Shingles (herpes zoster) is known as a painful rash, but a lot of people don’t realize that having shingles can raise your risk of having a stroke for up to a year. If you’ve had shingles, understanding how that affects your risk for other conditions can help you and your doctor look for warning signs. If you’ve never had shingles, getting the shingles vaccine can help ensure you don’t have an elevated stroke risk.

Here are four facts you should know about shingles, stroke risk, and how to take the best care of your heart health.

1. Shingles May Raise Your Stroke Risk

About one-third of people will have shingles sometime over the course of their life. This painful rash can develop in anyone who has previously been diagnosed with chickenpox, even if that happened many years ago. The virus can lie dormant and reactivate later in life.

People who had shingles were 38 percent more likely to have a stroke than those who hadn’t had shingles.

Shingles increases the risk of having a stroke within a year after the infection, especially if you’re under 40 years old and haven’t had a shingles vaccine when you get infected. In fact, people who had shingles were 38 percent more likely to have a stroke than those who hadn’t had shingles. Shingles also raises a person’s chances of dealing with heart disease, including having a heart attack.

Researchers believe this has to do with exosomes, tiny membrane-bound sacs that cells release to send messages to other cells. They carry small amounts of proteins and genetic material, helping cells communicate and influence each other’s actions.

In people who have had shingles, exosomes may be the cause of inflammation and blood clots that can result in a stroke and other complications. Researchers are doing more work to understand this connection and figure out what can be done to prevent complications in people who have been diagnosed with shingles. It’s important to note that shingles is only one risk factor for stroke, and having shingles isn’t a guarantee that you will have a stroke.

2. Shingles Vaccines May Lower Your Stroke Risk

Getting a shingles vaccine may help lower your risk of stroke and other cardiovascular complications associated with shingles. In one study, people over the age of 50 who got a shingles vaccine had a 25 percent lower risk of both stroke and heart attack than those who didn’t get vaccinated.

It’s important to note that some of this research evaluated a live version of the vaccine called Zostavax. In the U.S., the live vaccine for shingles was discontinued in 2020. Now, there’s a different version that people can get called Shingrix. Shingrix has also been found to lower your risk for stroke and heart attack.

Getting the shingles vaccine is an important step to protect your heart health. There are other vaccines that are especially beneficial for people with heart disease. Your cardiologist or another healthcare provider can help you understand which immunizations you might want to receive.

3. Getting a Shingles Vaccine Is Straightforward

As long as you qualify for it, getting a vaccine for shingles to protect your heart and your brain is usually pretty easy. If you’re 50 years of age or older, it’s recommended you get two shingles vaccines separated by two to six months.

If you have a weakened immune system, you can get the vaccine starting at age 19.

You should get vaccinated even if you’ve had shingles before. You should also be vaccinated if you had the old Zostavax vaccine. There aren’t any boosters for the shingles vaccine, so it’s just two shots and then you’re done.

Getting stroke treatment fast can limit the number of long-term complications you have. It might even save your life.

You shouldn’t get the shingles vaccine if you’ve never had chickenpox, are pregnant or nursing, or have had a serious allergic reaction to the vaccine in the past.

Most people tolerate the shingles vaccine pretty well. You might experience flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, tiredness, nausea, and vomiting, after you get vaccinated. Your arm might feel sore and become discolored or swollen where you got the shot.

4. These Stroke Symptoms Mean You Need Emergency Care

If you’ve been diagnosed with shingles anytime in the last year, it’s important to know what a stroke looks and feels like. That way, you can get emergency medical care if you have one.

You can use the word FAST to remember what to look for when it comes to a stroke.

• F
  — Facial drooping. If one side of a person’s face doesn’t seem to move correctly or sags, or if their smile isn’t even, it’s time to call 911.
• A
  — Arm weakness. Most of the time, one arm will suddenly be weaker than the other. It may drift down when they try to hold it up.
• S
  — Speech difficulty. If they’re slurring their words and that isn’t normal for them, they need help.
• T
  — Time to call for help. Call 911 because every second counts when it comes to treating a person experiencing a stroke.

There are other symptoms that can mean a person is having a stroke. They might have a very bad headache without a cause you can pinpoint, or they might start to have trouble seeing or walking. Some might get confused, like they can’t understand or produce words. Others might have numbness, which is likely to occur only on one side of the body. You should also call 911 if you see these signs.

Getting stroke treatment fast can limit the number of long-term complications you have. It might even save your life. If you suspect someone is experiencing a stroke, it’s better to call and get medical help than to wait and see what happens.

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