I had mine last fall. I think I paid a $20 co-pay. I had no reaction to it at all. I am so grateful for this vaccine. I've known a few people who have had shingles and it is a miserable condition. My mom had a mild case on her face. It looked like poison ivy.

One friend still got shingles after the vaccine but his doctor said it would have been much, much worse if he had not been vaccinated. His popped out during a time of extreme stress and worry.

I had chicken pox as a kid, so the virus is lurking in my system.

I chose to get it. I saw the suffering in a neighbor, my mother and my sister. I was fortunate my insurance paid for it. When I hesitated because of the cost and thinking insurance would not cover it, my doctor told me I could arrange a payment plan-that's how strongly she believes in it. I think it was Alisande who did a lot of research on this topic. Perhaps a search of this forum would get you there.

I got mine a few months ago. DH is an oncologist and researched it - needless to say if he thought it wasn't a good idea he wouldn't have recommended it.

If you type the word shingles in the search box of the KT, it will bring up more info for you.

I got my shingles shot after a friend ended up so miserable with shingles for several months. It ended up not costing me anything, and I had no side effects.

Good luck on making your decision.

Shirley

Forgot to mention one other thing. I'm really leary about having medical procedures (including shots) performed by someone who isn't actually a dr. or nurse. Here, drs aren't giving the shot, they're sending people to pharmacists to get it.

Over the years, I've had allergic reactions to many things that "no one's ever allergic to"--nothing that's on the list as a counterindication to this shot, but I never know when something new is going to crop up. And having this done at a grocery store or chain pharmacy? Just seems a bit dangerous to me, if I were to have some sort of reaction on the spot.

My cousin has been pushing at all of us to get the shot - her father had an experience with shingles two years ago that was life changing and came closer to him losing his independence that anything ever has. His health has been flawless up to his early 90's, no medical issues at all, but a bout with shingles changed that for him.

I haven't gotten my own yet, but DH got his with a physical in January. The nurse at his doctors office gave him the shot when he went for his yearly physical, at $190 it was about $30 cheaper there than the grocery store pharmacy (only one pharmacy in town keeps the vaccine). No side effects, no reaction, not even any ache or bruised feeling at the injection site as can happen with a flu shot.

Azzalea, I had all the thoughts you are having and procrastinated for a couple of years.

I first thought of getting the injection when my sister phoned me after visiting her neighbor who had shingles. Sister was in a state of alarm because the neighbor was so sick, and she got the shot right away.

I have read that the vaccine is not 100% effective in protecting people from shingles. I have also read of the extremely painful, debilitating and even long-lasting effects of having shingles. At my age, it could affect the rest of my life!

I too did not want to have an injection in the office of some chain pharmacy or supermarket, but that's the way it is. I worried about the competency of the person giving the injection. I went to Walgreens, and it was handled in a professional way by someone skilled at injections. I was taken into a back office. (I had visions of getting an injection at the check-out register, but no.) You can ask who gives the shot and about their training. My secondary insurance paid for part of the expense.

Side effects: my arm was sore for about a week.

That's my 2 cents, Azzalea. I'd rather have no shots, take no meds, just try to live a healthy life, but I did get the shot.

(I'll go with you if you like--at least in spirit!)

i hadn't checked with either the kidney doc or oncologist, yet...dh did have singles as did my half sister....

Shingles is an awful disease. My mother and two aunts had it and one aunt lost the vision in one eye and was hospitalized. Husband had a mild case and wasn't really sick. However when the vaccine was offered we immediately got it a few years ago. It's frozen and need s to be given by a pharmacy. We both got it , absolutely no side affects and do not regret it. It can be a terrible disease. My insurance paid for it but I would have still gotten it..

FYI, the grocery stores and pharmacies hire nurses on a contract basis to give the shots. Not just anyone who is good with a needle is allowed to do it. I bet the stores are very proactive in covering their arses. You may be safer there than in your doc's office.

Dedtired--that may be regional. Around here, pharmacists and techs give the shots if you go to a pharmacy (or supermarket). It's possible that different states have different requirements for this sort of thing.

I'm really on the fence. When you consider that it's only, at best, 50% effective; and they say it's 'safe' but that half the people getting it will have a reaction; and that you may get chicken pox at the injection site (necessitating keeping the area covered and being very careful who you go around until you're over it), the fact that longterm studies for safety and efficacy haven't been done... along with the fact that they're highly inflating the numbers of how many actually get shingles--'they're' saying 1 in 3 will suffer from it (I've spent the past 15 years as caregiver of my mom and aunt--have been in various senior apts, rehabs, and assisted living and in the past TWENTY years, I've only known TWO people who have had shingles!) Also, I've read accounts online of several people who had the shot and GOT shingles within the year! (don't quite know what to make of that--would they have gotten shingles anyway? or not? or would it have been a more severe case? or not). Well, I'm inclined to pass for now.

On the other hand? I really don't want shingles. I know it's a terribly painful disease, and can have lasting effects.

