DonnaItaliana

Hi Positive Herbivore, I too have been recently diagnosed and have been a vegetarian for only a year now. I generally eat quite well but have not given up on my little sweet treats or bread and have almond milk on my cereal and in my tea and drink coffee sometimes too. As far as OBs are concerned, I can't really say that I've identified my triggers, maybe because my two OBs following my initial one, have been very small and brief so I've not really been looking out for what might have caused them. I'm taking a few vitamins; Vitamin C + zinc, Vitamin B12, Echinacea & Lysine (although I've stopped taking the Lysine for the time being). It seems that some foods affect some people and not others.

Ok, so I am suspecting that this is a recent infection of HSV 2 that the swabs picked up on so if this is the case, the guy that gave it to me was either 1) unaware that he had it or 2) lying and knew that he had (I later found out that he has a reputation of juggling women and he had recently been with someone else weeks before me) so my money would be on hypothesis number 2.

Hi Adrial and thanks for replying. So does that mean that the HSV 1 was lying dormant in me and I only just had my initial OB when I was infected with the HSV2 recently? So I may have both 1 & 2 then? There not being enough detectableantibodies for the HSV 2 would indicate, there for that I was recently infected with it as the swab results indicated?

Hi all, So I must be about 11-12 weeks in after having had my first OB at the end of September. The sexual helath clinic that I first went to and got swabbed by told me that I had contracted HSV 2 but according to the blood test results I've just received in the post today, and if I'm reading it correctly, I've been detected as having HSV 1. It reads thus: HSV-1/2 IgG: Detected HSV-2 IgG Not Detected Serological evidence of prior Herpes simplex virus type 1 infection at some time. The blood test was done at St Thomas' Hospital in London so I'd have thought their findings would have been more accurate. Also, when it states "prior" infection at "some time" do they mean prior as quite a while back or recent? I'm confused!

Funny you should connect the Acyclovir with constipation because when I had my first outbreak (not long ago now; 8/9 weeks ago) I was put on Acyclovir 800mg 5 times a day for a week I did have constipation. I also ended up with one solitary hemorrhoid that gave me more trouble than the outbreak itself and at first, I wasn't quite sure whether the tingling and itchiness was part and parcel of the OB or hemmrohids. I went to see my dr who examined me and said that it was definitely a hemmrhoid and not part of the OB. The hemmrohoid has only now cleared up thanks to me applying LomaHerpan cream on it that I ordered from the Herpes Virusses Association. I took stool softners for a while and drank (still drink) loads of water as water is good for you anyway. Hope it's completely cleared up for you now.

I absolutely love your Harry Potter sorting hat analogy. It's absolutely brilliant and a great way of looking at our situation. :-) I know you're going to be fine, no matter what the outcome. If he's a wise man and a good listener he will hear you out and realise that you are still the wonderful lady that he's fallen. The H is nothing to really fear, what is to fear is the stigma and negative conotations that people attach to it. When all is said and done, it's a virus that, from time to tim, gives us OB (for some they may be more severe than for others) but at the end of the day there are ways to deal with it and the OB do not change the people that we were prior to having been diagnosed with it (hell, some of us were probably living with it already but were showing no physical signs of having it!), so you hold your head high girl and keep that "I'm worth it" attitude because you are. (((HUGS)))

I just found this article online http://www.thehelpernewsletter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55:testing-winter-2009&catid=176:herpes-testing&Itemid=237 It's interesting that they say the following about the index value, in particular about the lower index value: “People use the index value incorrectly in a couple of ways,” Morrow explains. “One is that they infer that a low index value means that infection has occurred recently. Any thoughts on this? I've searched online with regards to index values and the IgG blood test and this is the only one I've found so far that makes reference to the index value and it's interpretation as to determining whether an infection is a new or established one. By the way, my GP has written me out a blood test request for the IgG test and I will be going to have it done tomorrow. She's unsure, however, that the local hospital will actually do this test.

Actually I'm pretty sure that the bloods were taken to look for any other STIs and that it wasn't an IgG but I'm going to phone the clinic and have them clarify it. They didn't tell me what type it was either, whether it was 1 or 2, so I'll have them clarify that too. The only thing they said for sure, was that it was herpes. It's worrying how much they don't explain. I'd said, at the appointment, how I'd read online, that I knew the virus could lie dormant for years and voiced my concern as to whether I'd been infected by my latest partner who had also been hospitalized for sepsis or whether I'd had it lying dorman in me for years and contracted it from any previous partners. The dr didn't seemed concerned and just ignored what I'd just said. Thanks to you both, optimist and Sil88 for your replies. I will definitely keep you both updated with the outcome of my talk with the GUM clinic.

