Stranger in a Strange Land

[Bryan 15,496]

Unfortunately  the shingles vaccine is not thought to be useful to those over 80, while it's not 100% effective for younger folk. The disease is reasonably common, I know a few people, including my wife, who have had it. All survived without, to the best of my knowledge, any long term consequences. 

[Betty LaRue 3,635]

1 hour ago, gvallee said:

 

I caught it a few years back here in Oz, God knows how. I'm usually very healthy. It was a total mystery. It did leave me flat on my back for a few days. Even lifting a finger was an effort. Not like me at all.

Shingles, Herpes Zoster, can hit you if you ever had chicken pox. The virus hides in your body for the rest of your life. People who get older, or are run down, ill with something else that weakens you...sometimes just getting exhausted by doing a project over days are more susceptible to getting them. Shingles are an opportunistic disease, likes to hit you when your down. And often, just getting old is enough, because of weaker immune systems and often poorer health.

 My mother had them in her early 60s.

My husband went on a family ski trip. They made it into the Colorado mountains, but not to their condo, before becoming stranded from a blizzard. Rescuers got them to a closed-down schoolhouse, where they stayed for 3 days with a lot of other people. There were cots, but not enough. My husband gave his cot up to a woman with a baby when that family arrived a few hours after my family.  
 

All he had to sleep on was a wooden bench in the shower locker room. Very few blankets, and being the gentleman that he was, he let the women and children come first, so no blanket. The building was cold, like the 50s.  On the one side, the snow was drifted to the roof. They only had sparse sandwiches to eat And any snacks they'd brought.  He caught a very bad cold there. By the time the roads were opened, my family drove home. Bob was still sick with a cold, and developed shingles on his leg soon as he got home.  The breakouts (blisters) follow certain nerves in the body. Many get them on one half of their waist. There used to be an old wives tale that if they went all the way around your waist and both ends met, you would die. Not true.

When I worked for an ophthalmologist, we saw patients that got them on their scalp and often came down one side of the forehead toward an eye. You can get them in your eye and it’s serious. We saw the people whose eye was threatened.

Bob’s breakout on his lower leg was the first I knew of shingles attacking in that place. All I ever heard about for years was the waist area until I went to work for the doctor.
I didn’t go on that ski trip. Because of a severe whiplash injury, my skiing days were over. I stayed home and pursued my own interests and avoided a very unpleasant experience.
I've had chicken pox. Have you? If you never have, your probably safe from shingles.

You don’t catch shingles. You come down with them if you’ve had chicken pox.

Edited October 5, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[gvallee 3,877]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

 

I've had chicken pox. Have you? 

You don’t catch shingles. You come down with them if you’ve had chicken pox.

 

I probably have, I don't really know. I never knew that.

[John Mitchell 5,342]

I know people who have had horrible bouts of shingles, including one who had it on her scalp and face, similar to the person Betty mentioned. I somehow contracted chicken pox in my early 30's, which is fairly unusual as it's usually a childhood disease, so I guess I should get in the vaccine queue.

Edited October 5, 2020 by John Mitchell

[Thyrsis 666]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

I know people who have had horrible bouts of shingles, including one who had it on her scalp and face, similar to the person Betty mentioned. I somehow contracted chicken pox in my early 30's, which is fairly unusual as it's usually a childhood disease, so I guess I should get in the vaccine queue.

When my daughter first started school she caught chicken pox and passed it on to me and my son, I was about 34. They both recovered in a few days but I was really poorly for a week or more. Blisters everywhere!!

Edited October 5, 2020 by Thyrsis

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

Betty, that's an excellent description of shingles. And yes, Bryan, that is the position of the NHS on giving the vaccine. 

 

I believe that I had chickenpox as a child, most the kids in my area of Brooklyn did. Measles and chickenpox were common aliments. 

 

I shall approach the danger of developing shingles as I approach gunshot wounds and earthquakes. I do my best to avoid them. 

 

Gen, you've managed to sidestep salty crocs, great white sharks, venomous reptiles, box jelly fish, and defensive 6'7" kangaroo moms carrying a joey . . . but got shingles? I hate to tell you, but you can get it again. 

 

 

 

[Michael Ventura 6,413]

I had chickenpox when I was a kid and have not had shingles....yet.  I do need to get the vaccine soon, thanks for the reminder!  I know some people, including my father, who had a terrible time with shingles.  Often it is described to be like a severe case of both a sunburn and a poison ivy rash, combined!  And it can leave scarring.

[gvallee 3,877]

47 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Gen, you've managed to sidestep salty crocs, great white sharks, venomous reptiles, box jelly fish, and defensive 6'7" kangaroo moms carrying a joey . . . but got shingles? I hate to tell you, but you can get it again. 

 

And much more!! Sinking in the Amazon, twice, climbing an active volcano and dodging explosive outbursts, getting lost in the rainforest, being in a helicopter emergency landing, being bitten by a bull ant, allegedly the most painful animal bite in Oz, I can testify to that, I could write a book. But shingles!! Ah non!! No thank you. Never again!! Get your jab Edo.

 

Thinking about it, I'd rather have shingles a second time than a bull ant bite again. 

Edited October 5, 2020 by gvallee

[NYCat 2,854]

12 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

I can walk into Walmart, Or Walgreens, or CVS, go to the pharmacy area and get my free flu shot. I will be doing that this coming week. I’ll just need to fill out a paper, provide my cards, and get it. No scheduling. Last year, 10 minutes, in and out.

