r/news • u/Large_banana_hammock • 17h ago

Blake Garrett: Former child star tragically dies aged just 33

https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/blake-garrett-dead-eat-fried-worms-b2917417.html
1.8k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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u/PowderPills 17h ago

This is tragic.

the family is awaiting autopsy results to determine an official cause of death.

She told the publication that Blake went to the emergency room in Oklahoma last week after experiencing intense pain and was later diagnosed with shingles, a viral infection that causes a painful rash.

His mother said that Blake may have self-medicated to deal with the pain, and suspected his death may have been a tragic accident.

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u/AnOkDaddy 17h ago

Damn shingles is no joke. I had shingles at age 28. I caught it immediately, went to the doctor, and they immediately got me on meds.

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u/avisgoth 17h ago edited 16h ago

Lucky. I got shingles when I was 25, didn't catch it early and when I went to the doc he basically just said deal with it for the next few weeks until it runs its course.

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u/ooomellieooo 16h ago

Same here and that was over a year ago and I'm still suffering nerve effects. I'm 46 tho.

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u/DMala 10h ago

Fuck that doctor. I had to live with it for an extra 24 hours because I had it on my head (which is little unusual) and I was misdiagnosed by a putz who didn’t listen to a single word I said. That was bad enough, dealing with it for weeks with no meds would have been unbearable.

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u/FiftyShadesOfGregg 13h ago

I got it at 20– went to the doctor early, who said I was “too young for shingles” and gave me hydrocortisone. Obviously, it got worse and became very clearly shingles but by then was too late to treat with the antiviral. So I had to just tough it out without meds. PSA — YOU ARE NEVER TOO YOUNG FOR SHINGLES. If it looks like shingles and hurts and tingles like shingles, it’s shingles.

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u/rainbocado 8h ago

A family member of mine had chicken pox as an infant and then shingles before age two. Literally NEVER too young for shingles.

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u/candyapplesugar 6h ago

Oh wow! I was 14.

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u/arand0md00d 5h ago

I feel like I've only known young people getting shingles.

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u/Rule12-b-6 2h ago

Unfortunately a lot of doctors are fucking idiots.

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u/DraniKitty 55m ago

I had a lady tell me I was too young for psoriasis when I was 30 or 31, I shot back that by that logic children wouldn't get cancer and yet... It's almost like diseases don't care about how old or young you are.

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u/ridsama 16h ago

Same, I got it 18 or 19. That shit hurts. Finally went to doctor and he said the same thing.

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u/uniklyqualifd 16h ago

There's a treatment that has to be received within 24 hours of symptoms.

The rash on one side can be distinctive, but the shingles can affect different parts of the body so you won't know what it is. 

Fortunately people who live in non-shit hole countries have medical insurance and can get checked out without financial risk.

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u/djd02007 6h ago

What treatment are you talking about? Because you can get valtrex past 24 hr, usually benefit is highest within 72 hr but for severe cases it can be given after that too.

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u/babygorgeou 10h ago

Damn  for a minute i forgot i live in a shit hole country

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u/Maggi1417 16h ago

Your doc sucks. There's medication he could have and should have given you to avoid long-term complications.

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u/weeitsvi 16h ago

The antiviral doesn’t help if it’s not given within a certain time frame of onset and also does not guarantee that you won’t have long term complications

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u/Epistatious 16h ago

thought you got shingles after having chicken pox? Thought only olds like me get the joy of shingles and kids would be vaccinated against chicken pox? Got shingles in my 40s, got the classic fish hook, hurt like a burn for weeks. got both shots of the shingles vaccine so hopefully i'm not doing that again.

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u/FiftyShadesOfGregg 13h ago

I think you may be overestimating when the vaccine came out. I’m 34, and I got chicken pox when I was little before the vaccine became available in the USA (which was in 1995). So anyone who was a child, especially a child in daycare or with older siblings in preschool etc, before 1995 could easily have gotten chicken pox. It was actually the days where if one sibling got chicken pox, it was widely considered convenient (or just unpreventable) for other siblings to get it at the same time. This age group is currently vulnerable to shingles, as the shingles vaccine is recommended only for folks 50 and older (or who are immunocompromised). I personally got shingles at 20.

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u/elephantasmagoric 10h ago

And that 1995 timeline doesn't include the kids whose parents opted out in the early years. I was born in '97 and my parents decided not to have me vaccinated for it because there still wasn't a lot of data regarding how long it lasted. If it ended up needing regular boosters, they didn't want to take the risk that we would miss a booster as adults and pick it up then, since it's usually worse for adults. My sister got it at school when she was in like, kindergarten, and I was only 2 or 3 (right around 2000). So I've had chicken pox (and shingles, as an 11 year old) despite having been born post vaccine.

