Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeke
What triggers shingles?
3 people I know (one being my wife) got shingles right after getting the shot.
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Same virus that gave you chicken pox as a kid. It runs and hides in the fluid surrounding your spinal column until such time that your immune system begins to falter, then it comes sneaking back out in the form of "shingles". For the vast majority, it's a pretty nasty, painful rash, with maybe some nerve pain. For the lucky few, it's unbearable nerve pain preceded by a bit of a rash. Everyone will land somewhere on that spectrum. Again, only 16% peg the needle on "nerve pain". And there is not a blessed thing anyone can do about it. There is no known treatment. Even the anti-viral (which I received immediately upon diagnosis), to quote the medical literature "has not been shown to alter the course of the illness".
Like many of you, I am also blessed with rheumatoid arthritis. This is an autoimmune disorder, wherein our own immune system attacks the fluid in our joints, mistaking that fluid for an invading virus. Treatments involve immunosuppressant agents. One of the conditions of treatment is to get the Shingrix vaccine prior to starting. Well, somehow I missed that one. My fault. As a result, not only was I sporting the typically suppressed immune system of a guy of my age, I had further knocked it down through my RA treatment.
In other words, I had not simply left the door open for shingles. I had kicked it open like a New York cop on a no-knock warrant. And I got hammered.
But, like I said earlier, that's all behind me now. I'm fully recovered. My right thumb and forefinger - the terminus of the C6 nerve - have no feeling anymore. I'm told that will come back, perhaps painfully at first. But, for now, I'm "upright and locked". Working on the 911 in the garage, reloading in the basement, and generally carrying on like it never happened. Life is good.