Jump to content

Ebelskiver

Members
  • Posts

    13
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Ebelskiver's Achievements

16

Reputation

  1. There is another potential treatment for frequent outbreaks that may be worth a try. Squaric acid is an immune modulator that some herpes sufferers have found to give them some relief. It’s been studied in oral herpes but I see no reason it wouldn’t potentially help with genital herpes. It creates a t-cell mediated immune response that attacks the virus. One dose lasts about three months. A dermatologist should be able to prescribe it. The majority of those studied had a significant reduction in symptoms. I’ve linked the study below. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5817593/
  2. Unfortunately, the worst case scenario can be quite bad. Especially among the immunocompromised. Unrelenting, painful outbreaks. Severe prodromal symptoms, ambiguous constitutional symptoms, not to mention distress, anxiety, and depression. You should try to avoid transmission at all costs. You are right that transmission from infected male to uninfected female whilst using precautions such as abstinence during prodromes and outbreaks, condoms and antivirals is around 1% per year. Assuming sex twice per week. Male viral shedding occurs along the penile shaft, for the most part, and this area is well-covered by condoms. However, if you are someone who gets outbreaks on the scrotum, anus, or buttocks, shedding will occur from there as well. Women are much more likely to get HSV because of our anatomy but are much more capable of transmitting because viral shedding occurs all over the vulva and perineum. Luckily for you, condoms are very effective at preventing male to female transmission. Use of a cock ring to keep the condom from riding up would add further protection. Some couples have the male wear boxers as well to further reduce the skin to skin contact necessary for transmission. I don’t believe infection is a foregone conclusion. I think with proper precautions you can protect your partner. Good luck.
  3. My first outbreak was a single blister that healed in about 3 weeks. This was about 2 years ago. It felt like a cut that wouldn’t heal. I’ve never had another out break but I get frequent prodromal symptoms, numbness and electrical tingling in my butt and legs. For the past 6 weeks I’ve had intense prodromal symptoms, labia tingling and swelling at the site of the original blister…..but no sores. Unfortunately, if I walk or ride a bike the symptoms worsen but still never advance to blister stage. At this point I’d almost welcome the blister if it means it could heal and I’d be done with this constant sensitivity, pain, and burning. I take an antiviral but it doesn’t seem to do much.
  4. The study only found viral DNA in the semen of men presenting with infertility. It did NOT say that this correlation was causal for the infertility. And the finding isn’t surprising considering how common herpes is. You smoke, something that IS scientifically proven to lower sperm counts in men and is something you can actually do something about. I very much doubt herpes infection has any meaningful impact on male fertility. It would be something that would be obvious considering how common the infection is. Infertility is often painful and bewildering. But it is not uncommon, and many times there is no discernible reason for it. I find increased chemicals and pollutants in our environment to be a more likely cause for infertility. You have control over the pollutants you inhale into your lungs and could reasonably see increases in sperm count after you quit. Good luck.
  5. I think resistance will continue to become more and more of a problem. I’ve been on suppression dosing of valtrex for over a year and had a recent OB that was unresponsive to it. If you are resistant to valtrex you will also be resistant to acyclovir and likely Famvir as well. Your doc did the right thing by testing for resistance. If you are resistant there are other options. I’ve copied and pasted the below from Medscape, a peer-reviewed resource I use in my own practice. Treatment for acyclovir-resistant genital herpes:[9] Foscarnet (40-80 mg/kg IV q8h until clinical resolution is attained) is a DNA polymerase inhibitor unrelated to acyclovir and its congeners that is available only for intravenous use and has been compounded for topical use. Cidofovir 5 mg/kg once weekly, an acyclic nucleoside phosphonate, is also available intravenously and can be formulated for topical use or Imiquimod is a topical alternative, as is topical cidofovir gel 1%, applied to the lesions once daily for 5 consecutive days. Pritelivir, a new helicase-primase inhibitor that is unaffected by thymidine kinase deficiency and is available in oral form, is currently under study. There are also immune modulators that may help such as Interferon 2a. Although this would likely need to be prescribed by an immunologist. There IS hope for resistant HSV. Unfortunately most primary care specialists are not informed on these latest treatments.
  6. There are other options if you have a viral strain that is resistant to the 3 most common antivirals. You need to see a specialist. There are IV meds that can be given in the hospital and interferon treatments that can help. You can also try gabapentin or a trycyclic antidepressant for nerve pain. The first step is to prove you have a resistant strain through viral sensitivity testing.
