I feel HORRIBLE

Sexual health
1

I went to the doctors on tuesday after serious pain the weekend before after oral sex, the doctor told me it is most probably genital herpes and prescribed me acyclovir. It’s now Friday and i feel as if i’m just getting worse. It does not hurt me to pee LUCKILY but i cannot walk i cannot sit down properly i can’t lay on my side which is horrible ! I have started having baths frequently and have just bought epsom salt which i haven’t used yet. When i am in the bath it’s painful to touch it so how do you all actually wash it? I want to know if everyone else’s genitals are swollen as mine doesn’t even look like a vagina anymore !!

It’s so painful for me to walk because of it being swollen as i can’t have my legs closed together. 

I’m sick of being in bed crying being able to do nothing !!

Someone please reassure me it will get better soon. 

2

I’m terribly sorry that you’re going through this experience. It will get better eventually.  Usually the first outbreak is the worst. Take your medication as prescribed. Soak in warm not hot water. And I would suggest drying your genitalia with a hair dryer gently. If you have any questions or more information feel free to ask. Also there are people that have posted information of how to manage your first outbreak on here. 

3

Thanks so much, i’m trying to be positive i’m just not being very successful. 

Is the swelling normal?

4

Thanks so much, i’m trying to be positive i’m just not being very successful. 

Is the swelling normal?

5

Yeah the swelling is normal of herpes sadly. I really would look in to guides to treat herpes and reduce the swelling. 

6

I’ve read that baths in epsom salt worked well

7

Sorry for your pain, it is a bad experience take something like Aleve to help with the information, you can do a sit bath with Domeboro its Aluminum Sulfate Tetradecahydrate/Calcium Acetate Monohydrate, Astringent Solution, it fast and effective relief.by the time you are finished Acyclovir you'll be better, always have some on hand to, in case of out break start taking them with in 24 hours it will heal faster, you can also ask the Doctor about taking for suppression one a day this helps not to spread to anyone. Hope this is some help to you.

8

I just had my first outbreak too. Mine was pretty awful. I'm 5 days into my meds with valtrex and it started working right away. Ask if they can switch you to a gram of that for 7/10 days. I think valtrex is more powerful. I'm knew to this whole thing but again mine was bad. I guess it could have been worse. Maybe try that. I tried Epson salt. I tried aloe. I tried a&d. I tried Neosporin. I tried everything until I went to the doc to find out what it was. Silly me. I didn't know after 13 years of marriage I could get genital herpes from cold sores on the lips even without symptoms or an outbreak. The only thing that helped was valtrex and thank God for it. Because I was pretty miserable for about a week, it just got worse and worse. Good luck. It gets better.

9

I may have to !! I’m going to have to send someone to the doctors though as it’s that swelled and painful i can’t walk without looking like a crab !!!

I’m on my last day of aciclovir and i feel worse than when i first got it. I’ve only had 2 baths with the epsom salt so far but that’s also done nothing for me. 

I mostly just want the swelling to go down so i can walk again. 

It’s starting to not even look like a woman’s genital area anymore. 

As you can imagine i’m only 17 and stressed about any little thing, now this has happened and all i can do is cry, it’s horrible. 

10

Did your swelling go down?? Mine is so swelled although I’m starting to scab and “heal” I feel like my vagina is getting more swelled up.. I need to know that it goes away..

11

Hi !! Yes my swelling has gone down but not 100% this doctor has now given me antibitotics for a bacterial infection and took a swab so hopefully i’m back to normal in the next few days 😩

I’d say if it’s swelling mine went down once i was cleaning it more thoroughly, letting air get to it as much as possible and using ice. 

12

How swollen were you? Because I’m genuinely terrified that this isn’t normal.. I feel like my vagina has an extra vagina on top of it.. that’s how swollen mine is... so swollen I can’t even get out of bed.. did you go back to the doctors to get ur swelling checked? & they gave you antibiotics ? 

13

I was the exact same i couldn’t even get out of bed i spent 5 days in bed and only ever moving for the toilet or a bath if i could then it started to get better and i started trying to walk more and cleaning it etc, it was the most embarrassing thing to have to go to the doctors walking like a crab !! but it is worth it because these new antibiotics  i’ve been given are like miracles i had one tablet and i stood back up after being sat for a while and was walking normal without realising !! it’s still swollen and it got uncomfortable after about 5 minutes of walking but hopefully i’ll wake up feeling back to normal ..

don’t give up !! it gets better even though i didn’t think it would. 

14

How are you feeling ? Is the swelling better? I’m thinking about making an appointment to see if I have BV. Or if they can give me something for the swelling because it’s not going down as much as I want it to. It’s scary I feel like it’s never going to go away. & I’m also terrified and embarassed to get re checked. The first time was horrible enough. 

15

Your not alone they had to do a lot of convincing for me to let them look again but i had to think i need the swelling to go down they’ll have seen worse!

It must have been 5 seconds at the most she got something like a cotton bud wiped some of the discharge and that was it so i’m waiting for the results to come back but these co-amoxiclav are life savers. My legs still hurt from being in bed for a week and my vagina aches when i stand up for a long time but thank god i can actually get out of bed and get back to my usual days.  

16

Hey all,

First off, sending massive hugs to anyone going through an outbreak. It's fking hell.

I had the worst flu-ish symptoms for nearly 2 weeks, doctors didn't know what was wrong with me, I was just out of medical range for any infection, then on valentines day I started getting uncomfortable pain when peeing and having sex but that was relatively normal for me. It got worse, I went to the doctors this morning (5th March) and she already knew it was GH before she looked. When she had a peek she looked slightly alarmed and tried to get me in to an sti clinic immediately to be tested properly. I was in the worst pain imaginable, my vagina was so swollen it didn't look like it belonged on earth. Nothing was in the right place and trying to move my bits to clean off the ooze is almost impossible. I spend 4 hours in the bath because that's the only time it's manageable pain. She prescribed me some tablets aclo... Something. 200mg, 5 a day for 5 days. And some lidocaine gel to rub down there so I can at least attempt to pee.

I can't pee. With all the swollenness, and the sores, I cry thinking about going to the toilet, and I avoid it as long as possible. When I do go, I take unfragranced baby wipes with me. Angle so awkward that I try avoiding the sores, I also cry and have to have a towel in my mouth to stop from screaming. Then when I'm done, put a baby wipe down there to cool it.

It's still hurts, I won't lie to anyone, but I've learnt to, not cope, but accept its going to hurt. I've also tried peeing in the bath (gross but it's a common suggestion) and also holding the shower head down there at the same time to try and dilute the urine. I'm actually afraid to drink more water because I'm scared of peeing, but I think I'm going to try,

I use the lidocaine gel after my bath, it's stings something crazy but then the next few hours of semi relief means I can actually hobble around the house and see what the world looks like. I also use it after the bedtime toilet trip, so I can get a few hours sleep.

I sleep naked, and in some awkward positions so it doesn't hurt, I also put a cushion on my legs so the duvet doesn't stop air flow.

I've read so many help sites, medical sites, forums, anything I could find to help me through this. I've been feeling like s**t and sorry for myself, how did it happen, why me, am I an awful person, it got to the point of suicidal thoughts yesterday. But reading that there are so many people that are suffering from this too, it's really helped me cope. We aren't alone. It wasn't our fault. Things will get better.

I don't know how far I'm into my first outbreak, but it's day 3 /5 of the meds, and I really hope I feel better soon, I'm going on holiday next week so lots of positive thinking.

Love to all, remember that you are amazing and this won't define you 😘