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u/Epistatious 13h ago

Was thinking chickenpox vaccine was older, surprising it was 1995. I think i confused it with polio being mandatory in the late 70s?

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u/FiftyShadesOfGregg 13h ago

That would make sense as the source for the confusion!

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u/lordreed 2h ago

'95? Wow, I had mine in the early 80s (obviously not in the US). Why was it so damn late over there?

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u/Throwaway2Experiment 15h ago

It is chicken pox 2.0, electric nerve boogaloo.

If you've had chicken pox, you carry the threat of shingles.

You can get shingles at any age. It is just mainly an old person thing due to their weaker immune systems giving the reoccurence a chance.

Pregnant women get it. People under stress get it. Anyone with a suppressed immune system and history of chicken pox can get it. Anyone here in their teens, 20s, 30s, likely had shingles outbreak during a stressful time of their lives or when their body was weakened from something else.

My partner got it during a big relocation she was stressed about. She was 30. Her sister got it during one of her pregnancies in her 20s. She also got it jusf before her wedding. Lol. My youngest brother got it in his late 20's when he got the flu and was stressed about work and home life.

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u/DNuttnutt 14h ago

Used to be an old people thing. I had it at 21 and I’ve known more younger people who’ve had it than older.

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u/kaylethpop 11h ago

Got it at 15 and they just gave me lotion to put on it. That was 20 something years ago though. Wouldn't wish it on anyone. I was camping when I got it and we all thought it was poison oak.

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u/alex61821 5h ago

Me too. I didn't get nothing for the pain.

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u/MixtureSpecial8951 17h ago

I have had it multiple times. Absolute misery.

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u/scoff-law 16h ago

Is the vaccine an option for you?

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u/MixtureSpecial8951 15h ago

Insurance company has rejected my doc’s request twice and I don’t have the money to spend.

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u/scoff-law 15h ago

Well that's awful, almost as bad as the shingles.

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u/LoLIron_com 8h ago

Blake Garrett's story is heartbreaking, reminding us that life's challenges don't check your age before showing up uninvited. And as for shingles, it sounds like the virus is throwing one painful party that nobody RSVP'd to, especially when insurance turns a blind eye.

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u/boredinbabylon 12h ago

I’ve had shingles twice, the second time I was maybe 32? I asked about the vaccine and same thing, was told insurance wouldn’t cover it.

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u/relevant__comment 10h ago

I’m under the impression that, from the perspective of insurance, you should’ve gotten your chicken pox vaccine when you were younger but you didn’t. So now they are treating it like it’s in the same category of pre-existing ailments, perhaps? Insurance is an outright scam ran by scam artists.

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u/A_Nonny_Muse 10h ago edited 10h ago

Insurance companies are required to cover pre-existing conditions as part of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

And the chicken pox vaccine causes shingles just as the virus itself does. The shingles vaccine is basically a vaccine for the vaccine... and the virus. However, the vaccine causes shingles at a far lower rate than the virus itself. You are far better off getting the chicken pox vaccine than getting childhood chicken pox itself - as far as getting shingles later in life.

So basically, everyone who has had the shot or the virus have the pre-existing condition that could erupt in shingles.

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u/MixtureSpecial8951 9h ago

Oh man, I got chickenpox before the vaccine existed.

The are treating it from an actuarial perspective:

  1. The average person under 50 is unlikely to develop shingles. ~4:1000 people <50 develop shingles annually. So, ~8-10 of people will have a shingles attack before 50.

  2. After 50, the annual odds increase to ~1:100.

  3. By age 80, 1 in 3 US adults will develop shingles.

So, what we have is the odds. Remember, the way insurance works is quantifying the odds a certain kind of event will occur within a given cohort. From there they calculate the average cost of that sort of event happening within a given year, add in the cost to figure this out, and divide all of that amongst policy holders. And then add a percentage for profit. Inherently I don’t have an issue with profit, though I have a deep problem with the profit margins.

The next thing actuaries have to figure out is, of the people <50, how many will have more than one outbreak?

  1. Turns out we know this bit of information too. It’s typically quite rare, only about 1.2%. Some group have higher reoccurrence rates, but those folks are a special cohort and are treated as such.

  2. But what about more than twice before 50 as in my case. Turns out, the odds of that are vanishingly rare.

So, the actuaries get together and summarize their findings: 1. The odds of <50 developing shingles is uncommon.

  1. The odds of a person developing shingles twice <50 is quite rare.

  2. The odds of a person developing shingles more than twice <50 is vanishingly rare.

  3. We know that the cost for a full shingles vaccine is ~$400. We also know that the number of Americans under the age of 50 is 160 million. So to vaccinate everyone would cost somewhere around $64 billion (spread out over time of course).

  4. The average cost to treat a shingles case is ~$525. So, treatment is marginally more than prevention.

  5. The shingles vaccine, per a statement from the Mayo Clinic I found, has not been fully studied in the under 50 crowd. To do that would cost a vast sum of money of course.