This is really becoming a huge debate in my mind. Have a feeling it's going to go the way of flu shots in our house. DH will have the shingles vaccine, have no problem with it, and will never get shingles. I'll probably pass on it, at least for now, and will probably never get shingles, either (I've never gotten the flu, even though I never get the shot).

But do keep the replies, thoughts and experiences coming.

I'm another one who procrastinated, for many of the same reasons you have. I'm suspicious of new medical stuff (prefer to wait and see what happens when it's been in practice for a period of time), am not crazy about vaccines, and tend to react to many things most people don't react to. So even after I got shingles, I was on the fence.

Discussions here at the KT finally convinced me to do it. I didn't want to get shingles again if I could avoid it or minimize the severity of it, and I didn't want the neuropathy that often follows an outbreak. Most of all, I didn't want to lose my vision or have one of the other devastating side effects that can result from a shingles outbreak.

So I got the shot. It was given by the regular, in-house pharmacist at Rite-Aid, and I paid a $45 co-pay. Pharmacists are administering the shots for a practical reason: The vaccine needs to be kept frozen. Back when I first started thinking about getting shot (I told you I procrastinated!), I was advised to pick up the vaccine at a pharmacy and then get to the doctor's office as quickly as possible to get the shot. You can imagine the potential for screw-ups with a procedure like this. The pharmacists are well trained, and I doubt it's all that difficult to learn.

I had no side effects, and I'm glad I did it. Good luck to you!

We haven't gotten the shots yet. My SIL got shingles and was miserable for months. They are expensive, I asked the physician's assistant once when at the office. She said it does not insure that you won't get shingles, it would just be a lesser case. She also said if you get a rash on your side and haven't gotten the shot but come in right away they can treat it quickly. (My SIL ignored it until it hurt so bad she went to the ER).
Anyway, for now, we are on the fence too about getting it.

I had one mild case of shingles, diagnosed withing the 72 hour timeframe where a herpes drug helps. Receiving treatment may have kept it 'mild'. It involved my right forehead and eye -- requiring me to have my eye examined for damage. I didn't want this worry again.

DH and I got the vaccine as soon as we could, administered by an RN at our doctor's office. Neither of us had any reaction. I believe Medicare covers these now, but our supplementary covered ours 100%. (Insurance companies are pretty clever about figuring the odds!)

Even if the vaccine cost $200 out of pocket, I'd get the shot. All vaccines have a 'fail' rate. All have the potential to cause reactions. This vaccine is what we have available now. It's been used for several *years*. IMO, it's a cheap hedge against a potentially awful outcome.

I too, had a very slight case of shingles, right forehead and eye (diagnosed way outside the 72 hour time frame, but the herpes drug helped),and my MD does not advise me or DH to get the vaccine. Both of us have depressed immune systems...RA for him and Diabetes/kidney problems for me. Who Knows? I wonder how many people really get it....or do we just hear about the really bad cases over and over. just wondering.

My Blue Cross insurance covered the full amount - $219.00 but I would have requested the injection even if I had to pay myself.

After a friend of mine got shingles in his mouth, I got the vaccine! I didn't have to pay the full price, but can't remember what part I did pay....but I felt it was well worth it in case I had to endure what he was going through!

I got my shingles vaccine 6 years ago when I was 64. The pharmacist gave me the injection. I remember my mom and others getting shingles and I wanted no part of it. I had no problems with the vaccine.

I got it a couple of months ago. No side effects for me. The HMO doctor told the nurse to give it to me, and she said it's considered at least sixty percent effective. No follow-up needed.

A relative has a scarred cornea and another had chronic leg pain, both caused by shingles, so I really wanted to prevent anything like that.

azzalea-
I talked this over with my family physician of 20 years and he got the vaccine and I trusted his advice to get it myself. You are doing yourself a disservice by reading anecdotal reports about this on the Internet, getting concerned, and trying to form conclusions from piecemeal info. In your first post you said: "how often do we hear 5-10-15 years down the road, "Well, we thought it was safe at the time, but we're finding...." Well I'm trying to think when in my lifetime I've ever heard this said about a vaccine that had been approved for widespread use on the population, and I can't come up with one instance.

No vaccine is 100% effective, and no vaccine doesn't produce some occasional side effect, but I think your numbers about people having reactions are distorting your view. The potential side effects -- redness, pain, swelling, itching, warmth, or a rash at the site of the injection -- are very mild compared to what can happen if you get it. In my case, I had no reaction of any kind. I have had those side effects from my annual flu shot, but it doesn't make me stop getting it though.

Sadly, our society has become suspicious of medicine, and vaccinations in particular, and disease rates for preventable diseases are climbing. All the paranoia about vaccinations causing autism -- which have been thoroughly debunked -- has led parents to hold off on vaccinations...with the result that many children are dying from things such as whooping cough. The Internet is a wonderful source of information, and also a horrible one, because everyone, qualified or not, has a soapbox.

If you want to research shingles vaccine further, get your info from reliable web sites, like Mayo Clinic and the Centers for Disease Control. It's your choice whether to get the vaccine. The only thing I can say is that if you opt out, and later contract shingles, you're going to be kicking yourself. I've had friends get it and it lasted for many painful months, and left one of them with permanent damage.