Hi Optimist, Thanks for your reply. How would I go about getting an IgG blood test? Would my local GUM clinic (sexual health clinic) do one on request? I did have a blood test as well as having swabs taken that then subsequently came back as HSV positive. I would really like to know whether it was him or whether I'd contracted it years ago and that it was lying dormant all this time. He may well have just had a bladder infection (they checked his kidneys and said that they were fine) and the HSV may not have then been transmitted to me by him. I know that the sepsis has knocked him for six and that he was, and probably still is, very ill with it.

I hear what you're saying, MMissouri. It was strange, however, that he fell ill within a few days of me and with similar symptoms. Granted, his symptoms were more severe than mine but we were both ill at the same time which makes me suspect that he has got some kind of STI as well. I was tested for all the other STIs and they all came back clear. I think he needs to be retested in 3 months time to get a more accurate diagnoses re the Herpes though.

Not only was he a liar, MMissouri, but I later found out that he's a womaniser. He dumped me via Whattsaap after having distanced himself via Whatsaap messaging with the excuse of, "Give me some time and distance, I'm trying to sort myself out and feel confused after having just come out of hospital". I totally understood and told him I'd give him the space he needed and that I would be there to support him etc., then out of the blue one evening he just Whatsapped me with the words, "sorry, it's over". I phoned him and told him under no uncertain terms was he going to take the cowards way out and dump me like that with no real explanation. I demanded to know why he was dumping me and he said that whilst he was in hospital (see my sepsis post) he started thinking of his ex gf in Italy (he later told me, when I went to confront him face to face that they'd broken up in the August and that he got with me immediately after at the beginning of September). I've since learnt that he is a womaniser and has a reputation amongst the Italian community where he lives. His family live in the town where I live and I guess they didn't know about his shenanigans with other women in his town so it came as a shock to them that he had treated me so badly. They learnt of the whole herpes thing because I told them about it and told them that this was his parting gift to me.

Good for you, Katidid. Girl power, eh? :-)

I think herpes, in some way, shape or form, does sometimes cause piles and digestive problems. I think it's prudent taking some kind of supplements to help with strengthen the immune system. I'm taking vitamin C by eating lots of clementines and kiwis as I love them.

Hi Sil, Yes, that's what I'd thought and told him as much when I last saw him and had it out with him (he'd dumped me via Whatsapp and I wasn't having any of that) so I turned up at his place and told him, amongst other things, that he would have to get tested in 3 months time again as it was possibly too early to be picked up. I too am skeptical, however, that he ever actually got tested. Whether he goes back to get tested in 3 months time or not I won't actually know as we have gone our separate ways but one thing is for sure; if he keeps being in denile he'll just keep on infecting other women that he sleeps with and believe me, I found out too late that he's a womaniser! Thanks for your reply, Sil.

That is interesting. I would put good money on it that he has actually got the big H despite him saying that his test came back negative. He may have either tested too early and came up with a false negative or he's an out and out liar. I'd go with the latter of the two.

Sil88, thanks fory replying. He also complained of lower back pain a week or so before so not sure if that is a H symptom or not? Just trying to put the pieces together and make some kind of sense out of it all.

Hey Sil88, I recently got diagnosed with HSV 2 and was put on antibiotics as well as Acyclovir and I think that the combination of the two weakened my immune system and also gave me constipation which in turn caused piles! I am now taking probiotics once daily (not the milky type drink from the supermarket but the stuff you get from the health food shop) along with Vitamin D3 and Vitamin B12. I am also taking L-Lysine but am considering stopping taking that just to see if my body can supress the virus by itself as I would rather take the Lysine if/when I have my next OB. I've only had my initial OB so far and don't want to be overmedicating myself if my body can cope by itself with the aid of the vitamins and probiotics. Have you tried any of the above vitamins or the probiotics at all?

