Covid & Shingles is there a link?

Sorry meant to add - "well, duh".

Too late - and there is little or no point,

And Charlie Bigham needs my attention ?

X post, Maw

I am slow!

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.

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.

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.

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

It was tortilla, by the way.

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

Bon appetit!

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.

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.

Probably because the shingles was too far on welbeck. But that's not because we ignored it, it was because he wasn't feeling ill and there was no rash until the day he called 111.

Volver, did the doc say why he wouldn't prescribe anti-viral medication for your husband.

You can only get anti virals via a doctors prescription. Which is why I’m saying see a doctor asap (don’t get fobbed off: the receptionist might not realise that time is of the essence) and be prepared to go to a pharmacy if your practice doesn’t stock them. And don’t put if off till the next day. If prescribed start taking them asap. Especially if the shingles is on your face.

I'm surprised that GPs in cases mentioned here did not prescribe antivirals. The evidence is that they may lessen symptoms and shorten length of infection, but only work if treatment started early.

My son developed shingles and it affected his eye - had to go to eye clinic a few times and was given acyclovir drops.

I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone to take antivirals except on doc's advice, however, if diagnosed with shingles I would ask if taking antivirals might be of some benefit, if they hadn't suggested. Taking antibiotics unnecessarily is a bad idea but antivirals are different.

Elegran

You can't get Shingles without first having chickenpox, and recovering from it. The virus stays in your system but can be stirred up again by stress (which is why people sometimes develop it after suffering from other illnesses or accidents) . Some people are stressed by getting the Covid vaccine, and their system reacts by reactivating the shingles.

That is the connection when it happens, which is not all that often. It is not any special feature of the Covid vaccine.

Yes, Elegran explains it well.

MayBee70

So what are you advising? My advice is get a GP appointment as soon as you think you may have shingles. Don’t get fobbed off. And if they prescribe an ani viral get the prescription asap and start taking it immediately.

I agree.
Shingles can appear anywhere, even in the eye.

The after-effects ie neuralgia, can be debilitating in some people and could last for months but probably goes in a few weeks in most cases.

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!

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

I was going to post that, thank you Farmor

If your immune system is fighting another virus, reacting to a vaccine or is stressed for any reason, then this could cause the chickenpox virus to be reactivated.

Shingles isn't always easy to diagnose at first. DH spent a night in hospital once with a suspected heart attack, the doctors had no idea what was wrong, results were clear and he was sent home. The next day the first spots appeared which I recognised as shingles.

It's very unpleasant and not everyone can have the vaccine as it's live. The non-live vaccine doesn't seem to be widely available.

I'm not advising anything, other than that people should rely on fact rather than hearsay. I'm telling you that my DH contacted the NHS the day he thought he was ill and they gave him a face-to-face appointment that very day. He wasn't prescribed an anti-viral. He wasn't prescribed anything. If he had been, I'd have run down to the pharmacy and got him some.

I'm not a medical person, but I can see that the advice that everyone who thinks they have shingles should get themselves on aciclovir is wrong.

So what are you advising? My advice is get a GP appointment as soon as you think you may have shingles. Don’t get fobbed off. And if they prescribe an ani viral get the prescription asap and start taking it immediately.

MayBee70

I apologise. I thought it was you that said your husband had it,took nothing and was absolutely fine. I’ll have to re read the thread( I’m flitting about a bit today).

Thank you MayBee70.

I did say that because that is what his GP (and some other medical person on 111) told him to do. He had rung them as soon as he saw he had a rash and had a face-to-face appointment on the same day.

I apologise. I thought it was you that said your husband had it,took nothing and was absolutely fine. I’ll have to re read the thread( I’m flitting about a bit today).

MayBee70

I think it’s irresponsible to make light of something that, when I worked for the NHS, we took very seriously. And, no matter how much I advise someone to take anti virals it still needs a doctor to prescribe them. And they have to be taken asap. Delay a trip to the doctors and it may be too late because they say shingles is nothing to worry about. Covid is so new that no one knows how it’s affecting peoples immune systems or how it interacts with other medical conditions. I’ve spoken to several people over the years who say they’ve never known anything like the pain they had from shingles.

I have made light of absolutely nothing MayBee70. Perhaps if you read my comments again you will see that.

When someone tells us about their background working in the NHS and says that anybody who thinks they have shingles should get themselves a particular medication, without knowing anything about any of us, that's irresponsible. I imagine the doctors with whom you worked had had their fill of people turning up expecting some medication they'd read about or been recommended on the internet.

Who has been talking about delaying trips to the doctors? Nobody. So please don't try to associate me with anything like that because it's not true.

I think it’s irresponsible to make light of something that, when I worked for the NHS, we took very seriously. And, no matter how much I advise someone to take anti virals it still needs a doctor to prescribe them. And they have to be taken asap. Delay a trip to the doctors and it may be too late because they say shingles is nothing to worry about. Covid is so new that no one knows how it’s affecting peoples immune systems or how it interacts with other medical conditions. I’ve spoken to several people over the years who say they’ve never known anything like the pain they had from shingles.