Kudzo--I do, of course thank you for your input--but the numbers I was referring to CAME from sites like Mayo and the CDC, of course they're the ones to depend upon. DH and I discussed it last evening, and even he now isn't planning on getting a vaccine that's reported to be only 50-53% effective in our age group. We'll wait a bit, and see how things are going.

Shingles, while horrible, certainly isn't something that's nearly as widespread as the hard-sell reports trying to push this immunization are reporting. That's a definite fact. Of course, everyone knows one or two people who have had it, but really--one in three people? Can you honestly say that statistic is true among those YOU know? So I do have to question some of the other claims being made by the 'get this, get this shot now' community. Waiting a few months to a couple of years, is more likely than not, not going to make that much difference to us.

Not saying I'll never get this, but right now, my gut is screaming a very loud "NO" on this one--and I've found, over the years, I get in the MOST trouble, when I ignore my inner voice.

I can think of a vaccine right off the bat-for the rotavirus. DS got it when he was 2 and it was recommended, they stopped giving them within months due to unexpected complications. I've been a bit leery of shots since. My kids got all their'normal' ones, but ones new on the market-nope. I declined the gardisal after reading up on it online. May change my mind on that in the future, but for now, my kids aren't guinea pigs. It was really pushed all over-mailers, ads, pamplets,

That being said-I have heard so many bad things about shingles. I think I will ask about it at CVS when I pick up my prescription tomorrow. If insurance covers it, I think I would do it.

"one in three people? Can you honestly say that statistic is true among those YOU know? "

I know 4 people who have had shingles personally. And,
2 of them were family members. My BIL had such a
terrible case on his forehead and in one eye, we thought
we would lose his eyesight. He has now had the vaccine.

My Mom couldn't put anothing on except a loose bathrobe
for several weeks because her midsection was so blistered
and sore.

And...it amazes me how flippantly the word "Pharmacist"
is used. In all your googling, you might want to google
what they have studied, and have been licensed to become
a Pharmacist. Wow.

If you don't want to get the vaccine, I'd suggest
not getting it. Why do you want to argue about it?

And, yes, I have had it, and a Pharmacist who also has
a master's, gave me mine. More efficiently and painless
than any shot I have ever had.

And, if it doesn't prevent shingles, and only lessens
the lesions and pain...I am ahead of the game.

azzalea-
I'm not sure what you mean about 1 in 3 among people I know. Whether you mean had the disease, or had a reaction, or had the vaccine...but I would never base my decision on a small, non-representative group such as the people I know. Even if the vaccine was preventative in only 50% of the people who get it, it appears to mitigate the symptoms in many of those for whom it is not fully protective, and that's good enough for me.

As far as being pushed into it, I, personally, haven't seen this happening. In fact, I was the one to bring the subject up at my last physical. Here's my view: millions of doses of the vaccine have been given, a number of people have had mild side effects that are similar to many vaccinations, and no one has been seriously injured or acquired shingles from the vaccine as far as I know. I'll take the odds of being fully or partially protected versus the -- in my opinion -- nonexistent or minuscule risk of something "bad" occurring as a result of my decision to get the vaccine. I travel all over the world and have gotten a number of vaccines to protect me from diseases we don't have in the U.S. None of them were claimed to be 100% effective, and none of them were claimed as free of side effects. But I got the shots and I'm still here to talk about it...maybe because I did it. We all have different comfort levels about how we protect our bodies. I worked for a long time in the area of environmental risk, and one thing I learned early on is that people attach far more fear to small, unfamiliar risks (terrorists at the mall, nuclear power plants exploding) than to large familiar ones (smoking, driving, drinking). I suggest we continue this discussion in 10 years when the vaccine has continued to be used, people are more comfortable with it, and nothing has happened other than a lot of people not getting shingles.

I would never tell you not to go with your gut, Azzalea, but I will tell you that I know a lot of people who have had shingles. If you think you don't, just mention shingles when you're out and about. I'll be surprised if the tales don't start flowing, especially if you're talking to people over 60.

I'm not sure I understand why a 50% effectiveness rate would discourage someone from getting the shot--unless, of course, there was a high risk of a bad reaction. But I don't think there is. Even if the shot stops someone from getting post-shingles neuropathy it would be worth it.

Compared to so many stories I've heard, I had a very mild case of shingles. I was given an antiviral before the blisters erupted, so that minimized the duration of my illness. Still, I was out of work for two weeks because of the pain and my inability to lie down (because of the pain). The pain, before the shingles diagnosis, also forced me to agree to a CT scan (the equivalent of 250 chest x-rays) after a lifetime of adamantly avoiding radiation exposure because of my early medical history. It seems inconceivable to me that I okayed a CT scan, but that's how desperate I was.

Just curious: When did the use of vaccine against chickenpox become the norm? Will we see a related reduction in cases of shingles one day? (Not that I expect to be around to know! lol)

I had a severe case of chickenpox as a young child. I have a dime-size scar on the outside of one knee; I couldn't walk for days.