More Australians now eligible for free Shingles vaccination

[Bereckii]

Interesting. I had shingles when I was about 9yo (my siblings all had chicken pox at the time. I'd already had chicken pox as a baby). I've got quite a significant scar on my thigh from shingles. I'm late 40s now and have been wondering whether having had shingles as a child (unusual!) Increases or decreases risk of getting it again now.

[nom_de_plume]

1 hour ago, Elfie34 said:

I guess I may have had it without symptoms as my entire family had it when I was in primary school. But maybe I don’t need to worry- I have just seen some very sick people from shingles so was hoping to be proactive. 

You can get a serology test to see if you have VZV antibodies. If you do, you've had chicken pox. If you don't, you haven't.

I had it with no symptoms, probably when my brother's had it as kids. I didn't find out until I worked at a hospital and had to have a serology test to figure out what vaccinations/boosters I needed.

[Mooguru]

44 minutes ago, nom_de_plume said:

You can get a serology test to see if you have VZV antibodies. If you do, you've had chicken pox. If you don't, you haven't.

I had it with no symptoms, probably when my brother's had it as kids. I didn't find out until I worked at a hospital and had to have a serology test to figure out what vaccinations/boosters I needed.

I'm the exact opposite.  Despite being vaccinated and having had chicken pox (confirmed by swab) a couple of years before getting the serology testing done, I don't have vzv antibodies.

Turns out I have an immune deficiency but I didn't know it at the time. Eta that was only diagnosed 10 years later. 

Edited September 23 by Mooguru

[STBG 2]

As for @nom_de_plumeI have never had chicken pox meaning I have never had what was diagnosed as CP. None of my 3 brothers had it either. 

I had serology done before starting midwifery it showed I had antibodies so I had it in some form, I have no idea where from so don't assume that because you've not had an obvious case of CP that you will not need a Shingles vaccine.

All my girls had CP within 4 weeks after taking our son home after he was born, he has never had CP but he has antibodies too.

[nom_de_plume]

7 hours ago, Mooguru said:

I'm the exact opposite.  Despite being vaccinated and having had chicken pox (confirmed by swab) a couple of years before getting the serology testing done, I don't have vzv antibodies.

Turns out I have an immune deficiency but I didn't know it at the time. Eta that was only diagnosed 10 years later. 

Yes that can happen too. I don't hold immunity to Hep B. I've had the course of vaccinations twice now and no immunity.

[Bornagirl]

3 hours ago, nom_de_plume said:

Yes that can happen too. I don't hold immunity to Hep B. I've had the course of vaccinations twice now and no immunity.

We’ve both had four - still no hep b immunity for either of us.  

[Andi]

DD8 caught chicken pox late last year when it went around school. All of my kids had the vaccination on the schedule, but although I was vaguely aware there was an optional second one, it was never offered or recommended for us to get, and I was getting them everything that was suggested at all. So we got the other 3 kids the second shot after they didn't appear to catch it from her.

The nurse at the GP practice (not where we were going when the older kids were young) said that she stopped offering it to people as no-one was taking it up

I had shingles on my hip last year, luckily I showed DH and my mum and they recognised it straight away (my mum had had it in exactly the same spot). So I was able to get straight onto the antivirals and it didn't cause me any issues. 

[LemonMyrtle]

Just on the topic of how you catch shingles. Keep in mind that if you have shingles, you can pass it on as chicken pox.  That’s how my son caught chicken pox, from a grandparent. My son was vaccinated, so it was a very mild case, barely a handful of spots. We had close contact because we stayed with the grandparent for a full week. They didn’t get diagnosed until we had left, so they didn’t know.
 

[Lesley225]

My sister and I had chicken pox when we were fairly young, 7 or under for me and after/around the same time my father got shingles.  He would have been in his mid to late 30s then. 

Did we infect him?  I remember he kept saying keep away from me I have to work and my mother looked after us and she wasn't infected but he was.

[Mooguru]

7 hours ago, nom_de_plume said:

Yes that can happen too. I don't hold immunity to Hep B. I've had the course of vaccinations twice now and no immunity.

Apparently it's not uncommon from the amount of people I've heard similar from.

4 hours ago, LemonMyrtle said:

Just on the topic of how you catch shingles. Keep in mind that if you have shingles, you can pass it on as chicken pox.  That’s how my son caught chicken pox, from a grandparent. My son was vaccinated, so it was a very mild case, barely a handful of spots. We had close contact because we stayed with the grandparent for a full week. They didn’t get diagnosed until we had left, so they didn’t know.
 

Yeah I caught chickenpox from someone with shingles 

[Bucket]

6 hours ago, Lesley225 said:

My sister and I had chicken pox when we were fairly young, 7 or under for me and after/around the same time my father got shingles.  He would have been in his mid to late 30s then. 

Did we infect him?  I remember he kept saying keep away from me I have to work and my mother looked after us and she wasn't infected but he was.

You can get chicken pox from shingles, but you can't get shingles from an active case of chicken pox. So I don't think you infected him. More likely, he infected you.

