Here's Why Younger People are Getting Shingles

This has been a wild time for me, but I am feeling much better.

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[raymond-andrade]

Really glad you included a remembrance of Evelyn Nicol. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and if it wasn't for her (and others) work over half a century ago, we may have been in a very different situation today.

[mapratt]

Shingles saved my life. Wasn't too bad, but got me to a nurse practitioner who discovered I - who never smoked - had lung cancer. Medical science has kept me alive the following years, a wonderful testament to progress in medical science

[ursirius]

As a child of the sixties when chicken pox came to the neighborhood our parents, unbeknownst to us, made sure we all got it by having us all play together. It was no big deal really. Back then the doctors wanted us to get it early because it's worse when you get older and children rarely had severe cases.

[johnsaksa]

Hank, one of your qualities that I much appreciate is your regular recognition of scientists, doctors, people, who are often unnoticed by history. Later on, in your timeline, you did the same regarding the doctors who made your chemo experience more successful and effective than it would have been 10 or 15 years ago. Whether it's by name or as a group, keep it up.

[DneilB]

When I was 49, I had a long conversation with my physician about shingles and we decided that I should get vaccinated the following year (in Canada, we also generally restrict the vaccine for people who are 50+).

Six weeks later… yep, you guessed it. Within the span of one month, I had resolve a bunch of (public-facing) programming issues with work, work flights to Chicago, Phoenix, Vancouver BC, and we bought a new house. Resolved everything, moved into the house, prepared it for the birth of our second child, and then I took a week off to just settle in. 2-3 days into my vacation, and I got an itch on my right side, radiating from under the armpit to the mid sternum. And a little bit of a rash appeared.

And then, one morning I rolled over and someone had lit a fire on the actual bones of my rib cage, across my collarbone, and up to the base of my neck. The skin was rashy, but the pain was incredible. Before my (then-) current employment, I had been a chef, so I am well aware of how 2nd degree burns hurt.

It was similar; but more intense.

We tried a few different pain management options; but ended up with hydrocodone. The sensation of the pain was still there, but I was too stoned to care overmuch about it. This was my life for about a month.

One thing that Hank didn’t mention is that if you can identify it early in the flare-up, you can take antivirals to reduce the severity *and* duration of the flare-up, instead of just riding it out with high-intensity pain medicine and/or anticonvulsants.

The other thing that Hank didn’t mention is the possibility of repeat flare-ups. Most people have just the one, but sometimes it can repeat itself. The real fun is called zoster sine herpete—basically shingles without the rash. That was how my second (and, hopefully, final) flare-up presented.

Hank, best wishes. I hope that you are one of the 80% that don’t have to deal with any of the complications or recurrences of shingles. I know that you have a somewhat complicated immune system, which is what puts folks like us at a greater risk for ongoing issues from the virus. ✌️

[TanyaOfMars]

I have a degenerative joint disease that causes a ton of pain every day—and shingles was worse than that. I was not mentally prepared for just how awful it would be! Glad you’re feeling better Hank!

[itoshiibaka]

My husband is 41 and has had shingles TWICE. The second time, he recognized the symptoms and was able to get the antiviral. I tried to get the shingles vaccine, but was denied because I'm too young. But my son is vaccinated, so thank you for the silver lining. ❤

[jennifer]

I got shingles ON MY HEAD when I was 35. (That was 2013) It sprung up after the death of my sister, and leaving my job, and moving internationally with my cat in tow. So _definitely_ brought on by stress. ⚠️
Shingles at 35 is rare, and facial shingles is rare _and_ dangerous. I had most of my lesions on my scalp and neck, but there were two on my face- one VERY close to my eye. My doctor told me that if my eye were to get infected, I could lose my sight in that eye! Plus, the migraines were excruciating!😫
I can't believe that the shingles vaccine STILL has not been made available to people under 50 who have already experienced a case of shingles, because we are much more likely to get it a second time. I swear to god, if I have to go through that again, I might just go to Washington with a full blown case and lobby all over everybody! 😡

[kathygardnermsrd]

As someone who, like Hank, just got over the Covid + shingles combo, this topic fascinates me. But the video ended in such a sad note! It so sad that this groundbreaking researcher died a week before her 90th birthday from Covid. Thank you Ms Nicol for the work you did so many years ago.

