i just found out literally an hour ago i have type 2 genital herpes. i'm lost. i don't know what to do. i'm worried about my future of finding a lifetime partner and just in general i don't know how to stop it from recurring
does anyone have any helpful tips they do to keep an outbreak from happening ?
does anyone have any insiping stories of still being able to find love ?
i'm only 22 and i'm devastated. please help x
Hi there,
i understand how you feel. I fell so sad and i didnt know what to do. i was diagnosed last february. From Feb-May, i had 3+4 outbreaks (can vary from person to person). I had a talk with my doctor and i was advised to take Valacyclovir daily for the next 6 months and we will see. Since then, i didnt have any outbreaks for almost 3months now. I always try to avoid stress, and keeping the positivity in life. Keeping the immune system high, would be a great help i think. My sore from the first outbreak is not so visible now compared to the first month.
You can survive this, we can.
Acyclovir, valtrex suppress outbreaks but there are side effects.
I couldnt tolerate the side effects so I use natural remedies like taking vitamins, lysine, and teatree oil.
There are several vaccines in phase 2 trial, hopefully something will be avail in two to three years.
In last 10 months, ive been through a lot of pain and emotions. Its important you find someone who you can talk to and provide emotional support. When in despair, remember there are many people here in the forum who share the same pain that you are experiencing.
You'll still find someone don't want I try some guys don't care that you don't have it or maybe will even have the same they just have to accept it, I take valtrex without that medicine I would go crazy and if you workout don't workout so hard it will only make your outbreaks worse I've learned from experience
It is not clear from your post whether you had an actual outbreak or not, so how were you diagnosed? That is the most important question before worrying about anything else. If positive by direct swab test, then yes, you are unfortunately positive. If positive by only a blood test, however, you may not actually have it. It depends on the blood tests done and how you scored.
sorry yes i had a swab test done which came positive.
hi,
oh wow i really don't want constant outbreaks 😫
are you in a relationship or have you been with people since finding out you were positive ?
since finding out how many out breaks total have you had ?
do you have any tips of how to make the sores heal faster ?
i'm in all sorts of emotions right now
what were the side affects?
i'm not sure where abouts you are but i'm in Australia, what type of brand on lysine do you use ? how do you use the tea tree oil?
oh really would the vaccine help to people who already have it or just help the people to prevent them from getting herpes?
have you been sexual with anyone since finding out you have had herpes?
sorry for the millions of questions
how long have you known you have had herpes?
how many outbreaks have you had since finding out?
do you take valtrex daily?
when you say work out hard do you mean don't do a lot of cardio? i have just signed up to a gym about 2 months ago and i do gym classes and weight session now i'm worried i'm going to have to stop all that 😫
I was diagnosed June 6th I've had so many outbreaks that I couldn't keep track of them, yes I take valtrex daily. It depends what kind of cardio? I walk a lot that doesn't bother me at all, I just can't do as many push ups sits ups etc you can still workout you'd just have to find out what works for you, your body is trying to fight the virus so working out can put a lot of stress and pressure on the body, my normal workout is only less then 10 minutes if I do longer I get bad pain.
june 6th of this year?
oh okay do you take anything else besides valtrex? well i guess i will see how i go with my working out if it becomes too much i will sadly have to stop.
Yes this year and no but I eat healthy and drink a lot of water
oh okay were you told as soon as you were diagonised to take valtrex daily or only when you advised your doctor the outbreaks recurring a lot?
Okay, so you are positive, unfortunately. Needed to clarify, because not everyone necessarily is due to the issues with the blood tests.
You need to backup and not get so worried about what you've read and other people's advice on here. The first outbreak is the worst by far, after which recurrences are pretty mild for most people. The first year is worse in terms of recurrences, shedding and thus infectiousness, but things should ease up afterwards.
Each person is different, so disregard their advice regarding triggers. You won't know yours until you find out for yourself. You may not even have any obvious triggers, like me. What's for sure is that one person's triggers may not be another person's triggers and probably aren't. Your triggers may also change as you adjust to having the virus.
Best advice was from the sexual health doctor I saw. He said there was no need to change anything in my diet or lifestyle unless I observed a pattern, so I didn't. I still eat chocolate, nuts, drink caffeine, alcohol, stay up/out late, exercise, been very stressed, etc. All things you're supposedly meant to avoid. I did decide to eat even healthier and take vitamins, however, plus cut out unhealthy habits, but I didn't change anything else and discovered that I didn't need to. Regarding partying it up and drinking alcohol, I restarted slowly, only because alcohol is a known immunosuppressant. After a few months I was back to my normal nights out.
Fyi, I do not take any meds or lysine (lysine is not sufficiently proven to do much for herpes, incidentally, and definitely does not reduce transmission, so is no longer prescribed by leading HSV experts, who favour the meds instead). I am single, so don't need to be on daily suppressive therapy to reduce transmission and never took the meds on a regular basis as a result. I treat recurrences with OTC acyclovir cream only. I did take the oral meds for a week and two weeks a couple of times without any side effects. The meds are very well tolerated by most people.
So, bottom line is that, yes, it's stressful to be diagnosed with this, but for most people it's not so bad and things should ease up over time. What you see and read online are often worst case scenarios. People tend not to post online when everything is going well, usually only when they're not, so bear that in mind and stay grounded.
The meds are prescribed for first outbreaks, but not for daily suppressive therapy unless you start a discordant relationship or have frequent/severe recurrences. In fact, the leading HSV experts recommend observing your recurrence frequency and patterns first, if possible. If you're on the meds, you'll never learn what your triggers are or how to recognise the start of a recurrence (good to know what to look out for). I have never taken them daily on a regular basis (only tried the meds a couple of times) and I have had this virus for almost two years now.
Lysine - See my other reply to you.
Tea tree oil - Very good, great way to reduce itching, but make sure it's diluted and stop using it if you develop a rash. Sadly, I developed an allergy to it.
Vaccine - Therapeutic vaccines for those already with HSV2 are in the pipeline, but it will be many years until these are ready, so I wouldn't hold my breath. The vaccine testing and approval process is a lengthy one, and that assumes they even pass the human trials. Some haven't in the past.