Shingles Prevention

Click on the video above to watch Pat’s shingles story. This is Pat’s experience and symptoms may vary. View Video Transcript

[VO] My name is Pat Knaust. I was raised in a family with three sisters, so the four girls were constantly told by our mother, “Go outside and help your father.” I can’t sit in the house at night and just watch TV. I have to be doing something. So I found that walking on the beaches when I’m in Florida in the winter, I would pick up things that I thought were nice looking. I put them together in jewelry or wind chimes and some people tell me, “Oh, you’re such an artist.” And I’m really not an artist, it’s more craft.

[VO] When I had shingles, I was completely taken by surprise. On the back of my thigh, I had an itchy spot and it was summer and I thought I had poison ivy from being out in the garden all the time. It turned from an itchy, bumpy spot to an angry, red, bumpy, blistery spot. So I went to the doctor and he looked at me and goes, “Oh, that’s quite a nasty case of shingles.”

[VO] The shingles has to run its course and you just deal with it. Life doesn’t stop. I plant a lot of flowers and it was a beautiful summer and I really couldn’t enjoy it that much. It’s the time of year when all the work that I do outside is coming to fruition and all I wanted to do when I got home is sit down in that chair and put ice on that fire on the back of my leg. I’m up for almost anything somebody wants to try, whether it’s something old or new, I’m in. But not when I had shingles. I was out. Do anything you can not to get it.

[Text] You can prevent shingles. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist today about getting vaccinated.