Adult Babies in mainstream literature

[andyg0404]

Hi Angela,

Very sorry to hear about your bout with the shingles. They offer a shingles vaccine here in the states and it's recommended for older people. It's a one time shot but it's far more expensive than the flu and pneumonia shots they offer and the procedure is different. It's kept frozen and when you come in for the injection they have to let it thaw before use. I took one a few years ago and hope it keeps me safe.

Feel better and I hope it passes soon.

Andy G.

[BillieJo]

I got a shingles shot last year but unknown to me at the time was that it only reduced my chances of ever getting shingles and that if I was to get them the severity of the shingles would be reduced. The cost of the shot was in excess of four hundred dollars. Heck,  with that cost you would think it would prevent shingles 100%.

[Betty]

You got robbed. I read the price is around $190. In the USA the heath insurance plans used the most by people over 50, will cover a cheap flu shot, but not the expensive shingles vaccine. I've read that even though the shingles shot may not prevent shingles flare ups in about half the cases, it will reduce the severity of them if they do flare up. Now they say you may need a booster shot every 5-10 years too!

http://www.consumerreports.org/health/why-the-shingles-vaccine-cost-so-much/

They say everyone over 60 should get the shingles vaccine. I never had chicken pox that cause shingles later in life. Am I still at risk somehow? I wasn't aware that shingles was contagious, just the chicken pox. I would think if one never had the chicken pox one should get the pox shot, not the shingles shot. I think doctors just assume almost everybody had the chicken pox so needs a shingles shot. Not so. Out of the 6 kids in our family, only my sister got the pox. Hardly anybody I knew got it either. I guess it was just rarer in our area.

[Robyn Jodie]

I am not a doctor, nurse, or physician's assistant, but as far as I know, chicken pox is a prerequisite for getting shingles, so if you never had it, you should be safe from shingles.  Unfortunately, the medical sites I have looked at say that a person who has never had (nor, apparently, been vaccinated for) chicken pox CAN catch the virus that causes shingles / chicken pox.  According to one site, "Shingles is less contagious than chickenpox and the risk of a person with shingles spreading the virus is low if the rash is covered."

[Betty]

Yeah. That's how I thought it was. I can catch the pox if in close contact with somebody with shingles, but I can't catch the shingles. I need a pox shot, not a shingles shot. I can't have a shingles flare up if I never had chicken pox.

[andyg0404]

I got the shingles shot as I had a mild case of chicken pox as a child. And I think it cost about $190 as Betty says. And if it reduces my chances of getting shingles I thought it worth it even if it wasn't a hundred percent. I never got a flu shot until I was in my late 50's and contracted the flu. It was the sickest I had ever been. Wound up staying home for a week and prior to that in nine years I had never missed a day due to illness. After that I decided to get the shot annually and when it was advised to get the pneumonia and shingles shots I decided to do those as well. Getting the flu really shook me up as to just how sick you can get.

[Angela M...]

Yes Andy & Betty, it cost's about $200 here in Ontario but I can't take it because it reacts with my Arthritis meds. I had a mild case four years ago and they ordered the shot for me at the end of the year but my Rheumatologist said not to take it. My family doc suggests I ask if I can hold off on the drugs for 6 months and then take the shot because he said with my low immune system I could get it again. Old age is not for sissies that's for sure. Like you Andy I never had a Flu shot until I hit 60 and got really sick with it also.

[Bertha]

Over 70's can receive the shingles vaccine here via the NHS, it is technically possible to catch shingles even if you have never had chiken pox, the fluid in the blisters contains the virus, so towels and bedsheets should not be shared. I had shingles when I was a teenager and I do remember how painful the area where the blisters were for many weeks afterwards.

Thanks again to Betty for making Blott accessible, I enjoyed watching it.
Julie Mckenzie, who portrays Nanny Whip later went on to play Miss Marple on TV
and Blott himself, David Suchet, became the definitive Hercule Poirot.