So, if I got the Chicken Pox vaccine when I was younger, does that make me Shingle-Proof?
My good friend got it at age 22.
He lamented that all the doctors laughed at him - “It’s an old man’s disease! You’re 22!”
He blames it on a month-long alcohol binge that he figures weakened his immune system.
It did leave him with an absolutely awesome Harry Potter scar - dead center of his forehead, looks a bit like a lightning bolt.
Also, my boss’s boss got it in his mid-40s. I teased him too about it being an old man’s disease.
You can still get the pox even though you were vaccinated but if you haven’t had the pox you’re safe from shingles.
My father got it the MOMENT I graduated from college. He made it through the actual ceremony but spent the brunch in the ER, but he hadn’t broken out in the rash so they had no idea and couldn’t do anything for him. It is absolutely no joke - he was in agonizing pain then and every day after that for a good six months.
My grandmother got it in her eye. Tomorrow (well, today, I guess) is her 94th birthday - luckily, she didn’t lose any sight in that eye, but it was a good forty freaking years ago and she’ll still tell you that was the most painful thing that ever happened to her. And ten years ago she broke her hip and got a bone infection and spent six months flat on her back with various things growing in her leg. Shingles still wins the pain-o-thon. Just FYI.
ETA - stress is definitely a factor, in that it was TOTALLY MY FAULT about my dad. I almost didn’t graduate from college because of a nasty bout with senior year depression - literally, I only walked that day because of extraordinary intervention by my advisor. Which gave my father an incredibly painful, awful disease.
I’m sorry I don’t have a cite, but the jury is still out on low immune system. I read on the 'net about low immune system, but there are just as many articles that say it doesn’t matter.
I eat well. I exercise. I rarely get sick. And I’m a teacher, and there is no one less stressed than a teacher in the summer. Every summer my blood pressure drops, and usually it’s pretty low anyway. I have a fantastic immune system.
The other thing I’ll say is that you don’t give others stress. How people handle stress is up to their bodies…physically and psychologically.
I hope you’re doing well after that year…I’ve certainly had years like that in my life.
deleted by Bosda.
Posted with no coffee in me. sorry