I got shingles in my early 50s and did not know there were antivirals that could help mitigate its effects. I now have postherpetic neuralgia and the pain is not quite enough to off myself but the fact that I have to live with this for the rest of my life weighs me down.

It turns out that "pain management" is more art than science and almost all the pharma options out there come with significant risks and concerns. I ended up turning to kratom to manage the pain, which it does, but it's come at significant cost as well (addiction being one of them). I'm now going to try peptides (ARA-290 and BPC-157) to see if maybe that can help but it's all a crap shoot.

I share this as a warning/advice: get the vaccine if you can, even if insurance resists, push back. It may be worth it out of pocket IMHO. If you can't, remember to get access to antivirals immediately if you can.