Canada approves shingles vaccine
August 27, 2008 by Marijke Durning, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
This was something I wish I’d had a few years ago, before I had the experience of having shingles: Health Canada has approved the sale of Zostavax, a vaccine for the prevention of shingles (herpes zoster). According to the manufacturing pharmaceutical, the vaccine should be available in 2009.
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Tags: chronic pain blog, pain blog, shingles, herpes zoster, shingles vaccine, zostavax
Shingles is very scary. I’m glad that they approved it. I hope I never get shingles, very scary. Skin cancer is something that’s been on my mind lately. We really need to protect our hands from the sun. Has anyone heard of or ever used Norwegian Formula Age Shield hand Cream by Neutrogena? It helps shield skin from UVA rays that can cause 80% of the premature signs of aging and sun spots. I found a coupon for it http://www.neutrogena.com/ageshield So i’m goning to try it.
I live in the US, but give anyone the following caution. I would like to point out, that Zostavax can cause shingles. I was a healthy 64 year old male who received the Zostavax vaccine on 2/5/08. Ten days later, my doctor diagnosed me with “classic shingles”. He put me on Valtrex for 7 days and I am still (1 month later) suffering with red spots on my (right) chest, pain in my right arm and shoulder, and severe itching. I notified Merck and my doctor also did! I read Merck’s “double blind” studies, and nowhere does it simply say: this vaccine can cause you to contract shingles. I have all the documentation as well as pictures. Please caution anyone who wants to gamble with their health. If you think that getting Shingles exactly 10 days after receiving the vaccine is a coincidence, go ahead and get the shot!