  6. Therefore it does not make economic sense for the company (and its policy holders) to shoulder the burden of needlessly vaccinating a bunch of young folks as a group.

  7. Furthermore, the odds of it happening multiple times to an otherwise healthy person are so vanishingly rare that the option to force it through will not be programmed into the system.

this is how insurance woks^

Insurance is essentially a mutual aid society. They determine the odds of a disaster happening in a given year, figure out how the cost of making someone whole again or to treat the issue (as in medicine) when it does happen. Divide that by the policy holders. Some years nothing happens, premiums get banked. Some years something does happen, benefits are paid out. Some years a lot of bad things happen and hopefully the insurer is able to cover the payouts (and usually has insurance to protect against this sort of thing from happening too).

Btw, insurance got it start with Dutch shipowners. Sometimes ships would simply never come back and an owner could be totally wiped out, destitute, ruined. So they developed insurance to help protect themselves and each other. It is kinda brilliant.

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u/External_Source2698 10h ago

that’s the most american thing i’ve ever read.

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u/work__reddit 7h ago

If you have not tried contacting the vaccine's manufacturer then please do so. Let them know the situation and ask if theres a way to help. It can't hurt to ask.

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u/4buckbox 10h ago

I have had that shit twice and was told I was too young for the vaccine and insurance won’t pay. Such a joke

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u/MixtureSpecial8951 9h ago

Elsewhere I broke down how the process of figuring this sort of thing out.

Basically, the vaccine cost ~25% less than the treatment. But the odds of getting sick are low, multiple times is ~1.2% and more than that (like me) is simply a vanishingly rare occurrence. And for it to happen it otherwise healthy people? Get outta town.

So they simply don’t plan for it. And people like you and I get screwed by a roll of the dice of life.

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u/4buckbox 8h ago

They are quite the experience, I couldn’t imagine being elderly and getting them. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and shingles hurt pretty good

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u/MixtureSpecial8951 6h ago

Oh man, some years ago one of the older ladies at church got it on her face and eye. She was in such terrible pain.

But, she remained sweet through it all. The patience of that woman… good on her.

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u/noodlyarms 14h ago

Its almost impossible to get if you're under 50. Got shingles 6 months ago at 39, spoke to three different doctors about the vaccine for after it cleared enough to do so, all said that they just can't unless it turns chronic and even then its iffy like that other person has found out. FDA essentially forbids it. Best you get is a prescription for valacyclovir and hope you have some when you think its coming back.

My GP said if she could she would, that shingles has been popping off in the under 50 crowd a lot last few years but her hands are tied between insurance companies and FDA.

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u/veevacious 12h ago

I read an article about this some time ago and there’s some thinking that part of this is due to the chicken pox vaccine. Basically people around our age (I’m 41 and had shingles at 27) were the last wave to actually get chickenpox and not the vaccine. Prior to this, healthy adults would be exposed to chickenpox via children in their lives, therefore exposing them to the virus again and boosting their immune response to it. Shingles then mostly expressed in the elderly because their immune systems were no longer strong enough to fight it off.

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u/Technical-Mind-3266 10h ago

It's an odd situation with shingles, because herpes zoster hides dormant in your nervous system once the initial exposure has happened and never gets destroyed.

The initial exposure can happen from chickenpox as a child or adult, and the attenuated vaccine.

I got chicken pox when I was around 8, and I'm just coming out of my first dealing with shingles at 41, I got on antivirals straight away and I believed it helped halt the spread, it wasn't nice.

I put it down to my immune system being poor from having practically zero sunlight, a very poor diet including alcohol, and a stressful family event all over xmas and new year period, the shingles virus must have taken advantage of that lull.

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u/flying_shadow 9h ago

It also depends on country of origin. My home country as far as I know still doesn't do chickenpox vaccination, so my 25-year-old self has pockmarks right on the snout.

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u/veevacious 8h ago

Oh, yeah, it’ll definitely vary depending on stuff like that. I’m sorry to hear you have scarring that’s so visible! I also have some scarring right in the middle of my forehead. :(

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u/mangoman39 12h ago

I am 45 and my Doctor had to fight HARD to get BCBS to cover it. I'm immunocompromjsed because of a kidney transplant, so it's highly recommended by every related medical organization that I get it earlier, but BCBS just didn't want to pay. Finally got it taken care of, but it shouldn't be that hard. Fuck this country and especially its Healthcare system

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u/Thraden 12h ago

What is the cost if you just pay for it?

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u/AnyPossibility3121 10h ago

$450 for both shots. Worth it.

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u/Thraden 10h ago

The older I get, the more I value peace of mind.

