# I'm getting my second shingles shot this week. What should I expect? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 6, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592 "2021-12-06T22:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/41 "2021-12-09T20:04:58Z")
Mild pain in the shoulder just after the injection, and spending the bulk of the day in bed the day after. In other words, exactly what happened after the first injection. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/42 "2021-12-09T20:05:02Z")
A good half day in bed with chills. Put an extra blanket on the bed. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/43 "2021-12-09T20:08:21Z")
Yikes. First one didn’t have any ill effects for me, although the actual physical shot hurt much more than usual (not sure if it’s a larger needle or just poor technique). Haven’t had the second one yet and not looking forward to it after this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/44 "2021-12-09T21:00:07Z")
Speaking of technique – Here is a very typical photo of a Covid shot being given. Note how the shot-giver is holding the syringe – at the end farthest from the needle. It looks like this gives limited control over just where the needle goes, or how deeply in it goes, and how steady it is. Is this good technique? Is this common? There are LOTS of pictures around of these shots being given (you can google up pages of them), and they all seem to look like this. > **Hidden with due respect for the squeamish** > > [https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2021/11/GettyImages-1300396758-1024x683.jpg](https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2021/11/GettyImages-1300396758-1024x683.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/45 "2021-12-09T21:10:55Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I had mixed up covid and shingles. (thought shingles had a booster too). I am planning on getting the covid booster Just stopped by to clarify that Shingrix is a two shot series and the second is needed to complete the vaccination, but the second in the Shingrix series is not considered a ‘booster’. Here’s what the CDC has to say about Shingrix: Shingrix (recombinant zoster vaccine) should be administered to adults age 50 years and older as a two-dose series (0.5 ml each), **2 to 6 months apart** (0, 2-6 months). If more than 6 months have elapsed since the first dose of Shingrix, you should administer the second dose as soon as possible.Jan 25, 2018 My second Shingrix was no worse than the first. More upper arm soreness for 2 days and one night and day is lassitude. Not a deal breaker at all. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/46 "2021-12-09T21:20:37Z")
Definitely not a deal-breaker. I’ve **had** shingles. I wouldn’t wish them on a lot of people. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/47 "2021-12-09T23:38:06Z")
So, I’m sitting around playing on my tablet and all of a sudden, I am SO sleepy and cold. No warning, no nothing, just whammo!!! The injection site isn’t sore, so all in all, so far this one seems to be a little easier than last time. Fingers crossed that this is it. > [@racer72](#): > > I think I am going to feel pretty crappy after the shot on Friday. Yes, I am sure you are. Sadly, you will have to ask you wife to make your excuses and stay home to suffer by yourself. Two kiddy parties on the same weekend would make me think about scheduling surgery or something. Thanks for the info @BippityBoppityBoo . For the record, you are the reason I did this. I don’t remember the specific discussion, but you told me that my first shingles shot needed to be upgraded to Shingrix and why. I was shocked, so did my own research which told me that you were very correct. Until then, I had no idea, so thank you very much for fighting my ignorance and helping me to be healthy. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/48 "2021-12-10T01:11:21Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > so thank you very much for fighting my ignorance and helping me to be healthy. Thank you kindly. I’m a nurse, once a nurse, always a nurse. Helping friends be healthy is what we do. I’ve been more than repaid by all the charming George pictures and stories. So tails and tales. I’m of an age that I dutifully got the first iteration of the shingle vaccine, Zostavax, which was just about as much fun as you would guess. Only two years later it comes out that Zostavax is a relatively piss poor vaccine and I needed to get two, count ‘em two, more of the Shingrix version. Which I dutifully did because by then I had nursed several clients through recurrent bouts of shingles and I was exactly, positively, utterly certain that I did not want shingles if it could be avoided. At least by then I had aged into Medicare so the Shingrix, which is expensive, was paid for. To add insult to injury I had to pay for the crappy Zostavax out of pocket. Have you been able to convince dear hubs to get his Shingrix? ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/49 "2021-12-10T01:18:05Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Here is a very typical photo of a Covid shot being given. Note how the shot-giver is holding the syringe – at the end farthest from the needle. It looks like this gives limited control over just where the needle goes, or how deeply in it goes, and how steady it is. Is this good technique? Is this common? When I had to give myself or my spouse shots, I was taught the “dart” technique, which would be different from what is pictured, but I’m sure there are multiple ways of doing it. I wonder if they aren’t just posing there, though. @BippityBoppityBoo might be able to tell us if anyone would be holding the syringe like that while the needle is sticking out that much? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/50 "2021-12-10T01:30:59Z")
