Shingles turns Klass’ life upside down: ‘Dead nerves and burning pain every day’

It is estimated that one in four Dutch people will be affected by shingles. It causes blisters, itching, burning pain and in some cases, chronic nerve damage. One person who can speak to this is 70-year-old Klaas van Bilzen. What started as a stabbing sensation in his back led to constant burning pain. Pain that could have been prevented.

Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus. Anyone can get it, but the condition occurs mainly in people over the age of 60.

Serum

People often get the virus when they are children. This is also known as chickenpox. Once the chickenpox goes away, the virus remains unnoticed in the spinal cord. Until it becomes active again when resistance weakens, causing severe pain and a nasty rash. We know it as shingles.

In 2019, the Health Council issued positive advice on a shingles vaccine. This vaccine prevents the condition in 90 percent of cases. But it is not available to everyone, as it is not part of the national vaccination programme. This means that anyone who wants the injection has to pay for it themselves, which costs at least 350 euros.

burning pain

Klaas van Bilzen is one of the many Dutch people who have not been vaccinated against shingles. He still remembers very well how it started more than a year and a half ago: “I started to feel pain in my back on January 21, 2023, and a day later I was told it was shingles. I thought, like many people, that it would go away.” “After two weeks.” “It would go away, but it took longer and longer,” he says. Heart of Holland.

He still suffers every day from the burning pain caused by the condition. “It’s damaged my nerves to the point where they’re dead,” he says, sitting at the table, the pain shooting through his body. “A lot of exercise helps, which is why I still play tennis and golf. But when you’re 70, it’s hard to keep moving. Luckily, I’m retired and I can live with it that way.”

mercy killing

Minke Rijsdijk, head of the department of pain medicine at the University Medical Center Utrecht, is conducting research into this neuropathic pain and is calling for a free vaccine for Dutch people over 60. “It is very important that politicians provide money for this. It is really common and people complain for months. When I treat people, their pain really worries me. Patients suffer from this condition as if their life is over. I even ask for euthanasia.”