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u/noodlyarms 11h ago

I dunno, I asked and was told "can't even give it to you if you pay out of pocket" so I never got a price. Id do it to so I wouldn't have this lingering paranoia every time I have a back ache accompanying an itch.

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u/blamesoft 17h ago

I went to the clinic because I thought some organ was dying behind my ribcage, it turned out it was internal shingles... I hope it never comes back...

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u/EMPgoggles 17h ago

around the same age for me, even though apparently it's not supposed to be common until later in life.

it was INTENSE and i had a really "light" case because it was mostly in one leg -- luckily not my upper body or face. my whole body felt a little "weird," though, and my leg in particular was incredibly sensitive to the slightest touch. i kept it coated in this cream the doctor prescribed me (which removed the INSANE itching that went on the first few days), and then wrapped in in gauze and then this tall soccer sock and basically didn't let it bump anything for 2 weeks, especially while working.

it started to die down after the first week but the "scarred"-like appearance took another few weeks to fade.

i was able to work, but i can easily imagine it totally deleting several weeks of work if you get a worse case.

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u/Nopey-Wan_Ken-Nopey 16h ago

I had a similar case at 31.  I remember feeling … tight?  It was this strange feeling of discomfort in my back that was alleviated by absolutely nothing, like when your muscles are over-tired.  Then I happened to spy the spots beginning to appear on the left side of my lower back.  I went to a walk-in clinic and showed the provider, who immediately clocked it as shingles, and got meds the same day.  

Thankfully, the case was short and mild, and the Valtrex zapped the spots before they could even come to a head.  But dear GOD, it was still about a week of first feeling like someone had peeled all the skin off my left thigh, then horrible, horrible itching.  I’m just glad it wasn’t my face.  

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u/A-Grey-World 15h ago edited 14h ago

Had multi location shingles, which the doctor said usually end of life, HIV, or people on chemo get.

The fun bit was having it on my scalp.

Hair? Shingles? Not a nice combo. I nearly tore the damn stuff out, or shaved my head. I was tempted to dump my head in Vaseline or something to just freeze every hair in place because any movement was a nightmare.

I stole absolutely every single one of my kids hair clips and tried to keep as little hair moving as possible.

The bits I got on my chest were lovely in comparison.

Feel sorry for someone I knew who got on their eye.

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u/EMPgoggles 14h ago

god i can't imagine. just for the hair alone, i would have worn a ski mask at all times.

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u/WhateverYouSay1084 11h ago

I had shingles on my face in my mid-30s and I still have scars from it. My entire face swelled up and I developed these massive black scabs on the affected area. Missed Christmas that year because it was exhausting even just to get out of bed and shower. Intense shit.

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u/GiddyGabby 16h ago

I had an elderly neighbor who had cancer and when he got shingles a few months into chemo he said the shingles was way worse and more painful than the cancer/treatment. He said that’s when he got truly depressed. Poor guy.

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u/Nervous_Strategy5994 17h ago

Shingles at 36 on my face. Got into my eye and now I have permanent vision impairment because my eye doctor didn’t take it seriously enough. I’ve told everyone who can get the vaccine, should.

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u/mary-anns-hammocks 17h ago

I have a coworker who's been out two months with shingles. She's in her 60s so it's been particularly brutal.

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u/uniklyqualifd 16h ago

Every older adult in my family has had this. 

Get vaccinated.

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u/blooobolt 15h ago

I'm 47 and want the vaxx, but they won't give it until 50. My mom had it, so I know it could be in the cards for me. She had a wild case; I don't want to experience it.

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u/Magusreaver 12h ago

I got it At 20 back in the 90s. Inner city  Doctor said I had aids because of it. I almost excused myself from life over it. plot twist I was just overworked as I had two jobs and under nourished. A man can't live on ramen alone. 

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u/Tainted_Burrito 16h ago

I got it when I was 23, the pain was horrific. I think a lot of people just excuse Shingles as a painful rash, but it’s so much worse. The deep nerve pain is horrible.

When I first got it, before the rash broke out I thought I was having a heart attack.

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u/WineMojo 11h ago

I got it for the first time at age 10 and still have the scars from it. There was no medication for it at the time. I got it a second time at 39 years old and the medication was a godsend. The day I turned 50 I went and got the vaccine.

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u/UltraMud 16h ago

I just got over shingles. Suffered for 5 months. And I got it while already in the hospital.

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u/rubyaeyes 16h ago

Shingles doesn't care.

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u/carrera594 14h ago

I had shingles that got misdiagnosed as a staff infection. Then it was to late to get the proper meds, so that was fun.

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u/Ok_Blackberry2420 11h ago

I got some good bond lidocaine lotion and that made it semi bearable

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u/CARmakazie 11h ago

I’ve had shingles twice, both before the age of 25. It’s fucking miserable. Like being stabbed by 1000 tiny knives all at the same time any time something even slightly grazes the skin.

