Can a Flu shot lead to Shingles?

My mother got a flu shot for the first time last week, and two days later got the same rash as described by others. She went to the doctor today, and was diagnosed with shingles. She is a very healthy 63-year-old. She thought that the timing was very coincidental, and this thread seems to confirm it.

I am so glad I found this website!! I have been suffering from shingles for a month now, on the right side of my trunk/waistband area. I got my flu shot on Oct. 27, and by Oct. 31 the itching/pain/rash started. I originally thought it was hives from a new fabric softener. After a week of itching and pain, I was diagnosed and confirmed with a culture that I have shingles.

I am a 40 year old woman who is very healthy, and was NOT under stress or run down when I received the flu shot. Nor is my immune system compromised. I don't fit the mold of who gets shingles. I've received the flu shot the last 6 or so years with no bad reactions. I talked to a physician assistant friend of mine and she said the flu shot triggers your immune system into "overdrive" to make flu antibodies, and that overload could have triggered a case of shingles that were dormant in the nerves. Interesting about the Guillian-Barre connection that someone else noted. I wonder how related shingles and Guillian-Barre are??

Another anecdotal story is that my husband's 82-year old grandmother has shingles on her scalp right now...she had the flu shot 2 weeks prior to her outbreak. Coincidence?? I think not!

I am convinced there is a link - there are way too many people (on this website alone) for all these to be a coincidence.

I received the inactivated flu shot and within 2 days I had a bout of itching, then 3 days later had a raised band of skin from the right of my belly button to right above my hip area. Within days it became a band of red blotches that became tiny blisters, which spread more every day all the way to the middle of my back.I immediately knew that it was a reaction to the flu shot, because I am a very healthy person and have not had skin outbreaks at 57. At first I treated it as a one would a burn, with bandages, which caught the draining blisters at night, and stopped it from spreading further. I am now dealing with the intense pain and with making sure they dry out without an infection.

I had never heard of shingles, and could not figure what was going on with me. I consulted a health book which showed a photo that showed a band of blisters on one side of the body, just like what I had, under the heading of Shingles. I don't believe it is a coincidence that
this happened 2 weeks after my flu shot.

I called and left a message at the National Vaccine Injury Compensation program which exists for the care of anyone who has had a serious reaction to a vaccine. The number is 1-800-338-2382. Their website is www.hrsa.gove/vaccinecompensation. If any of you contact them and have any results, please let me know at [email protected]

Good luck to you who have had the same experience.

Inés

My 83 year old father just returned from the doctor with a diagnosis of shingles after having received a flu shot last Thursday. The shingles are on his right leg. In addition, both he and my mother received a flu shot at the same time and both of them experienced pounding headaches that started in the back of the head and neck and then moved to the front forehead. This headache came on almost immediately and they both felt sick and "out of sorts" for several days after. Coincidence??

Pamela, I don't suppose your mom has a baby book anywhere that she kept for you? It would be really good to know if you had chickenpox, as that's the main indicator of whether you're at risk. Here's what Medicine Net says about the possibility of contagion:

"Yes, shingles is contagious. Shingles can be spread from an affected person to children or adults who have not had chickenpox. But instead of developing shingles, these people develop chickenpox. Once they have had chickenpox, people cannot catch shingles (or contract the virus) from someone else. Once infected, however, people have the potential to develop shingles later in life.

"Shingles is contagious to people that have not previously had chickenpox, as long as there are new blisters forming and old blisters healing. Once all of the blisters are crusted over, the virus can no longer be spread."

If your mother is diagnosed with shingles, ask her doctor what precautions you need to take in order to avoid or lesson chances of contagion. And at the first sign of something that might be shingles -- tingling, pain and itching on the skin where nerves are, even before you see a rash or blisters -- go to the doctor yourself. An early case of shingles can be mitigated by medicine that won't help a later case.

http://www.medicinenet.com/shingles/article.htm

It's good to be alert to these symptoms even if you find that you had chickenpox as a child. I had a serious bout of chickenpox at age 2, and yet I got a case of shingles in my late 30s. So it doesn't always act like doctors think it will.