[Sincerely]

In response to some posts about Hep B in this thread, it may be appropriate to raise awareness of recommendations for individuals who are nonresponders (seronegative) after three doses of Hep B vaccine to have testing for Hep B infection (eg. Hep B surface antigen, Hep B core antigen and HBV DNA) due to the possibility of chronic or latent infection.

https://immunisationhandbook.health.gov.au/recommendations/non-responders-to-hepatitis-b-vaccine-are-recommended-to-receive-further-doses-and-serological-testing

3.1.4. Latent HBV Infection

Luo et al (J. Infect. Dis.1992, 165, 777–778) first performed a study in which non-responders to the hepatitis B vaccine were assessed and HBV DNA was detected in about 60–70% of them, indicating the presence of a latent HBV infection that may induce tolerance to the vaccine through immunosuppression, enhancement of the regulatory T cell activity, or inhibition of the response of B and T lymphocytes. This is also referred to as “occult HBV infection” Pathogens 2024, 13(7), 554; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13070554

Edited September 25 by Sincerely

[Living Type]

Hi all, I had shingles last year. I would recommend to all if you cannot afford the vaccine or are worried about not having immunity to it, make sure you are aware of the symptoms of shingles and get to a GP asap if you suspect shingles. I was extremely lucky, I thought shingles was a cold sore and took over the counter antivirals. Someone suggested it might be shingles and I was at my doctor later that day. The sooner you start the antivirals, the better the outcome. I think the shingles antivirals need to be started in the first couple of days of symptoms to be effective. The antivirals pretty much stopped the progression in its tracks and symptoms cleared up right away. My case was right next to my eye, so I didn’t want to mess around. 

[Bornagirl]

I’m 71 and the GO encouraged me to pay, not have the free one.  
 

TWO DAYS after my second one they announced the change to the better one being free. $ouch. 

[Iamferalz]

I am thinking about getting the vaccine - the cost is painful though!  My GP has been encouraging younger people to pay for it, if they can.  I also have noticed that Shingles is appearing in younger workmates, whereas previously, it would be in older people like my grandad.   

I have heard there is a hypothesis that the increase in cases is connected with Covid infection in some way but they don’t yet understand how or why.  

Edited September 24 by Iamferalz

[VeritasVinumArte]

On 23/9/2024 at 7:59 PM, BoyMum2 said:

I had chicken pox when I was 5, I’m pretty sure my entire class had it and I got shingles at 17. I remember the doctor being very bewildered because apparently only people over 50 got shingles. This was late 90’s. 
Hoping since I’ve had it once I can’t get it again, I can still remember that pain pretty clearly.

My sister had Chickenpox at 3yrs and got Shingles at 4yrs… after spending time with her grandmother who had Shingles. Now that confused the Dr in the mid 80s. My sister had them through her eye. Specialists were concerned that she would lose her vision.

I had Shingles at 31 after DS1 was born. Not fun. I got onto anti virals within 24hrs of it starting but still took 6-8wks for all rashes/twinges to go. Thankfully didn’t give chickenpox to either DS1 or DH.

DS1 got horrid chickenpox (despite being vaccinated) in grade 3. He then passed it onto DH (who got full blown adult chicken pox) and DD got a few breakthrough spots. DS2 avoided it that time, but came down with bad breakthrough chickenpox a few years later. All kids were vaccinated.

 

Edited September 25 by VeritasVinumArte

[ContentedFleur]

I'm one of the spectacularly unlucky ones-

age 5: chickenpox immediately followed by German measles, nearly a month out of school!

age 42: first bout of shingles. One 50c size patch of blisters on my hip, plus general malaise; the dr recognised it and I got started on antivirals immediately. It was godawful pain! I was taking two Endone a night! 

age 45: SECOND bout of shingles! HOW? This time, the pain was far less, but I had massive blistering on my left shin and right forearm, which have left scarring. It shows up when I'm hot. 

So the exact same second that I can get the shingles vaccine, I'm getting the damn thing. Bastard virus! It's caused me quite enough trouble! 

[Iamferalz]

I spoke to the GP about whether it was worth paying for the vaccine, bearing in mind I do not qualify for the government subsidised ones and have to watch my finances.

He said he got Shingles a year ago and still has ongoing pain from it.  Said the pain was awful.  I asked him how long the protection from the vaccine lasts.  The vaccine is under research still and they revisit efficacy each year and apparently it’s been eleven years (from start of research) and the protection is ongoing and they are still counting.  

So the GP was very positive about me getting the vaccine.  He gave me a script, said to  book the immunisation appointment at the surgery and then before the appointment collect the vaccine from the chemist and go to the surgery.  He told me not to risk storing it in my home fridge in case it breaks down or isn’t working properly.

So I think I will go ahead.  At least we don’t have to pay the whole cost upfront.  Do chemists take AfterPay?  Haha!

[Bornagirl]

3 hours ago, Iamferalz said:

I spoke to the GP about whether it was worth paying for the vaccine, bearing in mind I do not qualify for the government subsidised ones and have to watch my finances.

He said he got Shingles a year ago and still has ongoing pain from it.  Said the pain was awful.  I asked him how long the protection from the vaccine lasts.  The vaccine is under research still and they revisit efficacy each year and apparently it’s been eleven years (from start of research) and the protection is ongoing and they are still counting.  

So the GP was very positive about me getting the vaccine.  He gave me a script, said to  book the immunisation appointment at the surgery and then before the appointment collect the vaccine from the chemist and go to the surgery.  He told me not to risk storing it in my home fridge in case it breaks down or isn’t working properly.

So I think I will go ahead.  At least we don’t have to pay the whole cost upfront.  Do chemists take AfterPay?  Haha!

@Iamferalz I had to collect mine from the nearest chemist then had it to the receptionist as I checked in, so it could be put back in the fridge. 

[Iamferalz]

If you google for a Shingles vaccination study there is one for over 50s that is recruiting in Australia.  I don’t want to put the link in case it’s against the EB rules, so hopefully it can be located, if of interest to anyone looking for a more cost conscious option.