My energy's pretty minimal right now, too.
Yesterday I had my second shot of the shingles vaccine. Some of you may already have been so lucky – in the U.S., they recommend getting it once you get over 50. When I had the first shot in September, it gave me low-grade flu symptoms for a day and a half as side effects. A co-worker who’d previously gotten the vaccine said the second dose wasn’t such a problem, so I went in hopeful.
For 12 hours afterward, I felt fine, except that I couldn’t reach my arm upwards. Then at 10 PM, I started feeling grungy, like I was coming down with something. “Oh yeah, that’s from the vaccine.” A while later, when I went to take off my clothes to go to bed, I suddenly felt extremely cold. The room temperature was nice and warm, but I felt like I’d just taken a dip in the Greenland Sea. I started shivering uncontrollably, and within seconds that turned into massive shakes. My arms were shaking so much they were practically flailing up and down. I couldn’t control my hands enough to button up my pajama shirt, which made me feel even colder. “Okay, let’s brush my teeth and use the toilet as fast as I can, so I can get under the nice warm blankets.” My hands were still shaking around as I brushed my teeth. At one point, I stabbed the inside of my cheek with the toothbrush. I was thinking of that song by The Police, “I shake like an incurable, God help me please.” Once I got under the wool blanket, I felt a lot better.
I felt mildly crappy at work today, and needed to put on a Polartec sweater to feel warm enough when I got home.
So that is my testimony in recommendation of the shingles vaccine. A co-worker who’d had shingles told me all this was still way better than getting shingles.