Shingles are nasty.
It’s easy to avoid the painful skin rash: Get a vaccine.
My hubby got the shot, didn’t keel over or anything, so I will probably get needle poke, too.
We are both 60 or older, the recommended age to receive the herpes zoster vaccine. Rite-Aid has been shooting people with the liquid since 2007. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shingles can strike those who have had chickenpox.
Almost 1 in 3 Americans will suffer a shingles outbreak in their lifetime, according to the CDC.
Steve Dahlberg, Everett Clinic family practitioner, said he is in a unique position to recommend the vaccine.
“I’ve seen and have had shingles,” Dahlberg said. “I had it when I was 16. That’s very rare.”
Shingles is caused by a nerve infection by the same virus that gives people chicken pox. Outbreaks can be on the face, chest, legs or arms.
“The initial breakout is a week or two,” he said. “Being sick with it is a bad experience. You can end up with chronic problems.”
Shingles can last a week, months or years. He was left with numbness on the right side of his chest, Dahlberg said.
My husband’s doctor advised him last year to get the shingle’s vaccine. His doctor gave him an official looking piece of paper we could give to a pharmacy indicating the shot was recommended.
Thus began a year-long quest.
Nobody stocked it.
It was very annoying. I cursed the doctor who wanted my husband to get something he couldn’t find.
We tried this drug store and that drug store. Some said a pharmacy in another part of town would be carrying the vaccine. Some said they were getting it next month. We pulled into random stores when we were out running errands, to no avail.
The official paper for the pharmacy got mighty worn. One Saturday, we put our two brains together to get one efficient machine, and made getting the shot a priority. After a round of phone calls, we found that Rite-Aid in Mukilteo had the juice, had a pharmacist willing to do the poke, and would prepare the necessary paperwork.
Off we went. Pharmacy manager David Weller was a super guy. We found out the shot costs about $200 and our insurance picked up $150 of that.
When Weller graphically described what shingles looked like, in a customer’s eyeball no less, Chuck was eager to roll up his sleeve.
Weller, 68, said he is a big proponent of the shot.
“I may retire someday,” he said. “I don’t want to be on the golf course with my wife, taking a dream vacation, and become bedridden.”
I found out later that for Weller to give a shot, he studied for a week, in a classroom and online. I didn’t know that at his pharmacy he is able to give 40 or 50 different kinds of vaccines to people of all ages.
Weller and Dahlberg couldn’t emphasize enough how painful shingles can be, and how much they recommend getting the shot.
My hubby had no side effects after his injection.
I delivered two children without drugs, and declared moments after the second birth that I planned to never again be in that kind of agony.
Avoiding getting sick is a no-brainer, as long as it requires only an itty bitty sting.
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
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