On 9/17/2024 at 2:16 PM, harryviking said:

After being a regular in Thailand for 35 years, I have never even heard about "shingles" at all. Let us hear if anyone have.  

My Thai step son had it about 4 years ago in his early 40's so it's not just old folks that can suffer from it.  Most of our Western friends are in favor of vaccination so the frequency among them will be low.

38 minutes ago, Lorry said:

 

Thx, nice.

It would be nicer if they wouldn't have to write :

The funder of the study was GSK who was involved in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the report, and the decision to submit for publication.

 

Ana Strezova a,∗, Javier Díez Domingo b,c, Anthony L Cunningham d,e, Takashi Eto f, Charles Andrews g, Clovis Arns h, Eun-Ju Choo i, David Shu Cheong Hui j, Giancarlo Icardi k,l, Shelly A McNeil m, Airi Põder n, Pavel Kosina o, Lars Rombo p, Tino F Schwarz q, Juan Carlos Tinoco r, Chong-Jen Yu s, Jing Wang t, Jyoti Soni a, Manyee Tsang u, Rafael Leon a, Agnes Mwakingwe-Omari t; Zoster-049 Study Group

 

ZOE-LTFU (NCT02723773) ... was conducted in 18 countries or regions (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America).

The protocol was approved by necessary independent ethics committees or institutional review boards. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the principles of Good Clinical Practice. 

 

It is completely appropriate -- and practically necessary -- for manufacturers to fund studies of this type.  I suspect many hundreds of people were involved in conducting and reporting on this research. And I fear the alternative would be to not have multi-country long-term studies of this type at all.

 

If you feel that GSK interfered with the conduct of the study,  let's hear about it.  If you want to push for more public funding for research of this kind I'm right there with you. But let's not point at a standard practice as though it's some sort of indictment.

 

 

2 hours ago, retiree said:

 

Ana Strezova a,∗, Javier Díez Domingo b,c, Anthony L Cunningham d,e, Takashi Eto f, Charles Andrews g, Clovis Arns h, Eun-Ju Choo i, David Shu Cheong Hui j, Giancarlo Icardi k,l, Shelly A McNeil m, Airi Põder n, Pavel Kosina o, Lars Rombo p, Tino F Schwarz q, Juan Carlos Tinoco r, Chong-Jen Yu s, Jing Wang t, Jyoti Soni a, Manyee Tsang u, Rafael Leon a, Agnes Mwakingwe-Omari t; Zoster-049 Study Group

 

ZOE-LTFU (NCT02723773) ... was conducted in 18 countries or regions (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America).

The protocol was approved by necessary independent ethics committees or institutional review boards. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and the principles of Good Clinical Practice. 

 

It is completely appropriate -- and practically necessary -- for manufacturers to fund studies of this type.  I suspect many hundreds of people were involved in conducting and reporting on this research. And I fear the alternative would be to not have multi-country long-term studies of this type at all.

 

If you feel that GSK interfered with the conduct of the study,  let's hear about it.  If you want to push for more public funding for research of this kind I'm right there with you. But let's not point at a standard practice as though it's some sort of indictment.

 

 

There is reason why The Lancet publishes (has to publish) 

who funded the study. 

The reason is called "conflicting interest".

That doesn't necessarily devalue the study, and your points may all be correct - it's still a conflicting interest.  Nothing more and nothing less.

 

BTW I did have Shingrix

19 hours ago, Hamus Yaigh said:

Don't you take antivirals to reduce the occurrence and speed up healing?

Don't help me, must be taken within 72h after first symptoms

On 9/16/2024 at 5:46 PM, Mavideol said:

I resort to Gabapatin before bed to allow sleeping

I use it every day, twice.

1 hour ago, PoorSucker said:

I use it every day, twice.

I stopped taking it as I got the Shingrix vaccine, 2 shots and all the pain is gone

 

 

 

Have you checked with Stiddle Mump or Red Phoenix.......see what the real experts say? 

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Don't help me, must be taken within 72h after first symptoms

That's true, you really need to get those antivirals into your system at the first signal.

On 9/16/2024 at 12:37 AM, couchpotato said:

The old vaccine Zostavax apparently was not that effective, but Shingrix is supposedly very good.

I had the Zostavax about 3 years ago, went in for the ‘booster’ turns out it was just another Zostavax.  Went back a year ago and got the new Shingrix - was told by the doctor that this is lifelong and wouldn’t need another one - ever.  I hope he was correct.   I took care of a friend that had Shingles, he hurt everywhere, and the skin on his face got hard and peeled off, couldn’t breath well enough to get up and walk to bathroom, and pain was unbearable……..I tell everyone to get the shot, if you had seen my friend, he looked like an episode of The Walking Dead - and that is no exaggeration.    Get the shot.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/sJNA6ZYTBrTTTYKL8

 

Red Cross Vaccination Clinic. Open weekdays before 4pm. Next to the Snake Park. 

 

Got my shots there. Easy and cheapest in town. 

 

On 9/16/2024 at 5:20 PM, Sheryl said:

You won't get Shingrix for under 5000 baht per injection anywhere.

 

And yes, it is well worth it.

6800 for two doses in Chiang rai. Done and done.

16 hours ago, cjinchiangrai said:

6800 for two doses in Chiang rai. Done and done.

Where in Chiang Rai did you get 2 doses for a total of 6800, and are you sure it was Shingrix and not Zostavax? 