 

Don't delay, Betty. I got mine a few weeks ago at CVS because a friend of mine feared that they will run out this year because of the awareness of viruses now. The woman who gave me the shot said they were already running out. Speaking of not delaying. I had a very minor shingles episode and because I went straight to my doctor he was able to give me something that stopped it in its tracks. I don't remember what it was but it has to be given very soon to work. Stay healthy everyone!

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

Boots chemist told me they do do flu jabs. However, they have no vaccine as yet.

[spacecadet 4,340]

59 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Boots chemist told me they do do flu jabs. However, they have no vaccine as yet.

Boots did say they were holding it back for priority groups, but if you're not priority I don't know who is. You'd also pay there, whereas NHS/pharmacy is free.

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

59 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Boots did say they were holding it back for priority groups, but if you're not priority I don't know who is. You'd also pay there, whereas NHS/pharmacy is free.

 

No, Boots does the free NHS jab for eligible persons. They encouraged me to check back with them and said they had not yet received any vaccine. I would be happy to pay the 13 pounds, so that's not the problem. 

 

https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/winter-flu-jab-services

 

[spacecadet 4,340]

45 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

No, Boots does the free NHS jab for eligible persons. They encouraged me to check back with them and said they had not yet received any vaccine. I would be happy to pay the 13 pounds, so that's not the problem. 

 

https://www.boots.com/online/pharmacy-services/winter-flu-jab-services

 

Well with revenues what they are, and my other industry shut down, the £13 is. I'll wait for free. They brought the age down but I have to wait. Looks like everybody has to wait.

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

£13 yes but what will getting the flu cost? I've had flu twice in the last 10 years.

 

By the way, a shingle jab costs about $200 in NYC. 

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Ed Rooney

[John Mitchell 5,342]

5 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Boots chemist told me they do do flu jabs. However, they have no vaccine as yet.

       

The new flu vaccine usually comes out every year in mid-October here.

[Betty LaRue 3,635]

15 hours ago, Michael Ventura said:

I had chickenpox when I was a kid and have not had shingles....yet.  I do need to get the vaccine soon, thanks for the reminder!  I know some people, including my father, who had a terrible time with shingles.  Often it is described to be like a severe case of both a sunburn and a poison ivy rash, combined!  And it can leave scarring.

Scarring, yes. Most people get over them ok. But some have nerve damage since they follow a nerve, and feel pain in that area for years. My mother felt pain for months after her skin was perfectly healed. She could barely sleep.

Nerves are a funny thing. I can sometimes pluck a hair around an eyebrow and feel a sting on my abdomen. Depends on which hair I pluck! 😂
Not sure if this is a nerve thing, but if I clean my left ear with a swab, it makes me cough pretty hard. Other ear. Nothing.

Found the answer.

 

A less well-known side effect of sticking things in your ear is an automatic coughing reflex – nicknamed “Arnold’s ear-cough reflex” after the man who first described it, Friedrich Arnold, a 19th-century German scholar.

Edited October 6, 2020 by Betty LaRue

[Betty LaRue 3,635]

12 hours ago, NYCat said:

 

Don't delay, Betty. I got mine a few weeks ago at CVS because a friend of mine feared that they will run out this year because of the awareness of viruses now. The woman who gave me the shot said they were already running out. Speaking of not delaying. I had a very minor shingles episode and because I went straight to my doctor he was able to give me something that stopped it in its tracks. I don't remember what it was but it has to be given very soon to work. Stay healthy everyone!

 

Paulette

Thanks for that. I’ll go tomorrow. I’ve always waited until October.

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

"Just relax your arm. This won't hurt a bit."

 

Ouch! What the hell. . . .

[Robert M Estall 395]

Had my flu jab Saturday morning at Hadleigh Health Centre (NHS) Very impressed how smoothly they were processing the large number of over 75s and getting them through a one-way system. In and out in about 5 minutes. I think I hardly felt a prick as they pushed the needle in. In all of those over-75s there were no hobbling old crocks!

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

My problem with not getting the jab on Sunday was my fault, not the NHS. The NHS has been great here from the day I arrived. But Boots has been great too, and they're closer. I'll wait on Boots till Friday and then call and book a slot with the NHS.

 

75? I remember when I was 75. I think I was 76 the last time I got into a punch up in the NY Subway.  

[Stan Pritchard 227]

All this talk about chickenpox has brought back memories of my catching it in the 1950s when I was about 26 years old. My wife had visited a friend who's young daughter had the disease and unfortunately for me she brought it home and gave it to me, my wife wasn't affected herself. I was very ill for about two weeks. with a painful rash all over my body and I was off work for about three weeks. Fortunately, I've never had a case of shingles, so I suppose I should feel myself lucky. I managed to get a free flu jab last week, Hurrah for our NHS! 

[NYCat 2,854]

3 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

75? I remember when I was 75. I think I was 76 the last time I got into a punch up in the NY Subway.  

 

We are more or less back to the bad old days. I was called an "old bag" by a very intoxicated man this morning. Better than having him find me attractive. I just kept moving on in my experienced New Yorker way. Hoping to see good old days back some day.

 

Paulette

[Allan Bell 2,811]

24 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

We are more or less back to the bad old days. I was called an "old bag" by a very intoxicated man this morning. Better than having him find me attractive. I just kept moving on in my experienced New Yorker way. Hoping to see good old days back some day.

 

Paulette

 

NO WAY!        How rude.

 

Allan

 

[NYCat 2,854]

Thank you, Allan, but I mean it that it is better to not be attractive to a man who can barely stagger down the street. We are seeing more of that these days I'm sorry to say.

 

Paulette

[Ed Rooney 4,343]

Sick one of your Polar Bear pals on him, Paulette.