But I guess it's better than shingles.
The Shingrix vaccine fucking hurts.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | December 19, 2020 12:05 PM |
It does! I was sore for days.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | November 2, 2019 12:55 AM |
Agree. I got the previous shingles vaccine and still came down with shingles. Hope this one is better.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | November 2, 2019 1:04 AM |
It hurts like a motherfucker! The next day I felt like some doorman at a bar punched me in the shoulder.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | November 2, 2019 1:12 AM |
Does the second part of the vaccine hurt as much as the first?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | November 2, 2019 1:17 AM |
Where did you get the vaccine - from a doctor or pharmacist?
According to the CDC, MOST people have mild to moderate pain from the Shingrix vaccine. I wonder why it's so different from other vaccines.
by Anonymous | reply 5 | November 2, 2019 1:20 AM |
R3 here. Second part was not as bad. First one was just nuts! Lasted for about a week. I have had kidney stones too, and this arm pain was very intense. Doctor gave both of mine. I mentioned on the second shot visit how much it hurt, and the doc said "tell me bout it, mine hurt like hell also."
by Anonymous | reply 6 | November 2, 2019 1:24 AM |
Howard Stern said he suffered flu-like symptoms for several days after his injections. He also cited some statistic that said over 40% of vaccinated people suffer flu-like symptoms.
One of his callers said he felt like his arm got run over by a freight train.
One of my sister’s coworkers said her arm swelled up like a ballon.
But I still intend to get the shot after I’m 50 because it’s SO much better than shingles. My mom got shingles 3 years ago, just 2 months after Shingrex came out. She still hasn’t recovered to the full person she was before.
She’s much weaker now and still plagued by nerve pains and damage, which get worse depending on the food she eats.
Do not risk years of agony and early death for a few days’ worth.
I’m just going to plan a sick leave week when I get the shot.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | November 2, 2019 5:34 AM |
If you had chicken pox in childhood does the new vaccine still prevent shingles?
by Anonymous | reply 8 | November 2, 2019 5:37 AM |
I never feel flu-ish after the flu shot, but I was feeling really low after my first Shingrix. My doctor told me to expect that, too. I have to get the second one soon, so hopefully it won't be as bad. Still, much better than shingles!!
by Anonymous | reply 9 | November 2, 2019 5:42 AM |
Yup. I had a brief but rough fever the following day, over by the evening. It was crazy.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | November 2, 2019 5:54 AM |
Wow, I feel lucky. I didn't even know about the vaccine when I got a case of shingles. Very mild case in a good location. Almost no pain at all. Gone in two weeks.
by Anonymous | reply 11 | November 2, 2019 6:08 AM |
I was just speaking to my family doctor about the vaccine and he had mentioned that the shot was intramuscular. He didn't say anything about pain, but maybe he considered that obvious.
by Anonymous | reply 12 | November 2, 2019 6:16 AM |
My physician also stated 40% of people experience side effects. Yikes!
by Anonymous | reply 13 | November 2, 2019 6:26 AM |
I just got my first ever shingles vaccine earlier today, abt twelve hours ago. Nothing hurts. I wonder why??!?
by Anonymous | reply 14 | November 2, 2019 7:31 AM |
OP, why were you fucking the Shingrix vaccine?
by Anonymous | reply 15 | November 2, 2019 7:42 AM |
All I had was a sore arm for a couple of days after the first dose of the Shingrix vaccine but after the second dose I was sick as a dog for about three days, felt like complete shit and had a fever but that is still less time than if I had gotten the shingles. Still glad I got it, my mother got shingles and the pain never completely went away for her.
by Anonymous | reply 16 | November 2, 2019 11:36 AM |
In my family, my father and my great aunt both suffered mightily with shingles. In my dad's case, the shingles eruptions emanated on his chest below his nipple and wrapped around to the middle of his back.
He died 20 years ago but I remember him complaining that getting restful sleep was difficult until his shingles cleared up, seemingly for weeks.
