Male with open sore, need advice

Sexual health
1

Hi Everyone, 

I'm a 34 years old and about 10 days ago I notices that I had inflamation on the base of my penis. My lymph nodes were also swollen on my groin but the swellling went down after a couple days leavnig behind 3 small sores. I did a blood test and tested positive for HSV1 and 2. The dermatologist also gave me Valtrex and told me to take 500mg in morning and 500mg in Evening for 10 days. 

It's been 6 days of taking Valtrex twice a day and putting a topical cream on the sore but it hasn't dried yet. It's on the underside of the penis so it gets moist when I walk around. My question is, how long do sores usually take to disappear completely? or at least to dry out? This has really hit me hard psychologically because I've been with my fiancee for the past 4 years and can't understand how I coud've gotten the virus. A few months ago she got Chickenpox....could that somehow be the cause?

If you've delt with this in the oast or if you have some advice, please let me know what to do to make the sore dry out and heal as fast as possible. I really can't wait to end this nightmare. 

Thanks, 

2

Sometimes your first outbreak just takes time. I remember my first took a week and a half to dry out and I was still in pain for another few days. I was only on valtrex, however, not the cream. I've noticed some people say the cream only helps with the pain and not really drying the actual sore out. It also just has a lot to do with your immune system so just make sure you're eating healthy and getting lots of rest. Steer clear from touching them or trying to pop them. Stay strong, I'm 20 and I learned I had it just this summer. My bf also has it and neither or us knows where it came from since we get routinely checked and nothing has shown up. I hope I helped calm you a little, it sucks, but I also did not really know how to deal with the sores either. They just went away with time. Your future ones will not last nearly as long. After going through what seemed to be the worst pain ever, my second outbreak on suppressives was like 3 days and there was barely any pain at all, just a bit of discomfort. Again, stay strong! 

3

HiJimster,

Sorry to hear your news. Unfortunately the first outbreak can take ages. It took me about 2.5-3 weeks for everything to go. I had to get two extra doses of aciclovir to get rid.

In terms of creams, there is no evidence to suggest these work on hsv2 genital sores. These are made for the hsv1 oral sores...

Just try to keep it dry if u can. I used sudocreme initially when I had no idea what it was. Worst. Idea. Ever. It seemed to just keep everything moist and open. Gross. Bathe often.  Dry often (hair dryer is good ha). They will heal on their own regardless of moisture. Do not touch them. If you do, use soap. Some evidence suggests soap can get rid of the virus on your fingers (something to do with herpes being hydrophobic I think... Maybe hydrophilic.. Can't quite remember...) 

Good news is the first outbreak is often the worst so next time it shouldn't be as bad. For example, in my first outbreak I had two medium sores followed by two more sores (one large one medium) which took flaming ages to heal. 

My second outbreak actually looked like what u see online sometimes. Little blisters almost. There was no open sore with the second outbreak. 

Again yes, you can be infected and be asymptomatic until something triggers it. Stress, a cold, drinking, late nights, exposure to sunlight, rough sex ? Flaming anything. So you could have been infected for years without knowing ... But also your partner may have been infected for years without knowing (they may be asymptomatic) and you may just have caught it now. 

I speak from experience... My new partner as of June this year didn't know he had it. No symptoms no nothing. He could have had it for years without knowing. We had unprotected sex (we had both been checked - to our surprise herpes is not actually routinely tested for shock shock horror) so we thought we would be fine. I didn't actually catch herpes till the last week of August start of September this year. We had had lots of sex before this. 

Even then we both didn't believe it. 

We knew it was him who gave it to me as I had not slept with anyone other than one person for 6 years before my new partner, and when I got herpes wow I was ill. Flu symptoms, fever, tonsillitis, temperature. Uh it was awful. 

Anyway. What I'm trying to say is, it could have come from either of u. It's hard I know, I was unsure I could continue being with my partner after I found out as it was such a shock. But he didn't know and I was never angry at him. I was just upset that I had herpes !! Felt like the world had ended (I feel much better now, these feelings do pass in a couple of weeks I promise)

I had continuous outbreaks so now I take a suppressive dose of aciclovir 400mg twice a day and haven't had an outbreak since. If you really suffer, get back to the docs and try this. Now I don't even think about my herpes !

Me and my partner worked through it, and even though it was tough, honestly, I love him more than ever. I don't even care that he gave me herpes because all I want is him. So even though the next few weeks may be tough, you will get back on track again. 

God forbid we split up, yes. It will be awkward telling a new person I have the virus before sex. But. All it is is the coldsore virus. Something like 80% is infected with the coldsore virus. 1/4 people have herpes. That's loads ! Good chance any new partners I have would already have herpes !! Ha. Also, I would tell them I was prone to coldsores or have the coldsore virus and they had a chance of catching it either upstairs or down below via sex or oral. Not saying the word 'herpes' makes it seem so much less daunting. 

Anyway. You will feel better soon. Try to work through it with your partner. Having herpes is not a sign of cheating. 

Good luck. 