What a fantastic idea! I'm very new to this all so would appreciate having someone to talk to and who can guide me through this herpes maze. I live in the UK so am not quite sure if any other members are from the UK too but I would appreciate talking with someone who has had more experience with living with the big H whether they're here in the UK or not (Skype and Instant Messaging helps bring us together and so lessens the distance). I don't mind if it's a male or a female and hope that once I'm a more seasoned member, I too can offer my experience and support to someone else in turn. Thanks! :-)

Ok folks, so this may sound like a strange question but this is what happened to me/my ex boyfriend at around the same time that I got the herpes diagnosis. I started dating this guy at the beginning of September, it all took off really quickly and before we knew it we were being intimate with each other. A couple of weeks into the relationship, I started feeling unwell with a sore throat. I went to the drs and he told me that it was a viral infection and that he couldn't give me anything for it so he sent me home and told me to take paracetomol and hot lemon. A week passed and then one night, during sex, I had a painful stinging sensation and so we had to stop. The following morning I had a strong burning sensation when I peed and blood in my urine! I went to the drs again and this time was seen by another dr. He told me that the virus that I had had the week before probably had spread and that it had now caused a bladder infection. He prescribed me a course of antibiotics and took a urine sample too (the urine sample was a dark red/brown colour) and this really worried me, not to mention that the burning sensation when peeing was now excruciating! Anyway, I was due some days off work as I'd booked them off earlier on in the year and went to stay at my boyfriend's place as we had planned to go to London to watch a West End theatre production. In the meantime, he starts up with a fever and takes to his bed so we cancelled the London show and I stayed with him and took care of him while he was laid up in bed. He kind of recovered the next day, well enough for us to go out in the evening and so I just thought it was strange that we were both unwell at the same time (bear in mind I was still on antibiotics and not feeling 100% myself) anyway, the following day he was violently ill with uncontrollable shakes and a high fever so I ended up taking him to the hospital to the A & E (Accident & Emergency) department which would be the equivalent of your Emercency room, and they rushed him in and diagnosed him as having Sepsis! He was immediately put on IV antibiotics and treated for that. He was in hospital for a total of 12 days, in which time I too was going back and forth to my drs who then advised me to to to our local sexual health clinic as I'd come up with some spots on my loser back and vagina. The dr thought that I was having a shingles outbreak and so prescribed me Aciclovir 800mg to be taken 5 times a day! I went to the sexual health clinic and they took swabs and bloods and the dr there told me that he was pretty sure that I had contracted herpes but that we should wait for the test results to come in. On hearing this I immediately phoned my boyfriend and told him to also get himself checked out as I thought that the herpes virus was probably the thing that had caused his sepsis. The hospital carried out the tests but on discharging him the results still hadn't come through. I, on the other hand, got my result through and they proved to be positive. When he eventually got his results through, he told me that they were negative! Now I don't believe that they were negative as what was it that caused his Sepsis? It was too much of a coincidence that he fell so ill (with also a burning sensation when peeing) and a high fever with uncontrollable shakes. I believe that he is lying and that he has got herpes. I later found out that he is a womaniser and has had multiple partners and believe that he was carrying the virus within him and passed it on to me. His immune system must have been very low and he ended up having the Sepsis attack. Does anyone know whether the Sepsis and herpes could be linked in this instance please? I know it couldn't have been me that had the virus as my last partner way over 3 years ago and we used protection. Any suggestions or ideas on this would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks and love to all.

Hi MMissouri and thanks for taking the time to reply. Well now you see, you say "Let the next guy win you over with his actions and not his words." That's exactly it; he not only wooed me and convinced me with his words but he introduced me to his family pretty much from the very beginning. It was what I would call a 'whirlwind' romance. Everything happened so fast, we had so many things in common and fell for each other pretty much on first laying eyes on one another! His family were very welcoming and warm. It came asmuch as a shock to them as it did to me when he finished with me and heard about the whole herpes thing. So how do I trust my instincts again in the future as his actions matched his words? I thought that I was a good judge of character but now this has thrown me completely. By nature I am a very trusting person and give people benefit of the doubt until such time that they prove themselves not worthy of it but from now on, nature or not, I will have to keep that in check and for self preservation keep people at arms length, especially men. It's changed me on such a profound level that I don't even recognise myself anymore. Sure, my knee jerk reaction is always to trust but then a second more direct thinking kicks in and I purposefully remind myself to not be so foolish again so I find myself pulling up the drawbridge and not trusting as a self preservation mechanism. It's this that has devestated me more than the herpes that he's left me with because, like I said before, you can medicate a virus and take preventative measures to make sure that the OBs are fewer and far between but how can you medicate against people's lies and manipulations? How can you see that coming or know who is genuine and who is not? My only choice is, like it or not, to keep myself to myself and not involve myself with any man ever again. Hugs back at ya!

Thanks Adrial, so would I be right in thinking that I should stop taking th Lysine and let my body build up its own immunity with the aid of the other tablets I'm taking and see whether I have another OB and if I do, then start taking the Lysine to supress it ?