  7. I wanted to post again to talk about antiviral resistance, which is becoming increasingly common. If you are resistant to one antiviral you are most likely resistant to the major 3, valtrex, famvir, and acyclovir. If you are having continuous outbreaks despite being on antivirals then you are likely resistant. This needs to be confirmed via a viral sensitivity test. There ARE other options! Most doctors don't know much about herpes and may be at a loss for how to treat resistant strains. Some options are IV Foscarnet, Cidofovir, Imiquimod, and Pritelivir are all drugs for resistant GHSV2. Interferon 2a may be an option as well, it is mainly used in Russia to treat recurrent GHSV2. I hope this gives you some options to discuss with your doctor. Good luck!
  8. @Flowerteacher55 is so knowledgeable and right on about everything. Except for one small issue. You CAN autoinfect yourself during your initial outbreak, which Flowerteacher55 alluded to. If it’s your 1st OB, before you’ve built antibodies, you CAN touch your sore and infect other areas of your body. This is called herpetic whitlow. It usually occurs on the hands but you can spread it elsewhere, the main concern is spreading it to your eyes, which can cause blindness (in very, very rare cases). I’ll just reiterate that herpes can lie dormant for DECADES! I recently had an 80yo F patient with her “first” outbreak despite being celibate for > 20 yrs. Recent radiation treatments activated a previously latent HSV2 infection she was unaware she had. So your infection came before your marriage and you were asymptomatic until now. This is very similar to my own herpes experience. I was celibate for a long while and then had an “initial” outbreak, seemingly out of nowhere. This is a wily and tricky disease. Hang in there. For most of us it’s a mild inconvenience. Good luck and good health!
  9. You are correct that shingles tends to only affect one side of the body at a time (except in rare cases with immunocompromised hosts). The pics you have are a bit inconclusive. Could easily be herpes but could also be folliculitis. But with your comorbidities and other symptoms, I suspect herpes. I wish you had a medical professional who would take your issues seriously.
  10. I second that you should go to an urgent care or emergency department. Do you take steroids for your other illnesses? I really believe you should be on IV antivirals with an outbreak this severe. Is there any chance this could be shingles?
  11. Hi, I may be able to help a bit with the questions surrounding your results. I would consider you potentially positive for 1 and negative for 2 based on the results you shared. But also based on the fact that HSV1 is so common and is acquired in childhood for most people. There are sometimes false positives for 2 if you are positive for 1 when the numbers are below 3.5. This is because the antibodies are very similar and testing is not specific enough at lower numbers to differentiate. Antibodies also wax and wane over time. I’ve see equivocal results turn both negative and positive with repeat testing. I would retest at 12 weeks and if you are in the positive range at that point I would forego Western Blot and assume positivity with 1. I’ve also not seen definitively positive results turn negative. I use Western Blot to confirm equivocal or “low-positive” 2 numbers in the presence of a positive 1 without confirmatory outbreaks. I do not confirm positive 1 results with Western blot in the absence of an outbreak because no blood test can tell you whether it is genital or oral and 1 is so common it is not cost effective for the patient to order an expensive test that they are 80% likely to have. I understand you are likely anxious and that there’s not much I can say to alleviate that but I hope you can relax and retest in a few weeks to get the answers you need.
  12. Hi! Just to be clear, I’m not an RN. I’m a nurse practitioner. Which means I’ve had advanced, Master’s level training and am allowed to diagnose, treat, and prescribe medications for any disorder I run across in the STD/family practice clinic I work at. I’ve also worked in emergency medicine, where I ran across herpes fairly frequently as well. Checking with your practitioner before starting or stopping meds is always a good idea! However, there are no contradictions to stopping antivirals for genital herpes infections like there are for, say, a viral meningitis or a herpes keratitis. Anyways, it’s an option to explore. As is getting on one of nerve pain meds such as gabapentin, amytriptiline, or Lyrica. One thing I’ve discovered about medicine in my almost 20 years of practicing it is that there’s a lot more guess work and trial and error than people think. I’ve found this particularly true with herpes where the average practitioner knows surprising little about the wide variability of symptoms that exist. Thanks for the reminder to check in with your practitioner and have a healthy day.
  13. Hi Lucia22, I joined just so I could respond to your post. I’m a nurse practitioner who works at an STD clinic and I treat many herpes positive patients as well as being GHSV2 positive myself. One thing I’ve begun to notice in my patients who have been on long term or high dose antivirals is that the antivirals seem to increase or cause intense neuralgias and prodromal symptoms. I myself had this happen. I thought my herpes was acting up as I was having relentless prodromal symptoms that would even present in my arms and chest. I stopped the antivirals and was amazed when the neuralgias went away. There are no studies backing up this anecdotal evidence but it may be worth it to just try to stop the antivirals for a bit and see if at least some of your symptoms resolve. Good luck!
×
×
  • Create New...