[ladyinweighting]

Originally Posted by Isabeau

Last year when I took my mother to her doctor's appointment, he mentioned this. She hates even to get the flu shot yearly, so she was against another injection of any kind. He also mentioned that it is quite expensive, Medicare does not pay for it (she has BC/BS supplemental), AND that it has to be given within an hour! He said if she desired the injection, we had to call the office, they called her pharmacy, and we had to pick it up and bring her and the med to his office within an hour for administration! Huh? If anyone else has heard this, please post. I thought that was weird. I haven't looked into it any more since she was against it at the time, but she has her six month checkup with him coming up next month, so I wonder if he'll mention it again.

Juliana

Hi Juliana,

Medicare DOES cover this - as does BC/BS. I was told it doesn't by doctor's office - I checked - it does.

Lynn

[meowee]

I imagine those weird instructions just mean that the vaccine deteriorates rapidly if not constantly refrigerated.

[murphmitch]

I found this on the U.S. FDA website:

An episode of shingles boosts immunity to the virus so it is unlikely that persons who have had shingles will suffer from them again. The effectiveness of Zostavax in preventing repeated episodes of shingles has not been demonstrated in clinical studies.

Personally, I know many people who have had shingles more than once.

[PampGal]

My parents live near a major medical facility and get good care. Being in their late seventies, the doctor strongly encouraged them each to get the shingle shot. They have Medicare and excellent secondary coverage; however, the hospital made them write out a check for about $430 for the two shots before they could get it.

Here's the funny part, the check was never cashed and no explanation was ever provided by the hosptial. I'm assuming that the hospital did get their money from Medicare after all.

My father has since passed away, but I really don't think he had chickenpox. There must be lots of mis-information floating around in the medical community on this topic. Love these posts that give us more to look at and question for our doctor visits.

Thanks for all the information!

[CJZee]

I'm 57 ... why do they recommend waiting until you're 60. I know someone with shingles and she can barely function. She is younger than me. Anyone know why the age recommendation? Thanks!

[maryea]

I went to the doctor the other day and he said they are now recommending the Shingles Vaccine even for people who have had shingles already. He feels though that if you have had an outbreak recently you already have a certain amount of immunity and should wait awhile before getting it if ever. He is not convinced that I need it. My most recent outbreak was this year.

[CJZee]

Originally Posted by floridarusty

I would advise everyone to get the vaccination. I had shingles a few years ago and let me tell you it was not FUN! Now my Dr. told me since I've had shingles I don't need the shot that you usually don't get it twice. I am going to ask my new Dr. and see what she suggests.

I'm no expert, but I think this virus continues to live in your body and you can get a recurrence anytime. My tenant has shingles and she's only in her early 50's. She has had many outbreaks and it ruins her life.

I wonder why they don't recommend getting the vaccination when you're 50 if people start to get shingles at that age??? Is there some bad downside to the vaccination? I am 57, and after seeing my tenant in such horrible turmoil, I think I would like to get the vaccination now if there is not too much risk to it.

[maryea]

Another thing my doc told me was that what many people think are re-ocurrences are actually simplex virus which is similiar to shingles. He said that is what it is rather than shingles. I think he was saying that might be what mine was since I have had 3 occurrences I believe. I don't think I agree with him though cause even assuming the last one (just had the usual nerve pain and I took Valtrex for it this time and never broke out) was not actually shingles, he himself diagnosed the 2nd episode and before that there was another than looked just like the one he diagnosed (several years before).