MG_25

Thank you both for your responses, but I just wanted to clarify—I have not gotten ANY vaccine yet. The urinary retention and constipation I experienced during the first outbreak was not a matter of not eating enough fiber/something I had control over. The HSV 2 virus attacks the sacral ganglion nerves and this is well documented. Any time you have sudden urinary retention with no other cause, it’s because of something going wrong in your nervous system. That’s why it’s so difficult for me to just shrug this off as just a harmless skin problem. That is the best case scenario. But herpes is a virus that affects the nervous system. It can even lead to life-threatening herpes encephalitis. The pain of having to live with that is not something I would wish on anyone.

Hi everyone, I know this topic has been discussed before but has anyone else had any more updates on outbreaks after any of the covid vaccines? I have not had an outbreak for almost a year (since my initial one) and I take valetrex 500 mg prophylactically every day. My first outbreak was horrifying—it caused urinary retention and constipation which required having to be hospitalized and catheterized. I lost all control of the ability to urinate on my own for 2 months. I never want to go through that again, which is why I take the antiviral daily. I’m now being forced to get one of the vaccines in order to stay in grad school. I’m absolutely scared to death that if I get one, the immune response is going to trigger an outbreak. Prior to getting diagnosed with HSV2, I would have easily gotten the vaccine in a heartbeat. Now I have this immense fear of having this outbreak that absolutely destroyed my life, my job, my self esteem and caused a deep spiraling depression that took 6 months to climb out of. Most doctors brush off my concerns that an outbreak either has “such a small chance of happening” or tell me that wouldn’t I “rather have an outbreak than Covid?” The answer is no, in fact. I would take Covid 10x than ever have to go through that horrific outbreak from HSV2. Does anyone have any information on their experience with: Pfizer Moderna J&J Thank you so much in advance!

Thank you both for your replies. @minerva, thank you for your kind words and @mr_hopp, yes I have reached out through my doctors and am waiting to get an appointment with a therapist. I found your website actually because I was mostly looking for answers to a lot of physical problems I was going through as a result of the HSV 2 diagnosis that I felt like all of my doctors weren’t really helping with, and I’m great for these forums because it made me feel like it wasn’t “all in my head” as I was being told and that other people were going through it as well. This initial outbreak lasted for almost three weeks and was so severe even with 2 grams a day of Valtrex that I feel like it destroyed everything. I cried every time I had to go to the bathroom, I developed urinary retention out of nowhere on week 2 requiring a catheter and constipation so bad that every over the counter laxative and no amount of water or fiber helped. I asked if it could be related to the Valtrex because that’s when it seemed to start happening and was told people usually get diarrhea and that I just needed to relax and it would get better soon. I went off the Valtrex for a week to see if it would get better but the UTI are retention started again and I had to start self catheterizing at home. I did some research and found some studies linking HSV 2 to colon and bladder malfunction and decided to go back on the Valtrex at a prophylactic dose (500 mg) and now that I’ve been back on that for 5 days, I’m finally peeing normally again. I just feel like this disease and assault has truly turned my life upside down. I am a nurse and I appreciate the fact that no, it’s not HIV or AIDS, it’s not cancer and it’s a disease “you can live with,” which is what I have been told by every doctor I have been seeing in the last month. And I get that. But I also can’t get over the fact that...it’s an incurable disease. It will never go away. I’ll never be the same as I was the month before this happened to me. To feel like you’ve been assaulted against your will which is cruel and damaging enough to live with and then also be told you now have to live with the physical pain and reminder of that for the rest of your life is unthinkable. But what really was a low for me was having to cry every time I had to pee. LOSING the ability to pee and having a catheter put in. Such simple, simple things in life that babies can do, and now as an adult I can’t. I’m terrified of eating the wrong thing with too much arginine, I’m terrified of stopping the valtrex even though I feel like it’s making me not sleep well but even more terrified of having another outbreak. I couldn’t sit, walk or drive for WEEKS. I felt like, in a sentence, this disease has made me totally lose all control over my life. Did anyone else have these problems with their first outbreak? Does it get better?

Hi, has anyone on here been diagnosed with HSV2 because of a sexual assault? I am really struggling with the severity of a first outbreak but also the fact that I contracted this from being assaulted and am just in a terrible mental place right now. I feel like my doctors don’t understand and I am just mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted and suffering and I have no one to talk to about this except for a select few trusted family members but even then, they can’t possibly understand the pain I’m going through with this outbreak and the way it happened. Thanks in advance, just looking for some support.