Shingles vaccine?

[Rolfe]

Just to follow up on this; whether it was related to one or both of the jabs or not, I had difficulty sleeping for a few days afterwards. Both arms were slightly sore, but not really painful, so I don't know if that was it or just my body was slightly 'off' as a result of the injections; it took longer than usual to fall asleep, then I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back asleep again. Back to normal after about four days, and no other side-effects that I noticed.

I had my second dose early this afternoon. Went for a ten-mile bike ride in the late afternoon without even thinking about it, feel fine.

Well, about that. A week after the second dose I had a very strange episode of what felt like a nasty post-vaccine reaction. It came on quite suddenly in the middle of the evening, and passed off again just as suddenly two days later. Weird.

 

[Trebuchet]

You are of course quite correct. I had read that it was rare for someone to get shingles twice unless they were immunosuppressed, but several people have explained to me that this is not the case. A GP friend said, if your first bout happens when you're fairly elderly you probably won't get another in your lifetime, but you were only 60, plenty time left to get it again.

I got the vaccine.

My wife's had it twice. Once was enough for me. On my face and scalp. Ugh.

 

[Planigale]

My wife's had it twice. Once was enough for me. On my face and scalp. Ugh.

Shingles on the face may be sight threatening. Eye doctors take facial shingles very seriously and may want to admit for intensive treatment (e.g. 2 hourly eye drops).

 

[Rolfe]

I suppose I was lucky, mine was in the common site of forming a sort of half-moon round my left side just above my waist. I heard the doctors mention which spinal nerve it was but I don't remember. L4?

 

[dann]

More good news!

Article: Shingles vaccine may slow biological aging in older adults
cidrap.umn.edu/adult-non-flu-vaccines/shingles-vaccine-may-slow-biological-aging-older-adults (CIDRAP, Jan 20, 2026)
Study: academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/gerona/glag008/8430804 (The Journals of Gerontology)
Article: Analysis adds evidence that shingles vaccine prevents or delays new-onset dementia
cidrap.umn.edu/adult-non-flu-vaccines/analysis-adds-evidence-shingles-vaccine-prevents-or-delays-new-onset (CIDRAP, Jan 22, 2026).