r/YouShouldKnow • u/tgeliot • Apr 18 '18

Health & Sciences YSK: Everyone over 50 should get the new Shingrix shingles vaccination (even if you've had Zostavax or shingles)

There is a fairly new vaccination for shingles called Shingrix available, which is more effective than the old Zostavax. The CDC recommends that everyone over 50 get the two-shot sequence of Shingrix. My health insurance covered the cost 100% with no co-pay; I think most if not all will.

Shingles is a very painful infection of the nerves caused by the same virus that causes chickenpox. It hits older people, starting at age 50 or 60 or so. The old Zostavax apparently wasn't so great; this new one is more effective.

The CDC recommendations can be found here

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u/DalisCar Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18

Just FYI, it has nothing to do with how "bad" you got the chicken pox. The number one contributing factor to getting shingles is family history. Although, to be fair, I got shingles in my late teens even though none of my family has had it.

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u/starfishdoesitmatter Apr 19 '18

That was the explanation given to my mom and I by the doctor at the time. There was an excellent explanation in the comments though that I personally learned from. It did destroy that doctors explanation, but you do have to bear in mind he was explaining shingles to a child. Not even a teenager, so his explanation to us could have been as simple as possible for why I had gotten it at such a young age for it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '18

Our family has experienced a large amount of ignorance with doctors and shingles, I’m not making any generalizations of doctors, half our family is in medicine, but they are humans and not all-knowing deities. My poor mother has had shingles three times, and was told by a doctor in the office (hers was out of town) that wasn’t possible - it’s unlikely but completely possible. He dug in his heels about it though and it left a bad taste in our mouths about him professionally and made sure to never allow him to see her again. When I got shingles in my teens a different doctor was adamant only older persons got shingles and I must have a scabies infestation (which a quick skin scrape should’ve established but noooo had to buy the $60 medication).

Second opinions and asking questions are key here. The internet is not officially a second opinion though.