Shingles
Both Chickenpox and shingles are caused by the same virus - varicella-zoster. The chickenpox virus stays in your body forever - after an attack of chickenpox, the virus lies dormant in the nerve tissue.

Years later, the chickenpox virus can cause a painful disease called herpes zoster, or shingles. Most cases of shingles occur in people older than 50, and the risk of developing shingles increases with age. Although it is most common in people over age 50, if you have had chickenpox, you are at risk for developing shingles.

Shingles is more common in people with weakened immune systems. Conditions that weaken the immune system:

• HIV/AIDS
• Cancer, chemotherapy or radiation treatments for cancer
• Transplant operations
• Stress - while stress alone does not cause the outbreaks, shingles often occurs in people who have recently had a stressful event in their lives

You can not catch shingles from someone who has it.

Complications of Shingles
Among those who get shingles, more than one-third will develop serious complications. The risk of complications rises after 60 years of age.

• If shingles appears on your face, it can lead to complications in your hearing and vision. If shingles affects your eye, the cornea can become infected and lead to temporary or permanent blindness.
• Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), a condition where the pain from shingles persists for months, sometimes years, after the shingles rash has healed.

Shingles Vaccine
It is recommended that adults 60 years of age and older get a single dose of the shingles vaccine (called Zostavax) even if they have had a prior episode of shingles.

Source: nihseniorhealth.gov

I didn't realize Shingles is caused from the same virus as chickenpox and I also didn't realize once you get chickenpox the virus stays in you forever.

So, does that mean that children that get the chickenpox vaccine won't ever get Shingles? Or by getting the vaccine will you still have the dormant virus in you, thus still have the chance to get Shingles? I wonder...

The chickenpox vaccine does not protect you from shingles ... even though both chickenpox and shingles are caused by the same virus - varicella-zoster - when this virus is activated in adults, it produces shingles (herpes zoster).

According to what I read, the chickenpox virus stays in your body forever and ever and ever. So.... that's why you can get shingles later in life. The chickenpox vaccine protects you from chickenpox, and the shingles vaccine protects you from shingles. Without getting both vaccines, you are at risk for catching either.

My husband and I were in Safeway a couple years ago getting our annual flu shot, and a man was in there getting a shingles vaccine. He said his insurance wouldn't pay for it, and it was verrrrrrrrrry expensive... a whopping $200 bucks!!

More info about Shingles

Shingles is a rash of fluid-filled blisters, similar to chickenpox, but
the blisters tend to be clustered in one specific area only on one side of the body or face, rather than scattered all over the body like chickenpox.
The pain from shingles can be mild or severe. Some people have mostly itching - some people feel pain from the gentlest touch or breeze.

I wonder why that guy's health insurance wouldn't pay for the shingles vaccine. I wonder if that was just his insurance or if most insurances don't pay for it. Because $200 is a lot for a vaccine! But I guess if your insurance doesn't pay, you still better get it because the outcome of getting shingles could be worse for you.

Oh wow. I always thought that if you had chickenpox you weren't at risk for shingles. Kinda like the chickenpox being a sort of vaccine for shingles. I could have sworn I remember hearing about parents purposely exposing their kids to other kids with chickenpox so they wouldn't get what's supposed to be the much more painful shingles later in life.

I've always had that thought on the back of my mind. I've been kinda worried about getting shingles as I get older because I've never had chickenpox. I thought my parents and doctor mistook chickenpox as an allergic to penicillin for a few years, but I found out that wasn't the case.

You've never had chickenpox? Uh oh. Shouldn't you also be worried about getting chickenpox? Can't you still get it? Can you still go in and get a chickenpox vaccine or is there an age cut off for that?

Anyone can get chickenpox if they have never had it before, course you must be exposed to it to get it. Adults who are uncertain if they have had chickenpox in the past can have blood testing done to see if immunization is appropriate.

People ages 13 and older who have NOT received the chickenpox vaccine and have NOT had chickenpox should get two doses of the chickenpox vaccine, 4 to 8 weeks apart.
Almost no one will develop moderate or severe chickenpox if they have received the chickenpox vaccine. The small number of children who do develop chickenpox after they have received the vaccine have only a mild case.


I found this info (below) on the Connecticut Department of Public Health:

Can the chickenpox vaccine cause shingles (herpes zoster)?
Yes, this is possible. The risk of shingles following vaccination appears to be less than that following infection with the varicella virus. The majority of cases of shingles following vaccination have been mild and have not been associated with serious complications.

Just wondering joebert, if you ever found out for sure if you had chickenpox or not when you were a kid, and if you didn't have them, if you went in to get the chickenpox vaccine?

I actually got ahold of my immunization records for the time I was born up until I was 5 years old. I have records for all sorts of shots including for polio, I didn't see anything about chickenpox or anything sounding remotely like it though. I also found out for sure that I never had chickenpox.

I talked to my mother about it, she seems to think my fathers side of the family has some sort of super human resistance to chickenpox. Neither my brother nor I have had chickenpox, neither has my father. My mother had chickenpox when she was a kid though. She was an Army brat that traveled all around the world, so she's had shots and vaccinations for all sorts of things.

Oh I see. Well, shouldn't you just go get the vaccine then, just to be safe instead of sorry if you ever got shingles? I know you said you were worried about possibly getting shingles later in life.

Well, some time next year I need to get in to see a doctor for a proper physical and I'm sure I'll have all sorts of things to do then. I'll turn 30 next year and it's been awhile since I've had a physical.

Oh good, then that will be the perfect time for you to discuss the chickenpox vaccine with the doc and see what he says about it.