Hi all, After having done some research online I have found that L-Lysine seems to be one of the more natural recommended 'remedies' claimed to surpress the virus. I have started taking one 1000mg tablet a day along with vitamin B12, Vitamin D3 and a probiotic also. What I wanted to ask, with regards to the L-Lysine is this: given that I have only just been diagnosed with HSV2 and only had my first outbreak should I not take the L-Lysine and wait to see whether my body has another OB and then take the L-Lysine to treat it or do I keep taking it as a preventitive despite the fact that I am now no longer sexually active and may actually not have further outbreaks naturally? Is the L-Lysine only meant to be taken to control the OB or to be taken forever as a means to supress the virus? I would appreciate it if someone could clarify this for me as I don't want to be taking anything unless I really have to. I know that I have to build up my immune system (hence the other tablets I'm taking) but should the L-Lysine be taken in my situation and at this early point? Thanks.

HatingMeNow, all I can offer you is this; we are all different and therefore all react differently when faced with this virus that has come into our lives. For some, it is physically worse than for others and I guess that's because we all have our own unique genetic make up that influences how we react to viruses and illnesses. I can't take away your physical pain but one thing I am pretty sure of is this; your mental attitude has a lot to do with your physical well being. When we submerge ourselves into a negative state of mind it, often times, has a knock on effect on our physical being. I know that it's a vicious circle in that your physical pain is making you feel low and unappy and in turn that unhappiness and stress is making your outbreaks more frequent and painful but keep on searching for what works for you in helping you reduce and control your outbreaks. You will come across something that is unique to you that helps you, I'm sure you will, but please try not to get yourself to the point of despair and stressed. We're all here for you and whenever you need to sound off or need a listening ear, please come here and share. Love and hugs!

Yes it does, most definitely. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I've had my fair share of hurt and devestation in my life and I'm still standing! Thank you so much for providing a safe haven for us here at your site, adrial. It means a lot for us to have somewhere where we can understand one another and share our experiences with. I only wish that I was, geographically, closer to you guys as I live in the UK.

Hi all, I'm not quite sure whether anyone else has felt like this upon finding out that they've tested positive for the big H but I can honestly say that I feel at peace with myself about this. I must admit that when I first got the news from my test results I was upset and tearful and also quite angry at the guy who gave me it but after having read up about what Herpes actually is and how it's been blown up out of all proprtion in modern day society, I think the problem lies outside of the Herpes community and not within. The stigma that is attached to this is, by what I can gather, the biggest problem which ends up messing with a person's mind and emotions. The physical aspect of the virus, for me at least, is a minor inconvenience (maybe because my first outbreak wasn't the thing that played with my mind the most) the thing that, initially, got me was the "oh my god I have contracted an STI!" and "I'm unclean, unclean!" but like I said, once I calmed down and took in all the facts, I know that whatever comes and however many outbreaks my body may throw at me, that it's ok. I can handle it and that there are far worse health problems and diseases that are out there that, thank goodness, I haven't got. The relationship I was in that catapaulted the whole thing is long gone now (suffice to say that the guy that gave me it wasn't at all what he appeared to be. You've all heard, I'm sure, the saying of, "when it's too good to be true it's too good to be true", well yes folks, he was too good to be true and I fell for all his BS lies. It's early days yet for me on this journey but the feeling, more than anything else, the experience has left me with is that of no longer being able to trust guys. His leaving a physical calling card, as bad as it may or may not be (depending on how much I let it be) is nothing compared to the mental scars he's inflicted on me. You can medicate a virus, supress it and control it to some degree but how do you manage to not look at men in a different light after such a smooth talking, Oscar winning performance from someone who has betrayed you in such a way? I no longer feel that being by myself is such a bad thing. I've spent so many years by myself searching for a deep and meaningful relationship (after having been widowed at the young age of 27 and 6 months pregnant at the time - I am now 51!) that in all honesty it has changed my way of looking at my life. I am no longer actively seeking a partner and feel that my loneliness, over the years, just made me search for love in all the wrong places. When you are alone and want so much to be loved you tend to not make all the right choices and pretty much let yourself be swept off your feet by anyone who says and does all the right things. Having herpes has made me re-evaluate my life from here on in. It has made me wake up to myself and it has made me become more aware of my physical health. I don't want this to define who I am and I don't want it to be a negative. I hope that my experience, as brief as it has been so far, will be able to help others. I know that my biggest issue is not the virus but the lack of trust that I have been left with. Love to you all! xx