[_maxgray]

The power to wipe out diseases for the next generation is an underappreciated aspect of vaccinations. People not that much younger than we are never had chickenpox and will never have shingles - that's beautiful!

[yasmeenahmaiden]

Had Shingles 5-10 years ago, in my early thirties. It hurt like heck. Mine was on one of my thighs. At the height of it, it felt like someone was stabbing me in the thigh with a knife every few seconds and wearing any fabric over it, or even a breeze blowing over it was excruciating as well. Hope it wasn't as bad as that for you, but either way, hope you recover soon.

[everartokelli]

When I was in grad school (in my forties), I was in a car accident and got shingles a few days later. I went to the student health center for treatment and the doctor told me that she saw many cases in students much younger than me usually around finals, so she believed that stress triggered shingles. So stress may be one reason why so many younger people are having flareups. I have been vaccinated against shingles so hopefully won't have to go through that again 🤞

[jasonmartin]

I'm 17 and currently have shingles, I've never known pain like this! Glad to know you're almost over it.

[monicaaiken]

I got shingles at age 46. I’ve been stressed because my mom died this year and I had to sort through her things before her house goes on sale. She was a hoarder and had an entire room full of boxes of papers, as well as a rat problem. Three weeks of sorting through papers and an international trip back home to Denmark, and then a few weeks later I come down with shingles, and just think it is a heat rash from the weather. I waited too long to treat it, and now of course I am hearing lots about how shingles in young people can be a sign of numerous cancers. Fantastic. Looks like you got shingles not so long before you were diagnosed with cancer as well. Jeeze…. I hope you are well. 🙏🏼

[tictacmaybeau]

Haha it’s fun to see this mentioned. When I was 13 (7 years ago) I developed shingles! As a kid I’d gotten the chickenpox vaccine but contracted chicken pox around a year later anyways. I think my age is rarer for shingles, and even amongst my peers now I’m the odd one out in terms of having contracted chickenpox. In my biology lecture of 200 or so our professor was discussing vaccines and asked how many of us had been vaccinated for chicken pox and we all raised our hands, then she asked how many of us had gotten chicken pox and I was the only person in that room with my hand up. It’s nice to see how far we’ve come 😅

[rachaelgregory]

Several of my family had shingles post Covid -19 vaccination. It is on the list of adverse reactions. It would be interesting to see the 2019 data compared to the 2021/22 data, post vaccine roll out.

[thegallivanter]

Lol, hi Hank, I was in the same urgent care clinic as you when you came in to get treated. I tried to awkwardly tell you how much I love your books, but I was suffering from two burst eardrums and in terrible pain at the time, so I was crying and shaking and acting weird. Hope you're starting to feel better, shingles is(are?) super shitty!! Take care

[airierwitch]

Woah! I got shingles a few years ago (early twenties) and while it was pretty mild, my doctor was baffled because she had never seen it in anyone my age before! So cool to know that I probably got shingles so young specifically because most everyone born after me won’t.

[Holeysocks]

In my early sixties, retired no stress I got shingles for three consecutive years. Always in the fall. After some research and review it was apparent I had a shingles outbreak within 2 to 4 weeks of my annual flu shot which I had only started getting at Sixty years old. I know correlation doesn’t prove causation but I haven’t had an outbreak since quitting my flu shot, and no flu either. Use this information as you wish.

[lanuitbleue]

Pharmacy technician here: in general, Shingrix (the newer, two dose shingles vaccine) is only available to people 50+ without a prescription from a doctor. Pharmacies have a protocol physician that covers vaccines without a written prescription, which is why you can just walk in for a flu shot. But below 50, people just need a prescription from their doctor and they can get it. The COVID pandemic also expanded on vaccines covered by protocol physicians, meaning that most vaccines don’t need written prescriptions.