4

Thatnk you Sydney12646, 

I really appreciate you taking the time to post a reply. It's comforting to know that other people are going through (or went through) what I'm going through now. I'm gonna try to stay strong and let it run its course. The sore is actually starting to get dry right now which is a good sign. Thanks again for the advise! 

 

5

Thank you so much for replying to my post. I'm still feeling very down about the whole thing but your message really helped. The sore is starting to get dry right now and honestly isn't painful at all. I hope it won't take much longer. Thanks again for all your help

6

It really helps to talk about it. This forum is so good as if you post anything, someone is bound to reply soon. 

It is hard, but as time goes on you come to accept it. I spoke to people on here and also told my family. I found out my bro gets coldsores. This made me feel normal again. 50% of my family have the herpes virus ! 

I also told my friends my partner gave me a coldsore (at the time I didn't feel comfortable saying I had gebital herpes) but they were totally cool and now we all have a joke about it.

Honestly. When I first found out all I did was cry. I felt disgusting. I'm only in my 20s and I have so much going for me. I felt like I was completely ruined forever ! But within about 3 days I didn't cry anymore. In about 2 weeks I didn't think about it all the time. Now it's been a couple of months and I barely ever think about it. 

Keep strong. Keep healthy. You have a partner who loves you. There is a good chance your partner has the virus too (you shed like 4% of the year regardless of symptoms being present). If they don't, then If you use condoms, don't have sex when you have symptoms and if you take suppressive antiviral meds like aciclovir you really cut the chances of transmission to like 1%. In terms of blood tests to see whether they have it, it can come back as negative even if you have it. (Takes months for it to appear in your blood and there have been cases of people being tested after years of having it and the tests then coming back negative after earlier confirmation. Crazy) The only true way to find out if u have herpes is doing the swab test on open sores. There's loads of info on the net. Have a browse  

Good luck 

7

Hi mate get some origano oil burns for about 5  to 10 mins then stops .will dry it out help it heal far quicker it's the only thing that I've found that works for me keep the bottle handy it will last years.it won't cure it it will come back but it will help you controll it .over the years I've spent a lot on antivirals and topical creams  I wish I had known about origano oil years ago works on mouth cold sores  a treat as we'll .let me know how it works for you cheers

8

Seriously you only had the one open sore? I am sitting here very jealous of you. I was just diagnosed tonight and I literally have over 20 sores. Have barely slept in two nights cause of pain and discomfort - and I was given valtrex also. Good luck with your healing process. So relieving to read these posts. 

9

Hi mate before the origano oil I was as bad as it could get could barly walk from the swollen glands and the sores took up serious realestate ,herpes can feel like a curse the oil is the best thing I've come across it's the only thing I use now if I get a outbreak I barly know about it.have a good one and good luck

10

Thanks Eddy for your reply. I guess i was lucky enough to only get a couple sores. They weren't painful at all but they were in a strange spot that didn't get much air circulation so they never got dry. I had to stay at home naked the entire day to get it to dry out but the next morning it woud be wet again with gross white liquid covering it so the process had to start over again. My glands were really swollen the first couple days and I had a strange stomach ache for a couple days as well but that went away fairly quickly. 

I was in Kazakhstan when the sores came out so I really didnt know what to do. I ended up going to 2 clinics and getting 2 seperate recommendations. The first one told me to take 6 Valtrex pills a day for 2 weeks!!! the second one told me to take 2 pills a day for 2 weeks and to apply a cream twice a day.(zovirax) I ended up taking just two pills a day. The first week nothing really happened, the sores were still wet but less white stuff was coming out of them. I went back to the clinic and the dermatologist told me to stop putting the cream and for the next 4 days appy a solution called Fucorcin. I guess it's an old soviet remedy. When i applied the solution to the sores, it really burned like hell!!! About an hour later though, the sores were completely dry. I applied that solution every morning for 4 days. It creates a scab that fell off on day 6. Right now the scab is gone but the skin where the sores were is pink. 

I'm moving out of kazakhstan this week so once i'll be in europe i'll try to keep some oregano oil with me. Thanks again for all your help!

11

Hi Lindagran, 

I'm really sorry to hear that you're going through a touh time. All I can say is that it'll get better. The sores have to go through their life cycle. Try to keep them as dry as possible. I used a solution called Fucorcin (pink liquid) that really did a great job at completely drying out the sores. It hurt like hell when you apply it but the pain doesn't last very long. Hope it helps. 

 

12

Hey Jimster54,

I know it's been a year.  I was diagnosed 4 months ago and since then I'm always on the lookout for a vaccine that's supposedly being released in 3 years, and I find forums like this one.  Fortunately, my outbreak was mild so have a good chance that I won't have many more outbreaks, if any.  

I hope this year has been tolerable for you.  

I read in one of the forums that dabbing cotton wool in good quality tea tree oil and pressing it on the blister until it breaks and just leaving it there for a couple minutes helps them dry out.  

I bathed mine in warm salty water and also used the tea tree oil.  They were gone in 5 days and that was on my one and only outbreak so far

Give it a go, if it happens again.

Hope you've been well