| Who knew that my health issues might help me stave off dementia?? That getting shingles a third time might actually keep my mind relatively intact in my old age? The first time I came down with shingles was the spring of 1988, during the stress of finals week. Suddenly I had such an itchy patch of bumpy red skin on my back that was annoying but not especially painful. I made an appointment with the dermatologist after a couple of days, and she diagnosed it as shingles and chastised me for not getting in to see her sooner. Fast forward nearly 25 years. It’s 2013 and my life is just a fog of hell. For nearly two years I’ve been battling interstitial lung disease and inflammatory arthritis in my back (the battle in itself is nearly an all-encompassing job) while raising two teen agers and working full-time to support the family, including my (now ex) wife who has decided after my diagnosis that as a 38-year old high school drop out she was destined to be a doctor so became a full-time student. When in the midst of all this I decided to switch jobs to sales management for a dysfunctional company with lofty aspirations, it became too much for my physical system to endure, so I came down with shingles again. The second time was remarkably similar to the first: an itchy patch of red skin on my core. To be honest, I didn’t know what all the fuss was about shingles: to me it was more like a case of poison oak than it was some hell-ish infliction. Then the third time hit. That was 2016 when I was working as a sales leader for yet another dysfunctional tech company that was having financial issues. This bout was memorable because I was amazed at how unconcerned my management seemed for my well-being when I said I had to work from home because of shingles, but more than that for the first time I understood what the fuss was about shingles. My body hurt like hell. I remember my nerve endings burning and actually hurting, like there were in needles rather than nerves. This time I got into the doctor pronto and got the medicines to help stave off permanent damage. And it was about this time that my doctors suggested I get the shingles vaccination despite my relatively youthful age of 48. Now, 10 years later, I’m reading how much they’re realizing the mental benefits of shingles vaccinations: that little prick is a powerful protection against dementia. Yay!!!!!! Sometimes in life what might seem like a bad thing actually in reality turns out to be a good thing long term. For me, that includes my lung disease — which gave me a new lease and outlook on life — and also my shingles, which unwittingly gave me some extra defense against dementia. Believe me when I say that I as much as anyone need any defense I can get against brain ailments — I’m already started with a lighter load (lesser brain) than most 🙂 I’m just so grateful for unexpected and indirect great news. SOURCES: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/shingles-vaccine-lowers-dementia-risk/&ved=2ahUKEwjf38WzocOUAxXFETQIHZhrLxIQFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2ruEM2NXKWGpkuCuUMR7Xc https://www.reddit.com/r/psychology/comments/1pd1i66/a_dementia_vaccine_could_be_real_and_some_of_us/ https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/03/shingles-vaccination-dementia.html etc. etc. etc. |
Who knew that shingles would protect my brain???
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Thank you for visiting! This site is the miscellaneous ponderings, musings and scribblings of a non-extraordinary person by day doubling as a real estate broker in Seattle by night. All rights reserved, and no liability accepted.
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