I got my two-dose Shingrix shots a year ago, and yes, they both felt like someone frogged me hard in my shoulder muscle. Pain lasted for several hours and was gone completely by morning. I requested my left shoulder be used since I am right-handed.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | November 2, 2019 11:53 AM |
I got my follow-up, 2nd shot, just over 6 months after the first; getting both within 6 months is recommended. Now I'm terrified the Shingrix vaccine won't be effective, though the pharmacist said it'd be okay. Anyone have experience with this?
by Anonymous | reply 18 | November 2, 2019 12:16 PM |
I had both shots the first one gave me a sore shoulder for a few days the second one made me feel tried and sore for a day. The pharmacist said this latest version is more effective than previous vaccines.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | November 2, 2019 12:26 PM |
I don’t care how much it hurts. Get the vaccine! I had shingles about 18 months ago. The pain was like nothing I'd ever experienced. My face is permanently scarred and the PHN is still fucking with me. It’s a hideous, life-altering disease.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | November 2, 2019 12:33 PM |
OK, now you Mother Fuckers are scaring me. How old do you have to be to get the Shingles vaccine? Can you just ice and use Ibuprofen the symptoms of the vaccine away? Cause if not , I've got a stash of left over Hydrocodone/nausea meds from a back surgery that I was saving for, well sonething that could come up like this. What do you think?
by Anonymous | reply 21 | November 2, 2019 1:30 PM |
Woah this is so timely- my cousin who live with us currently has shingles. Is it contagious? I don’t know there is a vaccine till now. How common is shingles anyway? Are there other side effects of the vaccine?
by Anonymous | reply 22 | November 2, 2019 1:52 PM |
First shot laid me flat for 4 days--like the worst case of flu ever. Second shot was actually OK, just a slightly sore shoulder and upper arm for 2 days.
If you're an Eldergay, you need to have it.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | November 2, 2019 1:53 PM |
R22, what’s on your iPod?
by Anonymous | reply 24 | November 2, 2019 1:54 PM |
I had the sore shoulder for a week after the first shot. It’s inflammation caused by your immune response to the vaccine. Second shot hardly hurt at all.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | November 2, 2019 1:55 PM |
If you read the product insert carefully, you'll see that the pain is age-related, and the eldest (over 70) actually have less pain than younger recipients.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | November 2, 2019 1:57 PM |
I went to bed and slept when the side effects hit me, I was fine the next day.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | November 2, 2019 3:27 PM |
Holy shit, anything is better than having shingles! Torture would be better. I had it on my neck, left side, from the shoulder up to the ear. It hurt like a motherfucker, and lasted a month. About a week after it started, the pain moved into my left ear, and it was constant earache day and night. And then, as if that was not enough, one day I had a migraine and after it was over, my facial nerve was affected and the left side of my face was paralyzed. I couldn't close my left eye. The eyelid drooped, the left side of my mouth drooped. I looked like a fucking freak. My doctor told me that the paralysis might never go away, or it might only partially go away. Oh, joy!
My partner nursed me like an angel, and thank god he was there, because i probably would have been lying on the bed in my own filth, or eventually have shot myself. He'd herd me into the shower every day at least once, he'd read newspaper articles to me when he got home from work, he'd prepare meals for me, he would fuss over me. When he was at work, I'd watch tv (I couldn't concentrate on reading) and just lie there letting the words and images wash over me mindlessly.
Then, one day, I had another migraine, and when it was over, the paralysis slowly went away.
The moral of the story is this: Please, PLEASE, if you have never had shingles, but you have had chickenpox, get the vaccine, no matter what kind of reaction you may have. By the way, I still have the scars from the rash on my neck as a sweet remembrance.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | November 2, 2019 3:47 PM |
R28, your partner sounds amazing.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | November 2, 2019 3:51 PM |
The first Shingrix shot didn't bother me at all. When I got the second one, the nurse even asked if I had problems. After the second dose I had flu-like symptoms for 3 days.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | November 2, 2019 3:52 PM |
You go in to it thinking it is going to be like getting a flu shot but it is most definitely not. Thankfully, I got my first injection on a Friday so didn't feel great over the weekend but was fine by Monday. The second one wasn't nearly as bad. Definitely prefer those side effects than getting shingles though. I had everything as a kid...chicken pox, measles, mumps, even scarlet fever...and definitely did not want to risk shingles. I knew a woman who was in her 80s when she got it and it knocked her down for over two years and she was never really right again.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | November 2, 2019 4:00 PM |
R29 he IS amazing. He's kind, intuitive, compassionate, calm , unassuming, and the most intelligent person I know. To quote an old British war poem: "The gatling might be jammed and the colonel might be dead," but's he's always calm and cool-headed and knows precisely the best thing to do.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | November 2, 2019 4:04 PM |
It's odd how over the past 6 months or so, I've heard of so many people getting shingles, aside from myself.
