Shingles can also affect younger people
One in three suffers from shingles – mostly at the age of 60 plus. Achim L. was a little younger and suffered from nerve pain for a long time. You can easily protect yourself from the disease.
Von
Stephanie Wesely
5 Min.
In the case of shingles, the virus spreads along the nerve tracts. © Symbolic image: dpa/Friso Gentsch
Painful blisters in the rib area gave Achim L. from southern Germany the idea that he might have shingles. At the age of 54, he was actually still too young for this, because the majority of patients are 60 years and older. “But since my mother had shingles two years earlier, I was sensitized and went to the doctor,” he says.
“By the time painful blisters appear, the disease has usually already broken out completely. The blisters indicate that the nerve is already inflamed. The risk of consequential damage is then greater than if the treatment begins before the typical rash,” says Dr. Markus Heinemann, infectiologist and immunologist from Stuttgart. However, the disease is rarely recognized in an early phase, because non-specific symptoms of infection, localized burning pain or itching often lead to the suspicion of other diseases. Especially when the patient is as young as Achim L.
Advertisement
That is why TU Dresden might change the future of global science
The National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) will take the collection, structuring and storage of scientific knowledge to a new level. Important steps are being taken in Dresden.
Painful, burning blisters show that the disease has already fully broken out. © GSK
Shingles can affect anyone who has ever had chickenpox. That is more than 95 percent of today’s over 60-year-olds. After a chickenpox infection, the herpes zoster virus does not disappear from the body, but retreats into the nerve nodes in the spinal cord. “If the immune system is weakened, for example due to mental stress, illness or severe infections, the viruses can be reactivated,” explains Dr. Christoph Gallinger, immunologist at vaccine manufacturer GSK. That is why an increase in shingles diseases is now being observed following the corona pandemic – there were 1,635 cases in Saxony alone last year, 200 more than in 2021.
Pain is lonely
Achim L also had family changes and stress at work. “The doctor gave me lotion to apply to the painful area of skin and tablets to treat the nerve inflammation,” he says. After regarding a month, the shingles had subsided. But it wasn’t over, as he painfully realized: “When I was putting on my shoes, out of nowhere, such severe pain shot into my side, which was affected by shingles at the time, that I might hardly breathe.” It felt like the strongest side stitch felt. And that pain kept coming. Once they would have stopped only briefly, then once more for hours. “I was constantly on the alert. The pain made me downright aggressive, so I withdrew more and more.” Since he hardly slept at night, he was not productive during the day, which in turn intensified the pain attacks – a vicious circle.
Achim L. became more and more lonely. “I didn’t trust myself to accept invitations from friends because I was always afraid of being overcome by another attack of pain. At some point you won’t be asked anymore,” he says.
Reports like that every day
Günter Rambach, Vice President of the German pain league, hears such reports every day. With eight other volunteers, he advises callers on the pain hotline. “Roughly every fourth call is regarding late effects of shingles,” he says. For many, the pain is chronic and will not go away. “The patients tell me regarding their desperation and hopelessness.” They often feel that as a relief, but their relatives usually no longer want to hear it. That’s why it’s good that there are opportunities for exchange like the pain phone.
Well effective vaccine
But shingles and its complications do not have to be. “Today there is a very effective inactivated vaccine that, according to studies, protects 92 percent once morest shingles and 82 percent once morest consequential damage. The vaccine itself cannot cause a disease, but it can stimulate the immune system to form antibodies,” says Markus Heinemann. Previous vaccines were not as effective. The Standing Vaccination Commission recommends protection from the age of 60. People with previous illnesses that impair the immune system, such as diabetes, chronic bronchitis, asthma or even surviving cancer, should be vaccinated at the age of 50. Under these conditions, the health insurance companies also cover the costs for the two vaccinations that are required at intervals of two to six months.
They are well tolerated. According to Christoph Gallinger, general symptoms such as headaches, tiredness, fever and muscle pain might occur in the first three days following the vaccination. Itching often occurs at the injection site. “Occasionally, lymph nodes swell or joints ache. Such vaccination reactions are usually short-lived and subside following one to three days. They’re nothing compared to the pain of shingles or chronic neuritis,” he says.
Chicken pox test unnecessary
Achim L. also wants to be vaccinated, because you can get shingles several times. He does not know if he had chickenpox as a child. That’s how it is for many. However, a blood test for antibodies is not recommended. According to the Robert Koch Institute, it is assumed that every adult has had contact with the chickenpox virus in their lifetime. These do not necessarily have to have triggered an illness, the infection can also have occurred unnoticed.
Many children today no longer get chickenpox because they have been vaccinated once morest the infectious disease. Even so, they can get shingles as they age. “Not from the chickenpox vaccine, but from unnoticed secondary infections,” says Markus Heinemann. However, such shingles diseases are usually not that severe.
Achim L. now has his old life back, as he says. In autumn last year he allowed himself a break, strengthened his soul and immune system once more during a longer holiday. He now manages without painkillers and can work full time once more. But not everyone is so lucky. Every tenth patient with a shingles-related disease has to live with chronic pain.
- The pain hotline of the German Pain League can be reached on 069 20019019 at the following times: Mondays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