It looks like a poorly posed visual. I’d guess that the needle is going to go in farther than ideal if the giver pushes hard enough on the syringe plunger to push the vaccine in. Not my technique for vaccinating. Dart with the right size and length needle, then change hand/finger position to inject the vaccine. So, a two step technique. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/51 "2021-12-10T01:54:00Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Have you been able to convince dear hubs to get his Shingrix? –snert-- I’ve read this sentence several times and snort every single time. I didn’t know how ignorant he was about his own medical history until he heard me discussing my shingles shots with Mom (who also didn’t know she had to update hers, so thank you again). He didn’t know that he got all of his childhood shots again when he joined the Marines, they handed him his shot record and he put it away without looking at it. He served 4 years and got out for a few years which was long enough for his medical records to get lost or whatever happens, so had to get the entire series again when he reenlisted. I think he’s too old to really change his ways, but he was pretty shocked when I told him what had been shot into his arms (we got those fancy pants injection guns back then) all those years ago. I read mine and mentioned to my DI that I’d already had all of my shots and was told that I was in the military now and they didn’t have time to verify everyone’s vaccination status, so everyone started over. I was very impressed to learn that I had been vaccinated against Black Plague as well as Yellow Fever. > [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Not my technique for vaccinating. I have only given cats and dogs shots, so wouldn’t do it like that but humans don’t have a handy layer of fur to grab and pull up. That pic did look like something I wouldn’t try twice. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/52 "2021-12-10T02:41:12Z")
> [@eschrodinger](#): > > When I had to give myself or my spouse shots, I was taught the “dart” technique, which would be different from what is pictured, but I’m sure there are multiple ways of doing it. I wonder if they aren’t just posing there, though. > [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > It looks like a poorly posed visual. I’d guess that the needle is going to go in farther than ideal if the giver pushes hard enough on the syringe plunger to push the vaccine in. Yes, I too wondered if the pic was posed. OTOH, as I noted, you can google up dozens of shot pix that look like that. Are they _all_ posed? Where I get my shots, they all seem to use one technique, which is to pinch up a clump of flesh between thumb and forefinger of one hand, and jab into that. Here is an illustration I found showing this (on a different body part, but they do it like this in the deltoid muscle just the same): > **Click here and feast your eyes** > > [https://content.ca.healthwise.net/resources/12.8/en-ca/media/medical/hw/acj1781\_368x240.jpg](https://content.ca.healthwise.net/resources/12.8/en-ca/media/medical/hw/acj1781_368x240.jpg) Done this way, the shots I get are not only literally painless or nearly so, but most often I literally (yes, literally literally) don’t even feel the shot. It seems to take about half a second, and I only know it’s done when they tell me it’s done or I feel them put the little bandage on. (ETA: It looks like this would be a subcutaneous shot, but they assure me that it is indeed intramuscular.) (I’m not very squeamish about shots, but just squeamish enough that I always look the other way while they do it.) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/53 "2021-12-10T02:50:37Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’m not very squeamish about shots, but just squeamish enough that I always look the other way while they do it.) You’ve lucked onto something here that may be why you often don’t feel the shot. If you are looking away you are less likely to tense up and experience more discomfort. Keep doing that. That illustration is of a subcutaneous self-injection. Next to no abdominal injections are anything but subcutaneous. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/54 "2021-12-10T02:56:41Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > If you are looking away you are less likely to tense up and experience more discomfort. That makes a whole lot of sense. I’ve rarely had a problem with shots or blood draws but I don’t look. Back when I was able to donate blood, I could watch the tubing and bag, but I always asked the workers to put a piece of gauze over the needle so I couldn’t see it cause if I could, I’d watch that and start getting quezzy. Oddly enough, I watched both of my tattoos happen with much fascination. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/55 "2021-12-10T18:34:22Z")
Just an update for anyone who’s interested: I had a bad night, sweating and freezing, and woke up around 11 due to a really sore shoulder. I feel fairly decent now, but I had already planned for a pajama day, so why waste it! ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/56 "2021-12-10T18:43:11Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > I feel fairly decent now, but I had already planned for a pajama day, so why waste it! Go find those kitties and play! ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/57 "2021-12-10T19:35:59Z")
Those faithless beasts bailed on me last night. Hubs moved into the guest room because I was keeping him up and took all the cats with him, the jerk! ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/58 "2021-12-11T05:45:38Z")
I’m due for my second shot at the end of the month, so this is a timely thread for me. Thanks to **JaneDoe42** for starting the thread. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/59 "2021-12-11T05:54:34Z")
> [@JaneDoe42](#): > > I feel fairly decent now, but I had already planned for a pajama day, so why waste it! Just spend the whole day reading/posting on The Straight Dope Message Board. (It’s more-or-less what I did on the day(s) after!) ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592/60 "2021-12-11T18:04:30Z")
My shoulder is still sore at the injection point, but other than that, I’m just hunky dory. I had a couple of bad days due to the shots, but from what I was, it’s much better than getting shingles! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-getting-my-second-shingles-shot-this-week-what-should-i-expect/955592.md?page=4)