Shingles

[Abdul Alhazred]

Eleven times?

Shades of Spinal Tap.

BTW, congrats on sticking around this long.

[ed]

He's the lone ranger, who knows how long he'll be here.

[Doctor X]

I think linking to articles that refute my lies somehow will help with my impotence.

Apparently.

--J.D.

[Fid]

Get the fucking shot geezers (like me). My bud 10 years younger said it was the most horrible time he'd had and is still having effects.

[Anaxagoras]

Apparently a new, more effective vaccine was approved last October:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/well ... ccine.html

I love my local YMCA for many reasons beyond my daily swim. Top of the list: the friendships and conversations in the locker room that are frequent sources of valuable information, connections and motivation. For example, I recently overheard a discussion about Y members and friends of members who had experienced devastating attacks of shingles, including one woman who nearly lost an eye and another who was left with unrelenting nerve pain.

That was the push I needed to end my procrastination about getting the new shingles vaccine, Shingrix, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last October after studies involving 16,600 people showed it to be far more effective at preventing this disease than the first shingles vaccine, Zostavax, which I had had a decade earlier. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people 50 and older, including those previously immunized with Zostavax, should now get the Shingrix vaccine.

The process was surprisingly simple and less costly than I had anticipated (list price is $280 for the two-part shot without insurance). All I needed was a prescription from my doctor. I took it to my local pharmacy, where a staff pharmacist administered the vaccine. I’ll get the second part the same way in May. My Medicare Part D insurance covered it with a $40 co-pay for each part. (The cost may be higher if the vaccine is administered in a doctor’s office, so check first.)

Many millions of Americans, especially those older than 40, are susceptible to an eventual attack of shingles, caused by the very same virus that causes chickenpox. Once this virus, varicella zoster, infects a person, it lies dormant for decades in nerve roots, ready to pounce when the immune system is weakened, say, by stress, medication, trauma or disease. One-third of Americans eventually get shingles, but the risk rises with age, and by age 85 half of adults will have had at least one outbreak of shingles.
Before the introduction of the chickenpox vaccine in 1995 in the United States, some four million cases of chickenpox, mostly in children, occurred annually. While you may not remember whether you had chickenpox as a child, chances are you did if you were never vaccinated against it.

CDC info:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/shingl ... index.html

There is data on the efficacy.

How Well Does Shingrix Work?
Two doses of Shingrix provides strong protection against shingles and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), the most common complication of shingles.

In adults 50 to 69 years old who got two doses, Shingrix was 97% effective in preventing shingles; among adults 70 years and older, Shingrix was 91% effective.
In adults 50 to 69 years old who got two doses, Shingrix was 91% effective in preventing PHN; among adults 70 years and older, Shingrix was 89% effective.
Shingrix protection remained high (more than 85%) in people 70 years and older throughout the four years following vaccination. Since your risk of shingles and PHN increases as you get older, it is important to have strong protection against shingles in your older years.

[sparks]

I see an ad on the TB every so often from a law firm pack of blood suckers which states that shingles has been caused by the vaccine and therefore: SUE!!!

[Rob Lister]

The lawyer commercials on local tv tell me the Zostavax has been shown to increase the risk of shingles and that if I get it, i should join their class action.
https://www.classaction.com/zostavax/la ... gKHOvD_BwE

Certainly doesn't make it true.

Anyway, reading that I went right to Tricare to see if they will pay for me to get my shot of this new stuff. Nope. They have no knowledge of it.

[sparks]

Fascinating that it's been around long enough to generate a class action suit, yet your insurance company says they don't know anything about it.

[Rob Lister]

Fascinating that it's been around long enough to generate a class action suit, yet your insurance company says they don't know anything about it.

I guess I wasn't clear. They will pay for a Zostavax if you're 60 or above. I'm 2 years shy of that. They have no knowledge of Shingrix at all. But if the CDC recommends it at 50, they should allow it. They're a little slow.

[sparks]

Thanks for the clarification.

[Rob Lister]

Tricare is excellent coverage. My total OoP costs for my cataract surgery is going to be less than $400 for both eyes. My premiums are zero (if you don't count the prior 20+ years of utter servitude).

I could have got it free at the Naval Hospital but I'd kind of like being able to actually see after the surgery.

NaVal Doctor: Well Mr. Lister. We finished. All went well. How do you feel?
Mr. Lister: I can't see shit! It's like looking though a block of ice!
NaVal Doctor: Yea, sorry, the replacement lenses are on back-order. But how do you feel?

[Fid]

Umm...What part of the "suffering of the damned" don't you under stand?

Get the fucking vaccine. It's not that expensive...My bud had that virus kick in (Hey buddy, remember me? It's time to itch and bleed).Seriously, chicken pox sounds way too gentle. It's a goddam herpes that can kill you.

[Doctor X]

It can basically "scar" the nerves leaving one with post-herpetic neuropathy which means pain you cannot really treat.

--J.D.

[Anaxagoras]

I believe the technical term is "suffering of the damned".

[Abdul Alhazred]

I believe the technical term is "suffering of the damned".

No no no no.

He's testing your faith.

[Fid]

If you are reading this and you had "chicken pox".

Listen up buster get the vaccine.
This ain't a joke.