SHINGLES!!!

Funny, I just ask my physician if I should get the vaccine for shingles on Wednesday. I know of 3 people all my age, all healthy who got shingles this winter and it was a very uncomfortable time for all of them. It's the first time he has ever talked me out of anything! It is his opinion, based on the evidence available, that this vaccine should be reserved for the very elderly (80+) and/or the very infirm. There is no data to support reimmunisation after ten years and that is roughly how long the protection lasts. So if you are NED and feeling well then skip it as long as you can. Since I am planning to be here in 10 years, I decided that I would heed his advice for now. If I have to undergo chemo I will reevaluate.

I agree - get the vaccine before chemo.  I got shingles after my 2nd treatment with chemo and so did another person in our support group.  I ended up with them on my forehead.  My friend ended up with them in her ear and also got bells palsy from the ordeal.  Thankfully that went away after about 3 months.

Leah - that goes without saying, of course.  I don't think you can get the vaccine without a doctor's prescription, at least not here in the US.

You do not need an Rx, just go to your Walgreens pharmacy and get one there.

My Aunt who was stage 4 got Shingles and it was terrible for her.

My friend who had BC got shingles and was in her twenties. She had a really rough bout of it. She would fill her bathtub with cold water, get in, hold her nose, and submerge herself to try to stop the pain. 

I get my shingles vaccine before I started chemo, with my surgeons blessing. I was 65. I didn't have an Onc yet because I got BC Dx right in the middle of moving.  I actually left the movers loading the truck and ran to the Walgreens to get the vaccine becuase I was that scared of shingles.

The CDC has recomendations for immunization that could be reassuring and informative.

Ginger

I was told that there wasn't time between DX and first A/C to have the shingles vaccine safely and not to have it during A/C and Taxol and to wait until after last rad. I burned bad so I waited til a month after last of the burns healed to get it.

My story is the same as LuvRVing's.

Several days after my BC dx, I was in my PCP's office for something else. He reviewed my records and said "You need to get the shingles vaccine NOW, because we don't know what your breast cancer treatment will be." So I got it the same day, and was happy I did.

I was 60, and had seen my sweet elderly mom suffer with shingles. A bad reaction to Valtrex sent her to the hospital, and the Neurontin they gave her put her in a coma. She eventually recovered from that, but it was very scary. My aunt got shingles many years ago, and still suffers horrific post-herpetic-neuralgia (disabling nerve pain) to this day.

MY DH just missed the boat. He didn't get the vaccine, then was diagnosed with kidney disease and put on massive doses of steroids. No vaccine for him!

I got shingles during chemo.....it was awful.

A short while ago there was a commercial/info spot about shingles on TV. It had a retired fireman talking about having shingles. The site to check out about it is www.shinglesinfo.com

Saw my PCP last week & she gave me an Rx fir it & told me to consider it. It's now approved for  "50" & older. She said she was going to get it when she turned 50. She also thought my insurance would pay for it & that it might be harder for me to get when I become medicare age. I'm 53. She said the re-vaccination time frame hasn't been figured out. I'm probably not going to get it because it involves taking the Rx to a pharmacy like Costco or Walgreens. Once there I'll have to convince them to give it to me somewhere other than the convenient arms since I've had nodes removed on both sides. Apparently the vaccine has to stay at a temperature below freezing until administation time, making it difficult for MDs to provide this in their office.

Shingles was the worst pain in my entire cancer journey… no in my life (not I don't have children so child birth might top this). I was suffering with it last year at this time. I still have some scars and itch from it.

Here in the US your insurance will not pay for it if you are under 60 but it has been approved for age50+. Get the prescription and get it from Walgreens, Costco or someplace cheaper than the doctor's office if the insurance won't pay. My husband got it after he saw what I went through… and you know how hard it can be to get men to do medical stuff.

My PCP harrassed me for over a year to get the vaccine - it is not paid for by OHIP (Ontario Health Care) yet so I had to pay $298 out of pocket and had to wait three months because of the waiting list for it - we had a dear friend who got shingles and he spent the last two years of his life bedridden and in agonizing pain - not for me!

Wow.....all that is covered under Kaiser's "Wellness" programs....free flu shots, free pneumonia shots, free shingles vaccines, etc.

(At least under my plan)

I spoke with my oncologist again at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa and he has convinced me that it is okay for me to have the vaccine.   I am going to get the shot.

I am in a clinical trial for a new shingles vaccine just for people with compromised immune systems. It is designed for cancer patients.  I have no idea when this will be available, because I am signed up to be monitored for the next five years. And it was 4 shots given one every 40 days. No idea if I had the actual vaccine or the placebo, but I haven't had any bad effects.