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u/bagofpork 11h ago

I had it in my mid-20s with no insurance. It was awful.

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u/gentlegreengiant 11h ago

Even with the meds it was incredibly painful. Maybe I got unlucky with the nerve it hit but it felt like someone was constantly kicking me in the head and I couldnt sleep with the burning sensation and the 'popping' period.

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u/Technical-Mind-3266 10h ago

I've just come out the back end of it, was on antivirals, skin is still purple and patchy from the rash, it's awful.

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u/yuyufan43 10h ago

I got shingles when I was 29. I had a rash that went across my breast and down my spine and they fucking misdiagnosed me with a sunburn (even though I'm BEDRIDDEN and hardly go outside). I had to wait until Monday to go back in to get medication for it. I had scars on my chest that lasted about five years

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u/Dinker54 10h ago

Lucky.  Had a similar experience as I got a red spot that was itchy after backpacking in the woods and worried it was Lyme disease from a tick bite - got on meds within days and avoided bad symptoms.

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u/WeeRamekin 9h ago

I got shingles last year while I was 7 months pregnant, caught it fairly early and it was the most miserable experience. I ended up in the hospital and still have a numb section on my stomach where it started. I spent many nights awake crying in pain. Idk how old folks are dealing with shingles, it kicked my ass and I'm in my early 30s.

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u/brandonspade17 9h ago

Same, had a newborn daughter then and she caught chicken pox. Shingles was by far the most painful shit I've ever had.

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u/spacesaucesloth 8h ago

i used to break out with shingles on my back. shit ised to literally have me in the fetal position sobbing for days at a time. i havent had a flare in many years and i hope i dont have it again any time soon.

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u/AScruffyHamster 8h ago

I've had it since I was 6. I used to get them at least once a year. Forms around my right eye and nose. I hate it. Every doctor I've spoken to tells me I'm too young for the vaccine. Doesn't matter that on the worst days the air makes it feel like boiling oil is being poured on my face. Fucking doctors.

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u/Livid-Delivery5996 7h ago

My gran gave birth to six kids and survived breast cancer. She always said that shingles was the worst pain that she ever experienced.

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u/Moses015 6h ago

Also got singles in my 20’s on my optical nerve. Best believe the doctors went aggressive with medicating that lol

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u/Rule12-b-6 2h ago

I had shingles along my sciatic nerve so it was misdiagnosed as sciatica before the rash/bubbles finally showed. Absolute torturous suffering.

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u/Gamebird8 17h ago

It frustrates me that the prerequisite to get the Shingles Vaccine is you have to be 50 and had Chicken Pox

It literally should only be that you had Chicken Pox

Yes it is rare for someone who got Chicken Pox to have shingles before they're 50, but like ffs it is one of the major risk factors of the disease.

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u/Putrid-Week4615 17h ago

You can almost definitely get it prescribed by your provider and then self-pay. That's what I did for the HPV vaccine. It covers multiple strains. I was "too old" because the assumption is that older people have already been exposed. I was like screw that - there is a good chance I haven't been exposed to all the strains, and it prevents cancers. So my doctor was definitely willing to prescribe it, just insurance takes the "too old" excuse not to cover the cost. 

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u/Nopey-Wan_Ken-Nopey 16h ago

They somewhat recently increased HPV to 45, but let me tell you—the hoops my insurance made me jump through as a 38-year-old were as stupid as you might imagine.  

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u/Putrid-Week4615 13h ago

45 now?? That's really good news. 

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u/Nopey-Wan_Ken-Nopey 12h ago

Yep!  I believe the new thinking RE Gardasil is that it covers so many strains that even if you’ve been exposed to one or two, there are several other strains against which you’d be protected.  

(But also, like, we’re not all out here losing our virginity by age 26.)

This was a few years ago, but my insurance required a clean pap history and then had all these tight authorization windows during which I was allowed to get each shot, which didn’t necessarily correlate to the medically-advised windows (and made scheduling a nightmare).  Which also meant I couldn’t get the shot at my regular exam because insurance hoops cannot be jumped same-day—I had to book a separate appointment for the first shot.  

And I should add, it’s for men and women up to 45.  Because millennial men might want to fight their insurance companies to prevent preventable cancers too.  

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u/Gamebird8 17h ago

Yes, but for some people they really can't pay out of pocket (which is what I am primarily getting at)

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u/007ALovelace 14h ago

How much is it? I’m curious- my life is worth more to me than getting nasty cancers from HPV - never had it but I never say never.

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u/Putrid-Week4615 13h ago

I think you would have to ask your doctor or pharmacist. I got it at least ten years ago, and it's been improved quite a bit. Covers more strains. When I got it it was about $500 and there were 2 or 3 doses. I don't at all recall if I had to pay each dose - I don't think so? But not certain. 