And I had the old vaccine.
Hurt like a mofo, and took more than a few weeks to clear up. I can still feel some residual pain and itching even though the blisters finally went away. My Dr told me that the old vaccine wasn't completely effective and that my symptoms were mild compared to what they'd have been if I wasn't vaccinated.
Waiting for a week or so as I've just had my flu shot, before getting the Shingrix shots.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | November 2, 2019 4:24 PM |
R21 I got pretty sick with the second dose for about three days but nothing compared to getting Shingles, I would get the shot if I was you. Even if you have a bad reaction the reaction will last shorter than Shingles and less painful. Plus you could always have almost no reaction. Everyone seems to get a sore arm but that was next to nothing, just sore.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | November 6, 2019 1:38 AM |
Why are so many people getting Shingles these days?
When I was in college, I had what was considered a mild case of shingles on my back. It was a nightmare. Itching AND pain at the same time. And i had nerve "reverberations" for years after that.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | November 6, 2019 2:08 AM |
The reason people get shingles is that they had chicken pox as children and the virus stays in the body, but a healthy immune system keeps the virus dormant. As we age, our immune system gradually weakens (it can also be weakened by AIDS or chemotherapy or extreme stress) -- eventually, a weakened immune system may not be strong enough to keep the chicken pox virus dormant and the virus flares up in the form of shingles.
I got the shingles vaccine when it first became available 12 years ago, the day after my 60th birthday. Last year, I had the new stronger version in two doses 6 months apart. I don't recall side effects from any of those shots, so they must have been pretty mild. I do know one person who felt like he was coming down with a cold after the second shot, but nothing severe.
I have know several people with shingles, all extreme cases -- lasting two years or more, extreme pain, depression, partial blindness, disfigurement, etc. It doesn't seem like something to take chances with, despite possible side effects from the vaccine. The Shingrex vaccine is in short supply right now so you may have to shop around and adjust your schedule to get the shots, but it's worth that effort, in my view. It's probably not an ironclad guarantee against the disease, but definitely better than nothing.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | November 6, 2019 2:13 AM |
Yikes, my first Shingrix shot made me feel fluish for 2 days (though I got my flu shot at the same time so maybe that was the culprit). After reading this thread I'm thinking of saying to hell with the second shot, I don't handle flu-like symptoms well.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | November 6, 2019 2:17 AM |
R37, you'd probably handle shingles symptoms even less well. Suck it up!
by Anonymous | reply 38 | November 6, 2019 2:23 AM |
[quote]The reason people get shingles is that they had chicken pox as children
Yes, but people had chicken pox in the early 1900s, but you didn't hear about large amounts of people getting shingles until just recently.
by Anonymous | reply 39 | November 6, 2019 2:25 AM |
I got Shingrix. No discomfort. No side effects. And, so far, no shingles.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | November 6, 2019 2:25 AM |
Never had the chicken pox; when my sister got it, my mother hoped I would, too, and I hung out with her all day, but I never did get them. This was the 1970s. I don’t think I got the vaccine, because I don’t have the same round scar on my upper arm that everyone else my age does.
