Covid & Shingles is there a link?

Health warning. Some of you may have read previous posts on the subject of shingles. For the elderly it can be very serious. My DH had it in January 2019 and is still suffering from the pain caused, despite a very wide range of treatments.

I had shingles around my waist when I was in my thirties. I felt twinges from the damaged nerves 2 years later but they eventually died away.

Reality warning.

Shingles is a serious illness. Nobody on this thread has said otherwise. Nobody has minimised it. It can make people really ill. Some posters have related the experiences of their family members, and had it suggested to them that they are making light of illness. Some posters have questioned the existence of an unlikely link between the COVID vaccine and chicken pox immunity.

Some posters are well p***ed off and going to have their tea.

Bon appetit!

I still think that saying my husband had it, didn’t take anything for it and was perfectly ok is minimalising the risk.

Me telling the truth might upset you, but heigh ho.

It was tortilla, by the way.

Well my husband has it at the moment and going round in circles trying to get help from the NHS. He is in intense pain.

I am surprised not to say shocked at any health professional failing to prescribe antivirals when a patient presents with shingles provided they have presented at the appropriate time
This advice makes sense
Several antiviral medicines—acyclovir, valacyclovir, and famcivlovir —are available to treat shingles and shorten the length and severity of the illness. These medicines are most effective if you start taking them as soon as possible after the rash appears. If you think you have shingles, contact your healthcare provider as soon as possible to discuss treatment
Too late - and there is little or no point,
However it is accepted practice when the patient is within the early days of the illness and antivirals can also be prescribed as a prophylactic. When I had shingles some years ago, , a faxed prescription was sent to the nearest Boots to my DH’s office where he worked Monday-Friday on Bournemouth so that he could start the course ASAP. . (We lived in N Bucks ) As he was immunosuppressed, shingles could have been even nastier than it is for the rest of us.

MayBee70

I still think that saying my husband had it, didn’t take anything for it and was perfectly ok is minimalising the risk.

Yes.
But anti-virals wouldn't be prescribed normally until a rash has appeared to confirm it and need to be prescribed promptly to be effective..

I would say that we all have to do our own risk assessments.

X post, Maw

I am slow!

And Charlie Bigham needs my attention ?

Too late - and there is little or no point,

Sorry meant to add - "well, duh".

DaisyMae, immune responses are specific to the virus. This means the covid virus immunity is specific to the covid virus, and the shingles virus immunity is specific to the shingles virus.

Callistemon21

MayBee70

I still think that saying my husband had it, didn’t take anything for it and was perfectly ok is minimalising the risk.

Yes.
But anti-virals wouldn't be prescribed normally until a rash has appeared to confirm it and need to be prescribed promptly to be effective..

I would say that we all have to do our own risk assessments.

Most people don’t realise how important it is to get medical help asap.

MayBee70

Callistemon21

MayBee70

I still think that saying my husband had it, didn’t take anything for it and was perfectly ok is minimalising the risk.

Yes.
But anti-virals wouldn't be prescribed normally until a rash has appeared to confirm it and need to be prescribed promptly to be effective..

I would say that we all have to do our own risk assessments.

Most people don’t realise how important it is to get medical help asap.

Yes, it is important, but I think symptoms could present as something else or be nonspecific unless the pain definitely follows a recognised path and until the rash appears.

Caleo

DaisyMae, immune responses are specific to the virus. This means the covid virus immunity is specific to the covid virus, and the shingles virus immunity is specific to the shingles virus.

Apparently more research is called for.

I've actually started several times but decided not to post.

(Yes, I know this is a post, but you know what I mean...)

(I did think of posting "maybe everything we know about medical science is wrong and somebody's offhand and ill-researched remark is actually true", but decided against it.)

Daisymae was asking questions, ot stating facts.

There have been enough reports of shingles after Covid vaccines to prompt research into this.

Farmor15

You only get shingles if you've previously had chickenpox. Virus lies dormant for years but can be reactivated by eg stress. Getting Covid, or even a vaccine is a type of stress to the body so in some people could be a trigger for shingles.

No direct connection and certainly not a reason to avoid being vaccinated against Covid. However, if shingles vaccine is offered- take it!

I got shingles after a one-off week of emergency care of an under-2 Gdd, which left me feeling like a wet rag - followed immediately by a really stinking cold - and right after that, shingles.
I’m convinced that both the cold and the shingles were down to my immune system being compromised through being so tired.

I was lucky in that the shingles wasn’t too bad, and subsequently had the jab as soon as it was offered

I wonder why the uptake of the shingles vaccine has fallen?

I forgot that you were an expert on viral infections and most other things scientific, volver. My degrees are sadly out of date.

Shingles arises from the herpes virus (which those who've had chickenpox have for life dormant in their nerve cells) becoming active - it's no surprise there are some added cases arising from covid - or any other infection, viruses are opportunists. If in time, Zovirax works. Get vaccinated if possible.

Not a scientific point of view because I’m not a scientist, but I think the very idea that the Covid vaccination weakens the effect of the Shingles vaccination, or somehow predisposes people to getting shingles is absolute rubbish. Sorry to be blunt, but that’s what I think. And this is the way silly rumours start!

I actually had shingles a few years ago. I was lucky because it was very mild. Mainly tingling pains around one side of my body. I wasn’t post 70 though so maybe that made a difference. I had gone to Istanbul with my husband when I noticed it. Mainly I ignored it because it was mild. I didn’t realise what it was, but when I told my daughter after I returned home, she diagnosed it (she’s a doctor.) I will still get the vaccine though when I’m 70 and it’s offered.

nanna8

I forgot that you were an expert on viral infections and most other things scientific, volver. My degrees are sadly out of date.

As you well know nanna8 I'm in no way a medical scientist and have never said that I am, so sarcasm doesn't work here.

But I know that just making comments about medical matters based on nothing but a notion, when we are not medical people is ... well, maddyone uses a good description.