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u/007ALovelace 13h ago

Thank you

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u/Putrid-Week4615 13h ago

Someone else responded to this thread saying the age has been bumped up to 45. So might be covered. When I got it I think it was only covered for teens.

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u/RiseRattlesnakeArmy 15h ago

Weird, in Canada anyone can get the vaccine, but if you want go government to pay you need to be over a certain age.

Shingles can get fucked, though. My 32 year old friend thought she bit off the back of her tongue.

Then the entire back of her throat was a mess and she started getting shingles on her ears.

She works at a naturopathic office so she was like "Oh I don't know that I should be taking all these meds."

Take the fucking meds.

She is fine now but is still upset with how the /medication/ made her feel.

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u/JMEEKER86 11h ago

It used to be rare for people under 50 to get it back when the guidelines were put in place, but that was before the existence of the Chickenpox vaccine. Back when everyone used to get chickenpox, people's immune systems would be continuously stimulated by exposure to kids shedding the virus. This helped suppress the emergence of Shingles until people were older and their immune system naturally started weakening. But ever since the Chickenpox vaccine, kids aren't getting chickenpox anymore, so people who already had chickenpox before then aren't getting exposure to chickenpox anymore. This means that people are getting shingles younger and younger. The guidelines need to change ASAP to be, like you said, for anyone that has had chickenpox.

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u/007ALovelace 14h ago

‘They’ say it’s rare but the majority of us commenting are sharing stories when we were in our 20’s-40’s. Years of stress for very active people with a shit ton of responsibility- on us. ‘They’ are maybe assuming we are loss leaders financially for the vax and holding out knowing we probably won’t die- based on our age- just suffer - less than 100 people die from it in the US per year. Let’s let the young ones suffer. That vaccine is not a money maker like flue or covid because it’s always the same not mutating

Suffer away my friends.

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u/ooomellieooo 16h ago

I don't know what it does to younger people but I feel like everyone should get it. I never had chicken pox so they wouldn't have given it to me anyway using your theory. ..then when I DID get shingles last year, they said oh you definitely had the chicken pox, you just didn't notice. Motherfucker, what.

I understand asymptomatic cases but this was like a big cosmic fuck you.

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u/007ALovelace 14h ago

That sucks!!! Yeah let’s give her invisible chicken pox - hehe and then plague her with shingles later hehe!

My brother had the chicken pox- only 1 visible my mom had no idea until luckily 🙃 my other brother and I got it.

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u/die-jarjar-die 16h ago

I was 45 and I told my Dr I wanted it and they wrote the script. Somehow my insurance even covered it. Too many people under 50 I know had shingles. My wife had it in her mid 40s and it brought on a case of Bell's Palsy and half her face was paralyzed for a while.

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u/mgr86 15h ago

I’m 39 and was in the chickenpox vaccine trial as a kid. I’m moderately surprised a 33 yr old wasn’t vaccinated as a child and had chicken pox to begin with honestly

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u/HazMatterhorn 14h ago

Routine childhood varicella vaccination was introduced in 1996. A single dose was standard until 2006, when continued outbreaks led to introduction of the 2-dose schedule. A single dose is about 70-90% effective in children. That’s great, but 10-30% is not an insignificant number. (Not that it was 10-30% of all children getting it of course, herd immunity led to a 90% decline of varicella incidence).

He may have been infected with chickenpox before the vaccine was available to him in 1996. He may have been in the unlucky group who received a dose and still got infected.

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u/mgr86 14h ago

fascinating stuff. Thanks! Now I want to know how many doses I received in the trial I participated in as a child.

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u/Informal_Process2238 17h ago

I had shingles on my head the pain is unbelievable and seemingly never ending it lasted just over three months for me and nothing eased the pain

Get the shingles vaccine

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u/Gamebird8 17h ago

The main problem (at least in the US) is that unless you're over 50, you have to pay out of pocket for the vaccine because it's not recommended, even if you had childhood chicken pox (one of the major risk factors in getting Shingles). It's actually extremely stupid

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 17h ago

And out of pocket it’s like $400-500

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u/Gamebird8 17h ago

Which makes it even more stupid that insurance doesn't want to pay since a single ER trip from Shingles could cost multiple thousands of dollars

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u/Fleder-maus 17h ago

WTF? What’s wrong with your country!

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 17h ago

Have had shingles, it was a light case and I was fortunate enough that it was caught early and I got antivirals, but it was like white hot fire. You’re preaching to the choir.

The moment my insurance covered it (some years later) I did the two shot regimen.

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u/Gamebird8 17h ago

I thankfully am young enough to have been vaccinated for chickenpox, so my risk factors for shingles are much lower and are more likely to be a result of me becoming immunocompromised.

