I Have Had Shingles Since I Was 15. I Am

Posted on Wed, 14 Nov 2018

Question: I have had shingles since I was 15. I am now 77 and still break out every 3-6 months the shot did not help. the peroid between 15 and 21 was no break out also did not break out until 31 then again
at 40 from then it has been 3-6 months. Any ideas? I had the first vaccine 8 years ago and it made
no difference.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Yogesh D (5 hours later)

Brief Answer:
The virus can become active repeatedly, continue acyclovir.

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Welcome to Ask a Doctor Service.

I have read your query carefully and understand your concern. And I am very sorry to learn about your suffering, it is indeed very frustrating when nothing seems to help at all.

This is very unfortunate that you have shingles flareups so frequently.

The virus stays dormant in the dorsal root ganglia and becomes active whenever immunity drops.

You seem to be having a particularly strong strain of virus.

You continue to take acyclovir during flareups, since vaccination has been tried already, unfortunately we currently do not have any other solution for you.

I am sorry for you, and wish I could tell you otherwise, but the fact remains that nothing much can not be done other than trying to improve your immunity status.

You can try the vaccine one more time and please consume green leafy veggies and fruits.

Take a multivitamin supplement that contains vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, vitamin B12, Vitamin A and vitamin D.

Apart from that you should also consume adequate amounts of proteins.

And hope for the best.

I hope things will improve soon for you.

I wish you the very best.

Warm regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar