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Can a Flu shot lead to Shingles?

By Expert HERWriter October 11, 2008 - 9:42pm
 
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flu shot

dear michelle, a 76 year old friend recently had a flu shot and developed a case of shingles. any connection? coincidental? thanxs so much

Jean

Has anyone ever heard of this or had this happen to them?

Michelle

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EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I am 61 and had to go in for a new pacemaker battery. They asked me if I had the flu shot and pneumonia shot. I told them I had the pneumonia shot years ago and no I don't do flu shots. Ten days after the battery replacement I came down with a terrible case of shingles. I have been battling it for 7 months now. And the pain meds they gave me made me feel terrible and my hair was falling out terribly. I had to wean off the pain meds, they are highly addictive. And it has taken over a month to feel anywhere near normal. Dizzy and panic attacks have kept me down for weeks. I have since read that the Obama Care policy is to give those shots without your permission any time you enter a hospital, and tell them you haven't had those shots. They don't even tell your doctor. I am still very uncomfortable where the rash is, but hoping it will heal eventually.

August 2, 2016 - 8:44pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

The Affordable Care Act only requires hospital workers themselves to get flu shots. Only 15 out of 8,000 refused and quit. This is a safety measure for all hospital patients. I had the shingles vaccine and sometime later had shingles, the first time mild, the second time vicious. However, neither was connected with the flu shots which I always have in the Fall and had had the Shingles in the Spring.

November 17, 2016 - 10:32am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Same here.... first a flu shot two days later a shingles eruption.
Both my MDs and pharmacist say that is coincidence. I am sure it is not.
Will anybody ever agree with this and start looking for class action suit or something.
I was 75 year old male otherwise healthy and never had shingles before.

June 27, 2016 - 9:27am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I worked in Pharmacy for years and I lost count of the number of people that told me their shingles developed not long after a flu vax- I strongly believe the two are linked- also many people who came into the pharmacy saying they have never been as sick in their lives since having a flu vaccination .. i personally would not have this vaccination!

June 25, 2016 - 3:39pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

Yes, it is true that you can break out in a rash after taking a flu shot. It happen to me. I got my flu shot in December. I started breaking out in these large welts on my body. They are painful and itchy.

January 22, 2016 - 4:09am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

We're the welts all over or one area of the body

October 28, 2017 - 8:21pm
Guide (reply to Anonymous)

Hello Anonymous,

It is important to differentiate a rash, caused by an allergic reaction to the influenza vaccine and the painful rash associated with shingles.

A person may develop a severe allergic reaction, such as a rash,
hives; itching; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue, if he or she is allergic to any ingredient in Influenza Virus Vaccine, including egg proteins or egg products.

Shingles is a viral infection that causes a painful rash. Although shingles can occur anywhere on your body, it most often appears as a single stripe of blisters that wraps around either the left or the right side of your torso.

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus — the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you've had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.

Anyone who's had chickenpox may develop shingles. After you recover from chickenpox, the virus can enter your nervous system and lie dormant for years. Eventually, it may reactivate and travel along nerve pathways to your skin — producing shingles.

The reason for the encore is unclear. But it may be due to lowered immunity to infections as you grow older. Shingles is more common in older adults and in people who have weak immune systems.

Maryann

January 22, 2016 - 9:41am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Maryann Gromisch RN)

To Maryann Gromisch RN :
I also developed shingles after the flu shot weakened my immune system.
Please, refer to: http://www.lovethispic.com/blog/10924/if-you-know-anyone-that%26rsquo%3Bs-thinking-of-getting-a-flu-shot-this-year%2C-show-them-this

Look at

10. Weakens immunological responses
There have been literally thousands of articles published that show injecting vaccines can lead to harmful immunological responses and a host of other infections. Moreover, weak immunological responses only decrease a person’s ability to fight the diseases that the vaccine was supposed to protect against in the first place.

October 29, 2016 - 5:59pm
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous

I broke out in shingles after the flu shot and I'm a healthy 31 year old man. Of course doctors deny correlation but how many coincidences do we need to have until people realize that every medical intervention has benefits but also risks.

January 2, 2016 - 7:23am
EmpowHER Guest
Anonymous (reply to Anonymous)

Same:
At 29 I got the flu shot and less than 2 weeks later had shingles. I don't care that no one says there is any correlation. I never want shingles again and since they wont give me a shingles vaccination for another 31 years, I will take chicken pox vaccinations. studies suggest the reason more younger people are getting shingles is because chickenpox is being vaccinated, and therefore not out and about entering people's immune-system and reminding them of how to fight the strain.

October 5, 2016 - 1:08pm
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