# A question about shingles (The Disease) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 15, 2024, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-shingles-the-disease/1007289 "2024-09-15T08:28:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-shingles-the-disease/1007289/3 "2024-09-15T23:09:17Z")
Please see the recent thread about one of our posters and their severe pain (@BippityBoppityBoo provided good information there as well). > [@So I Have Shingles](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-have-shingles/1001448): > > I’m 53. My doctor told me, when I turned 50, that I should consider the singles vaccine if I had chicken pox as a child. The thing is, I didn’t know if I actually had chicken pox (I do now, of course), and Mamahomie didn’t either. The pharmacist told me to get it anyway, as the worst it could do is nothing. But I kept putting it off. Big mistake. I think we caught it early enough that antivirals will help and this won’t last a month, like it can when it’s untreated. I’m taking Acyclovir as pre… I mean, I’m concerned enough that I got the Shingrix vaxx despite blood work a few years ago that indicated I hadn’t ever had chickenpox, and therefore got the Chickenpox vaccine. If said bloodwork is correct, I’m not going to ever develop shingles (well, unless I get a direct exposure to the virus and the vaccine fails (it does have a reported 92% efficacy overall) and I still took the precaution just in case the bloodwork was wrong. I felt moderately bad for 48-72 hours both shots. Worth it. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-shingles-the-disease/1007289)._