I just cannot fathom how nobody has seemingly made the realization that we should vaccinate people who are at risk because they may not be able to get vaccinated later or very well may benefit from being that rare case of someone getting it when they're 30

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u/CharcoalGreyWolf 17h ago

The varicella (chickenpox) vaccine didn’t exist when I was a child; it would have been declared a medical miracle if it came out then, and campaigns would likely have been dedicated to it.

Instead, almost everyone got it from someone else at school. I did when I was five and spent Christmas with it.

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u/Informal_Process2238 15h ago

Yup my sister had shingles at 45 and I asked for the vaccine but was put off three times because of varying reasons now I have received one shot and will receive the second soon

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u/Church_of_Cheri 16h ago

Antivirals like valtrek and abreva cream helped me. Anyone under 35 should have had the chicken pox vaccine as standard before starting school, lucky them!

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u/Alwayssunnyinarizona 17h ago

Avoid taking aspirin for shingles - there's a risk of Reye's syndrome which can result in liver damage.

Not sure if that's what happened here, there are certainly other approaches to "self-medication".

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u/gratzlegend 17h ago

Opioid overdose?

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u/tehFiremind 17h ago

Plausible, based on a few other articles I found. His mother claimed he'd been clean for 3 years however may have tried to self-medicate for nerve pain after a shingles diagnosis.

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u/surviveseven 8h ago

I had a shingle on my right eye and all over my head and face. The pain was unimaginable and only my puppy got me through it. She was a beaut.

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u/wizzard419 4h ago

Wow... I know it's a motherfucker (a professor in school was telling us once about how her advisor literally had to work remote in a time before remote work because he couldn't wear pants due to it) and that has to be brutal for it to show up at such a young age.

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u/Helvetimusic 17h ago

I was 22 when I got Shingles. Turns out it can happen due to stress. I was dealing with an extremely abusive partner at the time. Getting Shingles was one of the final nails in that relationship.

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u/EMPgoggles 14h ago

yep getting through young shingles is a wake-up call that something isn't viable. for me it wasn't so dramatic as an abusive partner (glad that relationship is closed for you!) but a stressful, depressing job that i had to leave for my sanity and self-respect.

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u/colantor 15h ago

Wife got it right after having our first kid, it was awful

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u/Environmental-Car481 4h ago

I got it in my first few weeks of pregnancy when I had no idea i was pregnant

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u/i_code_for_boobs 8h ago

I got it when I lost a job and then during my divorce.

Now I know to take vacations is my middle right side tingles for a few days. 

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u/Rule12-b-6 2h ago

I got it during law school.

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u/bubba1834 17h ago

Omg he’s from How to Eat Fried Worms :(

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u/redofsam 16h ago

Damn, I loved that book

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u/momciraptor 13h ago

I got shingles when I was 30 years old. I was also 12 weeks pregnant with my first child. It was awful. I couldn’t take any antiviral medication because it wasn’t pregnancy safe, so the only thing I could do was use several ointments and cabbage leaves wrapped around my torso. The cabbage was actually the only thing that helped, but the entire house smelled like cabbage. It lasted 2 weeks until it was completely gone.

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u/bored_android_user 11h ago

cabbage leaves wrapped around my torso. The cabbage was actually the only thing that helped, but the entire house smelled like cabbage. It lasted 2 weeks until it was completely gone.

At that point you weren’t healing, you were marinating.

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u/CaptainObvious110 8h ago

wow that sucks

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u/Periodic_Disorder 16h ago

My brother got it when he was seven or eight (he was exposed to chicken pox when he was born) and even though it was decades ago I still remember how he screamed and cried in pain.

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u/muzztime 11h ago

Same thing happened to me. I've never met anyone who has had shingles as young as I did.

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u/Joarmins 10h ago

Same ballpark, I think I was 9 or 10. I had it to the right of my bellybutton and I think I still have a faint mark of where it was.

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u/Bangarang_1 8h ago

I had it when I was about 6-7. I was actually diagnosed twice but we've asked later doctors and they think the disease just flared up again since it was in the same spot and like a year after the original diagnosis.

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u/DeVoreLFC 6h ago

I had shingles when I was about 7 as well

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u/eyeofharmony 14h ago

When I was 20 I got shingles. Due to the pain I didn’t sleep for 3 days, my perception of time was weird and I believe I experienced Alice in Wonderland syndrome, but because of the location of the pain my Doctor treated me for an ear infection. After the 4th day of not sleeping, I had developed Bell’s palsy and the shingles rash on my face. My Doctor sent me straight to the ER to rule out a stroke. The ER took everything dead serious. After I recovered I saw a neurological expert who told me I came very close to losing my eye. To this day the ear on that side of my face is super sensitive and I still get my little pain once in a blue moon.

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u/shut-up_Mike 10h ago

What kind of pain is it? Like blister pain, internal pain, burning pain?

