Flu shots

Catapault said:

If you ever had chickenpox you can get shingles. It did not disappear when you recovered. The virus remains in your body.

Shingles might merely make you miserable. OR Shingles can be brutal. Depends on how severe your reaction is and also where the outbreak shows up on your body. Once you have shingles the vaccine would not be of any help. It must be given beforehand
Your choice. Want to buy a lottery ticket?

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I've been lucky enough to have had shingles twice so I'll pass on the lottery ticket thank you.
In normal circumstances I don't buy lottery tickets.

I had Shingles at 26 while stressing in grad school. It just felt like a bad sunburn. But I am sure each perception is different. The person with the shingles does not "catch" it from anyone as Shingles is simply Chicken pox the second time-the virus lives in your body forever and can be reactivated by stressors. If you have never had chicken pox you will never get shingles. If you do have shingles you are contagious to others-giving them Chicken Pox if they have never had them.

Fun isn't it.

Regarding the Flu shot-The one we give in fall is LAST years Virus. We cannot predict what this years flu virus will be. We give you inactivated last years virus hopping it will be the SAME virus or a similar one. Being in health care they sort of bully us into taking them. But I have fell ill several times from them so now refuse. I believe flu shots are great for the elderly, young kids and those with compromised immune systems.  I think the shingles vaccine price is out of control and being not a big deal-you cannot get it from others-only from being worn down. I would not bother with it.

Catapault said:

 
If you ever had chickenpox you can get shingles. It did not disappear when you recovered. The virus remains in your body.

Shingles might merely make you miserable. OR Shingles can be brutal. Depends on how severe your reaction is and also where the outbreak shows up on your body. Once you have shingles the vaccine would not be of any help. It must be given beforehand.

Your choice. Want to buy a lottery ticket?

Click to expand...

My grandma had a really bad case of shingles 2 years ago. It lasted for like 8 months and just wouldn't go away. I can't imagine how miserable she was, she was 93 years old at the time.

If you can afford it, I urge everyone to get the shingles vaccine.

My mother had a severe case over two years ago. I don't think I can begin to describe the agony she was in. It was to the point where she couldn't even be rational. To this day she still has pain. The pain and upset stomach do flare up from time to time with her and today is a bad day. She has tried SO many different medications to help and the doctors have run out of ideas.

I never had chicken pox and was at risk when she had shingles. I've since been vaccinated.

As far as the flu and pneumonia vaccines I had a severe case of the flu around eight years ago that turned into pneumonia. It was by far the sickest I have ever been in my life. My brother had pneumonia in February and came extremely close to dying. He was rushed to the hospital, unresponsive and was there for over a week. It's really not something to fool around with. I always get vaccinated.

Slykat12 said:

 
I believe flu shots are great for the elderly, young kids and those with compromised immune systems.  I think the shingles vaccine price is out of control and being not a big deal-you cannot get it from others-only from being worn down. I would not bother with it.

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Well I think shingles is a big deal and l will bother with it. I've known people who have had it and I do not want to suffer that kind of pain if I can avoid it. 

Muffy said:

 
Well I think shingles is a big deal and l will bother with it. I've known people who have had it and I do not want to suffer that kind of pain if I can avoid it. 

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As mentioned I have had it and it was no big deal for me.. But you go ahead and spend the money if you want. It is your body. I was just giving a personal and professional (25 years and counting of experience in medicine-especially the communicable type diseases) I get paid to advise. This was a free bee.

I'm a nursing home employee and get a yearly flu shot at work.  Also, I have heard that a stronger flu vaccine  has been developed for the elderly, so I hope this is what  the residents at the nursing home will be given.

My husband and I have had the pneumonia shot and the shingles shot. Our insurance did pay. Because of our age we will never need another pneumonia shot. We never get the flu one because it does not protect against all strains of the flu. We keep the hand cleaners in all vehicles and in my purse. We are fanatics about using it too. So we have not had any problems.

Slykat12 said:

 
As mentioned I have had it and it was no big deal for me.. But you go ahead and spend the money if you want. It is your body. I was just giving a personal and professional (25 years and counting of experience in medicine-especially the communicable type diseases) I get paid to advise. This was a free bee.

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Curious, if shingles is no big deal, then why do we put patients with shingles on airborne precautions and in negative pressure rooms?  Not to derail the thread, but shingles was mentioned in the first post.

I think like anything else bodies get different "level" and different people can handle more.  My only question is not long ago I barely heard it mentioned and now it is all over-is it increased ads from the vaccine companies or did it increase in cases? Or a combo?

catsallaround said:

 
I think like anything else bodies get different "level" and different people can handle more.  My only question is not long ago I barely heard it mentioned and now it is all over-is it increased ads from the vaccine companies or did it increase in cases? Or a combo?

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Which one, shingles or the flu? 

Shingles.

The CDC *Center for Disease Control) site says:

"Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, the varicella zoster virus, can be spread from a person with active shingles to another person who has never had chickenpox. In such cases, the person exposed to the virus might develop chickenpox, but they would not develop shingles.

The virus is spread through direct contact with fluid from the rash blisters caused by shingles.

A person with active shingles can spread the virus when the rash is in the blister-phase. A person is not infectious before the blisters appear. Once the rash has developed crusts, the person is no longer contagious.

Shingles is less contagious than chickenpox and the risk of a person with shingles spreading the virus is low if the rash is covered."

The vaccine has been around for several years. When we were vaccinated if we had gotten the vaccine from our health center it would have been expensive even on Medicare. But we got the vaccine through our pharmacy and the cost was covered. Vaccine comes frozen. We picked it up, went right over to the health center, and a nurse administered the vaccine.

In some states the pharmacist can administer vaccines - for example

• Iowa: Effective September 1, 2013, the state now allows pharmacists to administer all CDC-approved vaccines/travel vaccines pursuant to a protocol. Iowa pharmacists also can administer influenza vaccines to patients as young as 6 years of age and administer any vaccine to patients of any age via prescription.
• Maine: Effective October 9, 2013, pharmacy interns can administer vaccines..
• Maryland: As of October 1, 2013, Maryland pharmacists can administer all CDC-approved vaccines.
• Montana: Effective October 1, 2013, pharmacists can administer vaccines to patients 18 years or older under protocol. However, without a protocol, they can prescribe and administer influenza vaccine to patients 12 years or older. They also can administer pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine without a prescription and administer all other forms of pneumococcal vaccine under protocol.
• New York: Administration of meningococcal vaccines now is authorized.

Here in Massachusetts, pharmacists can now administer certain vaccines as well. My husband got his flu shot from the local pharmacy last year and they are again advertising flu, pneumonia and shingles vaccines this year.

I know the pharmacists here can give a lot of the shots.  They can give the flu and shingles one.  They can also give some of the more routine shots like the MMR but only to adults.  One of the supermarket chains also has some of the little walk in clinics staffed by nurse practitioners and they can give all of the vaccines.  Of course some of the ones that are usually only given to someone who is traveling have to be ordered so they require an advance notice.