Since being diagnosed with Herpes nothing has felt the same since

Sexual health
1

I am a 23 year old female and since I was diognosed with Herpes - Type 1 in August 2014 after having what I believe to be my first ever outbreak nothing has been the same for me "down there". I have been back and forwards to my doctors and Gum Clinic ever since and though nothing else is showing up positive I feel like I am having a none stop first outbreak. I do have the odd few hours here and there were I will feel entirely normal but usually I am in pain. Everything down there is always sore, red, swollen and feels irriated, though there is no verisible herpes blisters. 

I don't know what to do, every doctor I see doesnt take me seriously due to being type 1 and so I have given up on visiting them. I have also given up taking any form of painkillers as nothing works, even antivirals do very little. I no longer leave my house unless I need to because this phyical and emotional pain is just too much, it often brings me to tears. I have no friends or family who I can turn to and tell either. 

Has anyone else experienced this? I'd be grateful for any advice too. Thank you. 

2

This sounds a lot like what I have, although im a 24 year old male. My blood tests came back positive for hsv1 but I expected that, seeing as I have been getting coldsores since a young kid. Every doctor I have been to has said that it doesnt sound like herpes because I dont have the visible blisters, although I find that hard to beleive. I have constant irritation down there, non stop itching and tingling. It is driving me nuts because I dont know if this means I constantly contageous and cant engage in sex because of the fear that if this is herpes that I might pass it on to my partner.

3

Hi may23,

I have hsv2 and although only having had it for a few months, I would go days with no blisters, but instead constant itching and tingling and shooting pains that would be so strong I would grimace when they struck. 

I'm in the UK and demanded being put on a continuous course of antivirals. Previously I had only taken short courses and felt like they never did much and nothing went away, I had to routinely go back to the docs for a longer, second course.

Once I started taking the continuous dose of 400mg twice a day, it took about 2 weeks? But the itching, tingling and shooting pains went away completely. I've now been taking the aciclovir everyday since the end of September and I feel like I don't even have herpes anymore because my symptoms are non existent. 

My advice is to change doctors, do your research and demand to be put on a continuous dose of antivirals. You don't get unless you ask. 

Good luck 

4

Hey there, I was diagnosed late September - I too was like you, feeling like I was living in the doctors waiting room. As soon as the five day course finished, the next day there would be the itching and tingling and it would be back to square one. 

However, I'm now on the continuous treatment and taking 200mg of aciclovir three times a day. I started 23rd October, and touch wood, its working (so far!). I think im starting to feel normal again, so I would definitely recommend! However, don't get corky like i did - I had a few cheeky alcoholic drinks the other night and a couple of late nights, and for the last two days there has been a little bit of itching and tingling - nothing as intense as before though! 

Hope this helps,  stay positive! smile 

5

That sound exactly like me. I was diagnosed with type 1 in Sep. First genital outbreak in my life... I'm 43, but I've had oral cold sores since before I was sexually active... so as far as I know I've always had type 1. I hadn't had sex for two months when I was diagnosed, and it was almost a year since I had oral sex.

I was diagnosed with mild thrush in March during routine smear, cleared up fine. In Sep I had a mild rash near genitals no blisters or sores that appeared following 50m bike ride and extremely heavy period. Gyno diagnosed type 1 from swabs and bloods, negative for anything else. Took a course of acyclovir and rash disappeared but been itchy ever since with typical thrush symptoms including `cottage cheese` discharge.

Heard acyclovir can activate thrush so took over the counter pessary and pill for thrush which did not help. Thought it must be further outbreak, took another course of acyclovir, no change.

I have tried BV gel, feminine wipes, cotton pants, tea tree oil and vagisal cream... nothing helping.

I've decided to try au naturale for a few weeks, see if my body rights itself after all the foreign agents I've endured these past weeks and made an appointment to see the gyno in case it still hasn't cleared since there is a few weeks waiting time.

6

Symptoms sound similar to me. When you got tested, where did they swab? did you have any lesions or blisters? or did they just swab where you said you were itchy?

7

Hello May23,

Sorry for my english.

I'm a 29 years old female.

My situation is almost the same. My first outbreak was in June 2014, it cleared up and even the pain disappeared, and after being with my boyfriend in July (first and last sex since I have GH), I had the second outbreak. And after it the pain, the irritation stayed, I had some days in September and some others in October when I felt normal...

I was totally depressed, I cried all day long for weeks, I cried every day for months...

(My blood test came out: HSV-1. I had a positive test for HSV-1 with no symptoms in 2011, when I was pregnant, but we all (even my doctors) thought It's not a genital area problem. So I think I had it without symptoms for years OR it's a second HSV-1 on the genitals... How unlucky having this twice? I should be immune to this! It's complicated and I'm so tired about all this herpes thing.. there are so many confusing informations on the web!)

I'm negative for anything else.

My doctor said that maybe it's not herpes, because he doesn't think that this constant pain (like a mild menstruational pain) is a symptom for herpes and he did not found other reason for this pain, and here in my country it's not so evident that hsv-1 can cause genital herpes so simply that hsv-2 does.

This doctor did not see the typical herpes blisters.

He says that this is some other virus, maybe it's HPV. I will try the vaccine for it.

I'm sure I have herpes because I have experienced all the symptoms, itching, tingling, blisters... (and my first ourbreak was 1 week after having sex with my boyfriend who had a visible cold sore, but we had no oral sex...)

 I tried to boost my immune system (Grapefruit seed extract, vitamine C, B, now I'm avoiding coffee (it's so hard), I'm taking lysine. I'm trying to sleep a lot and eat healthy. I can't avoid stress because I'm a single mother in the middle of a divorce... I even went to a psychologist to help me cope with this hard situation.

So finally, why I wrote: I'm almost without symptoms for 3 weeks now. Ok, my lower back is itching right now, but I hope that it won't go any further. When the pain and the flu-like symptoms appear I can't control my feelings anymore... 

I just WANT to go through it, leave this first year behind me.

HSV-1 on the genitals have to be mild, so it will be!  

I would like to keep in touch, have news from you because I think it would help me a lot, knowing that people with almost the same problems exist... sorry, it's doesn't sound nice, I just cant express myself properly.

I'm just so happy for this discussion, it's the first time I read abour symptoms like mine.