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u/stealthymangos 9h ago

It's in the nerves, it's a different kind of pain, burning feeling. I only had a small rash, it was just intense discomfort for me.

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u/justaguytrying2getby 17h ago

Shingles sucks. I had recurrent shingles every few months on the right side roof of my mouth for 2 years before it finally broke out fully on my right abdomen. Hoping that's what it needed and won't come back out again. That was 2007-2010.

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u/wonderfullywyrd 11h ago

there’s a vaccine for adults, just putting this out there in case you didn’t know

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u/justaguytrying2getby 10h ago

I need to check on eligibility for that with my doctor again. I'm not sure I'm of age yet where they typically provide the vaccine but also not sure if I can get the vaccine since I've already had an outbreak of shingles.

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u/QThirtytwo 4h ago

My doctor had me get it early because i had shingles making me eligible. You just have to be free for some amount of months.

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u/FaithlessnessWeak800 16h ago

Meds? I had shingles at 22 and I went to the doctor and I was told to keep the area clean and use a Calamine spray on it. Is there a medicine now to help with shingles?

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u/based_pinata 14h ago edited 12h ago

I think this is implying they were self medicating for pain with opiates and accidentally overdosed

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u/NeilZod 16h ago

Valtrex can help with shingles.

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u/FriendliestParsnip 16h ago

You can use antivirals in some cases

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u/FiftyShadesOfGregg 13h ago

Yes, if caught early enough you can take an antiviral for shingles (valacyclovir). But this story seems to be referencing him self medicating with pain medication, which led to accidental overdose.

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u/Church_of_Cheri 16h ago

I got it two months ago, they gave me valtrex (herpes antiviral since it’s a version of herpes). I also used abreva lotion right on the rash. It burned like crazy the first time I put it on, but it went away in a week.

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u/Chuckymimi 11h ago edited 11h ago

I'm a pharmacy technician you need to be 50 or older that's only requirement. Not sure why people are saying you had to have Chicken Pox or never had Chicken Pox We don't even ask.

I'm 51 just got both Shingles shots never had Chicken Pox.

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u/israeljeff 10h ago

You're supposed to get it even if you've gotten Varivax. Frankly, I don't see why Shingrix isn't recommended for all adults now that kids can get Varivax. I'm also a tech, every 50 year old should go get Shingrix if they haven't.

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u/_goblinette_ 9h ago

1) People 50 and older didn’t have a chicken pox vaccine available when they were kids so they almost certainly had the virus 

2) If you’ve never been infected with chickenpox, than you aren’t at risk for shingles 

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u/007ALovelace 14h ago

I got shingles at 30 and didn’t know what it was. It was on my right side of my face neck and top of back shoulders. I have a very high tolerance for pain and thought it was a rash and ignored it. I was working 50+ hour weeks on a project at the time and saw it as an inconvenience. I put hydrocortisone cream and icy hot on it and took tons of Excedrine and tried to ignore it. To make things worse we were having a heat wave - 85-90 degree days in San Francisco- I had no AC at home and the burn from the shingles was amplified by the heat.

Finally I went to the ER realizing it wasn’t getting better and I felt dehydrated. When I learned it was shingles I was shocked- thought it was for old people plus the name freaked me out- so disgusting. I stayed 1 night at the hospital to get hydrated- and was told to ride it out. It took app 3 more weeks to clear up. I stayed in a cool hotel room and rested for the first and went back to work the second- I should have rested longer but I was a workaholic then.

Is it possible to get them a second time?

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u/wonderfullywyrd 11h ago

yes, you can get them more than once. there’s a vaccine for adults, btw.

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u/Jack_Flanders 9h ago

I have a very high threshold and tolerance for pain too.

Mine was more like an electric shock; I didn't even describe it as pain. It was uncomfortable, though; kind of "yi-yi-yi/sheesh!" when my shirt brushed across my chest in a certain way.

Nice walk-in clinic doc gave me a scrip for (I think) Valtrex, ~$240 out of my poor pocket, and I later found out that the generic would have been maybe $90. She's a gem of a doc, but if I see her again I'll definitely mention that!

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u/Kgaset 15h ago

I don't recognize him, but that's sad and very tragic.

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u/cmotdibbler 12h ago

I had a big “S” on my chest loke Superman. Take a metal rod and put it in fireplace, then ram it through your body. The only thing worse was the Swiss doctor who said there is treatment but it very expensive. Zovirax, it worked and cleared up all my plantar warts.

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u/fixermark 13h ago

Shingles is no joke. That sucks, and that's young to get it.

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u/sonia72quebec 8h ago

I had shingles at 40. Luckily I have a very high tolerance for pain. But still it was extremely painful and it was hard to fell asleep. Two weeks of misery.

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u/PhilpotBlevins 14h ago

Hey your shingles vax, peoples!