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Your Doctors'
Top Book Picks

SFM Recommends Shingles Vaccine for all 60+ Year Olds

Your Doctors' Top Book Picks

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler

Strong Women Stay Young by Miriam Nelson

Pain Free at Your PCC by Pete Egoscue

Childwise by Gary Ezzo and Dr. Robert Bucknam

Parenting with Love and Logic by Foster Cline and Jim Fay

“Practice makes perfect.” Parenting with Love and Logic exemplifies this saying by teaching that great parenting is achieved through practice. Cline and Fay’s philosophy of parenting called “love and logic” outlines the process of raising responsible children through practice. This book is great for the parent looking to forge a mutually respectful, open, and loving relationship with their child. The book teaches parents how to teach their kids logic and responsibility by living their lives in the same way: logically and responsibly. This is an extremely upbeat and sensible approach to child rearing.

What to Expect When you are Expecting by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi Murkoff
and Sandee Hathaway

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Shingles is a painful and bothersome disorder that has the potential to develop into a debilitating condition. The rash that Shingles brings on, consisting of raised red bumps and blisters, can be painful and may last up to a month. People who are 60 and older and those whose immune system is compromised (due to cancer, HIV, or organ transplants, for example) have a greater likelihood of developing Shingles, as well as a more serious complication.

That complication, Postherpetic Neuralgia (PHN), can last for far more than just a month and, because it is a nerve disorder, can cause far more pain for its victims. Thankfully, there is a vaccine that can potentially prevent Shingles and its complications. But first, let’s get specific and learn exactly what Shingles is and how exactly to prevent it.

What is Shingles? Shingles is the reawakening of the dormant chickenpox virus in the human body. This happens for unknown reasons in about one in five people, although as noted above, age and problems with the immune system increase your chances of getting shingles. The first symptom of shingles is often extreme sensitivity or pain in a broad band on one side of the body. The sensation can be itching, tingling, burning, constant aching, or deep, shooting, or "lightning bolt" pain.

Generally, one to three days after the pain starts, a rash with raised, red bumps and blisters erupts on the skin in the same distribution as the pain. They become pus-filled, then form scabs by 10-12 days.

The rash may be painful, and will usually last up to 30 days. However, if the Postherpetic Neuralgia complication arises, the pain may last much longer. PHN, typically lasts much longer than a month, lingering long after the rash and blisters have healed.

PHN affects the nerve fibers and skin, is much more painful than Shingles themselves, and due to how long it can potentially last, is quite debilitating. According to the Mayo Clinic, fewer than ten percent of those under 60 develop PHN after Shingles, while about 40 percent of those older than 60 experience this complication.

Another serious complication is if the shingles rash causes blisters on the cornea of the eye. If you get shingles blisters on your nose or near your eyes, you should be seen right away because the virus may spread to the eye and cause eye damage or vision loss.

What can you do to prevent or lessen the impact of Shingles?
Sound Family Medicine, along with the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommends that most adults 60 and older get a Shingles vaccine.

Zostavax, the vaccine used to prevent or lessen the symptoms of shingles, uses a weakened form of the virus causing chickenpox. Zostavax works by helping the immune system protect one from contracting shingles. Like most vaccines, Zostavax is not 100% effective. If you do get Shingles and are vaccinated, Zostavax may help prevent the nerve pain that sometimes ensues from Shingles.

Zostavax cannot be used to treat shingles once you already have it.
You should not receive Zostavax if:

• You are allergic to any of its ingredients
• You are allergic to gelatin or neomycin,
• You already have a weakened immune system (an immune deficiency such as leukemia, lymphoma, HIV/AIDS),
• You take steroids by any method,
• You are pregnant or plan to get pregnant.

Children should not receive the vaccine at all, but can be vaccinated against chickenpox.

Before a Zostavax vaccine referral is made, your provider will inquire about your health history including other medications and supplements you are taking. You should also tell your provider if you will be in close contact with anyone who has not yet had the chickenpox, or has not been vaccinated against it.

We don’t stock the vaccine in the office. Below are pharmacies that do. Zostavax is a frozen vaccine and must be administered within the first fifteen minutes of leaving the freezer. As you can see in the chart below only two locations administer it. If you have any questions at all, feel free to stop in at one of Sound Family Medicine’s locations or call for an appointment with one of the many qualified providers for more information concerning Zostavax or Shingles and/or the immunization process. Most commercial insurance companies do cover the vaccine. Medicare Part D also covers the medication with a prescription at a pharmacy or a patient pays cash and submits for reimbursement.

They will help you with all that you need, get you a referral for the vaccine and you will be well on your way to a Shingles free life.

Places where you can get Zostavax:

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