Shingles PSA

[withm]

Sorry to hear you got this, Martha, and thanks for letting us know.

I called Kaiser, and they said there's a shortage of the vaccine, and besides I don't meet the age guideline (60), so I guess I have to hope the shingles don't get me for 5 more years.

It sounds miserable.

Oh it is indeed miserable. Kaiser needs to read the newspapers because the age guideline was dropped just recently to 50. I'll see if I can find a link.

[Biciclista]

I am going next week to get my shot. Thanks for the information!

[divingbiker]

Oh it is indeed miserable. Kaiser needs to read the newspapers because the age guideline was dropped just recently to 50. I'll see if I can find a link.

That would be great. Not sure how to navigate the bureaucracy of Kaiser to get to the right person who can change the age cutoff, but it might be worth a shot.

And Kaiser is Kaiser Permanente, my HMO. Overall it is great--I've had the same fantastic endocrinologist for almost 20 years, which doesn't happen often in HMOs.

[withm]

OK, here is the link from the FDA approving shingles vaccine at age 50:

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsro.../ucm248390.htm

And here is a blurb from WebMd:
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-a...-age-50-and-up

If the vaccine really does work as reported, and prevents a few cases of shingles, that's all the better. Those that never get the disease will not fully appreciate how lucky they are. But all you have to do is look at images of shingles on the internet and I expect you'll be convinced pretty quickly that not getting it is a good thing. (Fortunately my blisters do not look that bad - yet. Then again I get terrible poison ivy every year so I'm used to blistering.)

Of course you can't photograph the pain, and I can't begin to describe the stabbing pain that seems to go straight through your body like a dagger. The nerve blocking drugs help a lot, but there is still considerable sharp pain and generalized achiness. It is not likely I'll be on my bike in the next week or two.

The Harvard Family Medical guide raises some questions about the vaccine, mostly about the cost and logistics of obtaining it. This piece is also from 2007 so it's probably out of date.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/up...-vaccine.shtml

I'd recommend doing your own research, talking with your Dr. about this. For myself though I'll be first in line to get the vaccine once my Dr. says I'm cleared up. Some websites suggest a few weeks after a shingles attack, but I found one that says to wait a year. Whatever - I'll do it.

Oh, and if you look at the shingles pix on the web... warning ... some are very gruesome, esp outbreaks on the face.

[Possegal]

The change from 60+ to 50+ occurred because the company did a study with over 22,000 people in it (half getting the vaccine) and showed that it was safe and effective in a patient population between the ages of 50-59. The approval initially was based on a study in people over 60. The way drug approvals work is, you only get approval for the patient population you studied. So the company had to do another study in order to get approval for the vaccine in patients between 50-59. It wasn't pressure from Merck but actual data that got them the change in the label to include younger patients.

The FDA website contains information about the approval of drug and biologic products that the public can read.
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Biologi.../UCM249230.pdf

[withm]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/he...2shingles.html

Article in todays New York Times about the shingles vaccine, and the difficulty in actually getting the vaccine, drug shortages, etc.