My Story: Kimberly and shingles

Kimberly shares her experience with shingles, including the physical and emotional impacts. Learn why she advocates for the shingles vaccine.

Transcript

00:00

It felt like someone was putting an ice pick through my ear, which was very uncomfortable.

00:07

So the first day I had symptoms, I was really tired, and my legs just ached very badly.

00:14

I didn't break out with lesions until about two or three days later. And then I got the lesions all over my chest

00:23

and up on my back and my neck. Emotionally, it was very difficult. Because the symptoms are so close to fibromyalgia,

00:29

I actually thought I was having a fibromyalgia flare, so I didn't go to the doctor at first, not until I got the lesions. So mine lasted a little bit longer, which

00:38

wore more on me emotionally. I was trying to work 40 hours a week, and I was exhausted and tired.

00:45

The pain in my ear actually didn't happen until I'd had shingles for about a week or week and a half. And so that was discouraging because you

00:51

think you're getting better, and then all of a sudden, you feel like, oh, my gosh, this is getting worse. It caused me stress and anxiety over it.

00:59

I gave up a lot of social activities. I received my vaccination just this past fall.

01:05

I've had both doses. The first dose was a walk in the park, no problems. The second one, I had several symptoms

01:12

that they list on your vaccination sheet, but they only lasted about 12 hours. So 12 hours of symptoms versus a few weeks of symptoms

01:19

was much better. So yeah, I highly recommend getting a shingles vaccine. It's very easy. You just get two doses, and you're all done.