Danaaaaaasaur

Are there any support groups in Australia? x

Good Luck!! I'm sure it will go really well! :)) x

@hopeful89 In regards to the herpes jokes - The day after I was diagnosed I went to the movies with the guy I had been seeing (who gave me this gift) and the Lets be Cops trailer was on before the movie which I was excited to see...then bam! 15 seconds in there was a joke about the main character being a struggling actor who's only notable role was in a Herpes medicine commercial. I was absolutely mortified and just wanted to run away and cry and avoid all movies and TV shows forever (Talk about too soon!! haha) It's been 9 months since that day though and now those jokes and comments rarely bother me. I just think they're stupid and the people telling them are likely to be uneducated about HSV and probably other STDs too :)

Hi @hopeful89 :) Don't feel bad I have both HPV (the wart kind) and HSV2. I only had two outbreaks of the warts which I got burnt off and they've never reappeared again :) I did a bit of reading on it and apparantly the virus clears itself from you system in around 2 years or so so don't worry too much. I take Valtrex suppressively so I'm not a good person to answer that. I hope your outbreak clears up soon though :) x

I always look forward to your blog posts. Thank you!! :)) x

Hi @new_moon :) I was just wondering if you've had any issues sleeping with your bf? I'm absolutely petrified about passing this on so I haven't slept with anybody yet but I don't want to be celibate for the rest of my life!! Are you on anti virals + use protection? I've read all of the pamphlets and info but would love to hear that it's all ok from a real person perspective :) Thankyou x

Hi @robyn_ I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with your doctor :( you certainly do deserve to be treated much better than that! I went to a bulk bill doc to get a repeat script of my valtrex (im at uni so couldn't afford to go to my normal doctor which costs $70 a pop haha) and this guy printed out all of this info about herpes and just tapped his finger on the page where it said to always use protection and that it can be passed on at anytime. I said (in tears) that I was aware of all of this already and his reply was 'that's what you get when you sleep around' I was was so upset and humiliated especially considering I got this because my partner was the one sleeping around not me - I've slept with a really small number of people! I hope you can find another doctor who has a bit more empathy :)

Thanks so much for theupdates and congrats on deciding to move in together! :)) x

Yay congratulations!! :) x

Welcome to our wacky group @sil88 sorry to hear you've got the same symptoms as us :( Would you mind letting me know the vitamins and things you're taking to help promote the nerves healing @2legit2quit I wouldn't mind giving it a go :) x

Also I have HSV2 so I don't want to risk coming off them when I'm with somebody because of the higher rate of outbreaks + shedding x

I was on it continually for the first 3 months then stopped for 2 months (I was trying to figure out if it was valtrex causing my pain) but I then had back to back outbreaks and the pain worsened off them so Im back on suppressive since feb :)

@2legit2quit Sorry to hear you're suffering I get nerve pain too 9 months on and it sucks big time! I'm on meds for that but I'm not sure it's doing a heck of a lot. I have started taking 1000mg of Valtrex now daily aswell instead of just 500 and have cut soft drink and energy drinks out of my diet which has helped that tingly crawly feelings in my genitals subside ALOT. That is what worried me most as all of the docs said it was fine to have sex but I don't want to risk it with the tingly feeling even if they say it is just the nerves going haywire! x

Im 9 months in and mine have popped up in a few different locations. I think it's relatively normal since your body takes a while to get used to the virus :)

@whitedaisies my friend actually recommended I go see her naturopath. I might give it a shot :) Have you found it's helped you at all?

I've been struggling with nerve pain since I had my for ob last August. I'm currently taking suppressive Valtrex and a mixture of Lyrica & amitriptyline to try and settle the nerve pain along with topical Oestrogen cream for the vulva area. I was just wondering if anybody else has struggled with this or struggled for an extended period of timeline myself? If so are there any other tips or tricks to reduce the pain besides medication? Could diet & exercise play a factor? Any help would be much appreciated :) Thank you x

@whitedaisies The same thing happened to me + the nerve pain went up about 3 notches haha :(

@80schild I'm on lyrica for the post herpetic neuralgia and I definitely find it's helped reduce the pain too so if it's working for you definitely ask the dr as you might be able to get rid of the nerve pain quickly :)

I get tingles every day since my very first OB. I've found antivirals have really helped to reduce the severity of the tingles :) Do you take lysine? Just FYI Drs won't give out nerve pain meds until you've been dealing with the pain for a minimum of 3 months

Hi @Djay. Please don't beat yourself up over this you weren't stupid at all! - it sounds like you took this guy at his word (like any normal human being would!) but unfortunately he didn't come through. To me that speaks volumes on HIS character not yours. You deserve to be treated so much better than that! I got H because I fell for all of the crap this guy was talking about us having a future which turned out to be completely false (which thankfully getting H uncovered for me) x

I like that attitude @seeker :) My best friends mum just passed away yesterday from lung cancer less than a year after she was diagnosed. It's things like that which really put herpes into perspective for me. I'm so thankful that it's not something that will kill me..it's just a little bit awkward and painful at times.

Have you been given any medication @getbetter111? Here are a few of the option for treating PHN http://www.m.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-postherpetic-neuralgia-treatment

Have you been to see an infectious disease specialist or a pain specialist yet? It isn't going to just get better by itself as with everything in life you need to be proactive about it

Yay congratulations :)) and thanks so much for sharing it helps so much reading these success stories x

Thank you so much for sharing @kiwiguy :) I was wondering did you ever pass it onto your partner during your marriage?