 05/24/2024 1:06:25 PM PDT by Jane Long (The role of the GOP: to write sharply-worded letters as America becomes a communist hell-hole.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: Flaming Conservative

Ahhh, that is what Pharma tells you.


27 posted on 05/24/2024 1:08:10 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts (“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: We should have set up ambushes...paraphrased)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TexasGator

The roof fell to pieces? Never look up... just a joke man..JOKES OFF NOW... I couldn’t resist.


28 posted on 05/24/2024 1:10:25 PM PDT by Glad2bnuts (“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: We should have set up ambushes...paraphrased)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

I got shingles at pretty much the same time you did. I has a burning sensation on my forehead at the hairline. I thought I had burned myself with my curling iron and dismissed it until I woke up one morning with my eyes nearly swollen shut. After seeing my primary Dr.,,he told me to hightail it to my eye Dr. He said I wasn’t in any danger of it moving into me eyes. I got lucky as my bout was pretty mild but it did scab up and left a scar.


29 posted on 05/24/2024 1:43:14 PM PDT by surrey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: surrey

To this day I still have numbness in my left chest area that I attribute to nerve damage from shingles.....and I guess I’ll always have it.


30 posted on 05/24/2024 1:46:43 PM PDT by V_TWIN (America...so great even the people that hate it refuse to leave!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: tflabo

I had shingles and it was about a year after my husband died unexpectedly. Was in a pretty, dark place, not taking care of myself. Abusing myself really with alcohol and overworking a LOT to occupy my mind...not sleeping or eating right. Sound like a recipe for lowered immune system? Does to me. I had a mild case. Thought it was poison ivy. Fortunately my bi-annual check up was 2 weeks after it started up and I showed my doctor. She said, OH, that’s a classic case of shingles. Asked what to do she said Vitamin C and try not to scratch it lol!!


31 posted on 05/24/2024 1:51:01 PM PDT by sevinufnine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: V_TWIN

“For me it ran from my breast bone around my chest, under my left arm all the way to my backbone.”

that’s one of the classic meridians for shingles ... and that’s right where the hornet stung me ...


32 posted on 05/24/2024 2:57:07 PM PDT by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: boop

yeap, they both work but i *THINK* famciclovir may have a lower side-effect profile ...


33 posted on 05/24/2024 2:58:37 PM PDT by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: tflabo

Probably a good idea ... a mRNA “vaccines” now.


34 posted on 05/24/2024 3:17:20 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (We used to be a Republic, we are now a Fascist Klepto-Thugocracy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: DallasBiff

My mother claims I had chickenpox twice. Once at around 7 months old (don’t remember since I was still recovering from being circumcised- couldn’t walk for a year) and then again at 6 or 7. I remember that one. Anyway, I don’t believe it. Just like I really don’t believe I’m allergic to penicillin as I was told since a small child. Probably used too much during that time I couldn’t walk.


35 posted on 05/24/2024 3:18:12 PM PDT by wgmalabama (Censored!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tflabo

I am refusing all vaccines now.


36 posted on 05/24/2024 3:20:05 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Trump will be sworn in under a shower of confetti made from the tattered remains of the Rat Party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bubba_Leroy

I’m in my 80s, had chicken pox and measles at the same time as a child.
Also had both the single shingles shot and the 2 shot series.
Have to admit that the second shot of the 2 shot series made me pretty sick.
Ran a fever and joint pain.
I should be shingles proof.


37 posted on 05/24/2024 4:54:48 PM PDT by Blueway
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: catnipman
I personally use Valtrex 1000mg tid x 7d.

Huge pills but it gets the job done.

38 posted on 05/26/2024 6:46:29 PM PDT by boop (YOU sit in YOUR seat!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: boop

yep, valtrex works great too!


39 posted on 05/26/2024 7:57:52 PM PDT by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-39 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson