Hi,
Thank you for the responses.
Yes, if you have had chickenpox and you are exposed to a child with chickenpox that are not yet visible you can come down with shingles....I have...was hospitalized for a month with the left half of my head and neck about four times their normal size...as per the physician who treated me.
Yes, having the shingles vaccination is a great idea.
Some people cannot take a live virus vaccination like the shingles vaccination because they would become seriously ill with full body shingles.
This includes all people on chemotherapy, including rheumatics on infusion therapy such as Rituximab which in actuality is chemotherapy.
I had shingles the first time when I was 11 In 1962...I had had chicken box in early 1953...I have had shingles four more times.
Being immunocompromised, I can not take the shingles vaccination.
But having suffered immensely five times with this excruciating nerve disease I strongly suggest others avoid this possibility and have the shingles vaccination.
Shingles is not an inconvenience...shingles can take your vision, shingles can take your hearing, shingles follows a nerve root...nerve roots come directly off of the spinal cord.
You may have shingles of some lower nerve root that innervates the lower abdomen...not much pain. But you could have shingles of C4, a high cervical nerve root, and require hospitalization.
I had them internally...on my liver, on my gall bladder, on my pancreas, on all of the related ducts and it was a nightmate for four months!
And sometimes, the nerve root is permanently damaged.
Please, talk to your physician about having the shingles vaccination.