Would I need to get this nightmare vaccine or what?
by Anonymous | reply 41 | November 6, 2019 2:26 AM |
If you never had chicken pox, you probably aren't at risk of shingles now -- the chicken pox virus has pretty much been eradicated, so you're unlikely to contract that now, as an adult. Ask your Dr to be sure, but that's what I've always been told. Of course, there's no accounting for the effects of anti-vaxxers, foreign travel, and mutating virii....
by Anonymous | reply 42 | November 6, 2019 2:42 AM |
I had the first Shingrix shot about two months ago. About 12 hours later I felt bad. I still went to work, but felt groggy until early afternoon. Had lunch and then took a four hour nap. I was fine after that.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | November 6, 2019 2:45 AM |
[quote] Yes, but people had chicken pox in the early 1900s, but you didn't hear about large amounts of people getting shingles until just recently.
R39, maybe a lot of those people didn't live long enough for their immune systems to weaken in old age (generally shorter lifespans plus two world wars) and/or maybe shingles wasn't readily diagnosed then. My grandmother was born in the 1890s and she developed shingles in her 70s. My father and his contemporaries were born in the 1920s and most of the ones I knew developed shingles when they were 70-80.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | November 6, 2019 2:50 AM |
R41 That scar you're referring to everyone has that is older was a small pox, not a chicken pox vaccination. I never got chicken pox either, despite being around the virus with my sister at age 10 and my friends' children when I was in my 20's.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | November 6, 2019 5:32 AM |
R55, ah. My mom was a nurse and wasn’t an anti-vaxxer at all. She wouldn’t have skipped smallpox for sure. Maybe I just didn’t scar.
Maybe you and I just have a natural immunity. I’m also immune to poison ivy.
But reading this thread is scary, and reminds me of how differently we all react to the same thing.
by Anonymous | reply 46 | November 6, 2019 6:47 AM |
R7: the same thing happened to my 77-year old mom after she got shingles on her head two years ago. She complains that she feels exhausted ALL the time. Are there any meds or tips that helped your mom, even if just a tiny bit? My mom also has several auto-immune conditions (including hypothyroidism and vitiligo) and I wonder if that's made her worse.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | November 6, 2019 9:17 AM |
OP here. I got the vaccine on Friday, and today's the first day my arm is pain free. Thank God it was shot #2, and I'm done. Since I've been complaining to everyone, I've gotten to hear lots of stories about people who've had shingles. I'm glad I got the shots, even though they were harsh.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | November 6, 2019 11:34 PM |
I had a mild case of shingles that I pretty much ignored, so I don't know if I should get the vaccine.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | November 6, 2019 11:47 PM |
You should be done R49. The worse the case of shingles, the more likely the return. A mild case means you beat the virus and it's highly unlikely to return.
by Anonymous | reply 50 | November 7, 2019 1:12 AM |
stupid question but did the shot itself hurt or was it after? I hate injections but need to get the shingles shot...Ive had them 3 times already
by Anonymous | reply 51 | December 19, 2020 2:13 AM |
The shot didn't really hurt. Especially for an Intramuscular shot. It was like a tiny sting
About 4 hours later I did feel like a big person punched by arm pretty hard, but it wasn't the type of "I need pain medication type pain". Taking an ibuprofen would be enough to treat the pain. I got my shot at 5pm and everything was fine, but the next day (between 12pm and 6 pm) I felt really tired. I felt like I had the flu
They say the second shot is worse.
You definitely want to get the vaccine on a Friday night, and that way you won't have to miss work if you get flu like symptoms
by Anonymous | reply 52 | December 19, 2020 2:35 AM |
I just got my first dose of the shingles vaccine on Tuesday along with the Pneumovax 23 vaccine. I had one in each arm. Reading this thread I expected the worst. Instead, I had almost no side effects. My arms didn’t hurt much at all. I was a tad bit tired on Wednesday, and I had a very slight headache, but that was it. The flu shot made me feel ill in October.
by Anonymous | reply 53 | December 19, 2020 4:02 AM |
I never react to any of these vaccines. What's wrong with me?!
by Anonymous | reply 54 | December 19, 2020 11:42 AM |
[R18] I was instructed to get the follow up vaccination 2 months after the first, not 6 months. I received the shot 2 days ago and my arm is still sore. So far no flu like symptoms or rash.
by Anonymous | reply 55 | December 19, 2020 12:05 PM |