23 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

From where did you get this info? My Mrs is just about to arrange for a vaginal or laparoscopic Hysterectomy. Better than Radio or Chemo therapy for Cervical cancer.

20 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

Where in Chiang Rai did you get 2 doses for a total of 6800, and are you sure it was Shingrix and not Zostavax? 

Zostavax is only ever one dose I thought. Agree the price for 2 doses does not tally.

17 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

From where did you get this info? My Mrs is just about to arrange for a vaginal or laparoscopic Hysterectomy. Better than Radio or Chemo therapy for Cervical cancer.

That chart is not at all accurate.

 

Abdominal hysterectomies are no more painful than any other abdominal surgery. Laoaroscopic abdominal surgeries are much less painful post op than open procedures.  

Removed an off-topic post about a typo.

A friend of mine forgot to get the second dose and ended up with Shingles.   

 

You don't want Shingles.

On 9/1/2025 at 5:13 PM, Lorry said:

The funder of the study was GSK who was involved in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the report, and the decision to submit for publication.

 

There was no "decision to submit for publication".  GSK is committed to publishing all trial results, regardless of the outcome.  They register all trial protocols before studies begin and posts the results within a year of completion.  They also make all the trial data available for reanalysis by others.  This is the norm in the industry these days.

On 9/3/2025 at 10:58 AM, Sheryl said:

Where in Chiang Rai did you get 2 doses for a total of 6800, and are you sure it was Shingrix and not Zostavax? 

The big public hospital. No idea what was in the needle but it hurt a lot. I was hanging around waiting for the wife and updated my vaccinations to kill time.

13 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

The big public hospital. No idea what was in the needle but it hurt a lot. I was hanging around waiting for the wife and updated my vaccinations to kill time.

You seem to be describing a single event but you said you got 2 Shingtix doses for that price, can you clarify?

 

Provincial government hospitals do not usually gave Shingrix. 

1 minute ago, Sheryl said:

You seem to be describing a single event but you said you got 2 Shingtix doses for that price? 

Pattaya Jomtien Hospital...Shingrix full dosage (3 shots?) was 13,500 baht early this year.

From past experience  Zostavax also required 2 doses.

I got Shingrix at CM Ram today: 11400 for the 2 dose package. Back in two months.

I thought the medicine might cause some soreness but the nice nurse injected way too high into my sholder.
Jeebus, I'm taking ibuprofen and wine and it is startng to feel a little better - like a strained rotator cuff.
But from what we hear about shingles I'd gladly go through this many times to avoid the hellish outbreak.

17 hours ago, Zaphod Priest said:

There was no "decision to submit for publication

Tell this to the authors of the study, not me, as it was a quote from the study.

It's worth to get a vaccination. In older age particularly.

Even there are benefits for your cardio vascular system.

I required 2 shots actually.

And, believe me, I got shingles when I was 30 years old. It took many many years to recover from acne like scars. And it was extremely painful.

On 9/4/2025 at 7:02 AM, Zaphod Priest said:

There was no "decision to submit for publication".   GSK is committed to publishing  ...

On 9/5/2025 at 12:16 AM, Lorry said:

Tell this to the authors of the study, not me, as it was a quote from the study.

 

Everybody's a winner here.  GSK can have a default policy, but Lancet can have a boilerplate disclosure form.

 

Fwiw more folks are looking at registered but unpublished studies these days, as well as comparing the outcomes of industry vs. independent funding.  This came out a few years ago on one of this forum's perennial favorite topics:  knee injections.  It's worth reading, if just for a look at the methodology and presentation. 

 

Pereira, Tiago V., Peter Jüni, Pakeezah Saadat, Dan Xing, Liang Yao, Pavlos Bobos, Arnav Agarwal, Cesar A. Hincapié, and Bruno R. da Costa. "Viscosupplementation for knee osteoarthritis: systematic review and meta-analysis." bmj 378 (2022).

https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj-2022-069722 (open access) 

We found that viscosupplementation was significantly associated with a small reduction in pain intensity compared with placebo, but the difference was less than the minimal clinically important between-group difference.

 

On 9/2/2025 at 1:22 PM, Explorator en Actione said:

was told by the doctor that this is lifelong and wouldn’t need another one - ever.  I hope he was correct.

 

Shingrix is not life long 

 

1 hour ago, proton said:

 

Shingrix is not life long 

That's not true. 

See @Sheryl's post above: it was introduced 8 years ago,  the clinical trials are more than 10 years old.  That's why you can read that it protects for at least 11 years. 

For many AN members,  that's life long.

Whether protection will last 15 years,  20 years or longer,  nobody can know by now.

 

 

 

9 hours ago, Lorry said:

 

That's not true. 

See @Sheryl's post above: it was introduced 8 years ago,  the clinical trials are more than 10 years old.  That's why you can read that it protects for at least 11 years. 

For many AN members,  that's life long.

Whether protection will last 15 years,  20 years or longer,  nobody can know by now.

 

 

 

 

Most sources say 7-9 years even 11 plus is nothing life life long protection

26 minutes ago, proton said:

 

Most sources say 7-9 years even 11 plus is nothing life life long protection

I suggest to read my post when sober.

7-9 years is the number derived from introduction on the market.

11 years includes the clinical trials.

Many posters (especially those interested in Shingrix) are in their late 70s or 80s with serious health conditions, for them, 11 years is life long.