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What're your triggers for herpes outbreaks?


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hi everybody. wanted to see if anybody has been lucky enough to know what their triggers are, and if they'd mind sharing!

I've had genital herpes for about a year and a half now, and have dabbled between taking only lysine, only valtrex, or a combo of both. I can't seem to stay with one for a while before it "stops working" and I have to switch back to all valtrex. anyways, obviously stress is a huge trigger but I'm starting to get outbreaks even when I don't FEEL too stressed? so i'm wondering if my mind has just decided to get so used to being stressed that it doesn't think it's stressed even when it is, or if there are other contributing factors that i'm not realizing.

so...anybody know what their triggers are? a certain food? certain medication?

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For me:

-Sex that is too rough or dry; I have to prepare in advance (lube, foreplay, etc)

-Deep stress (like my dog is missing right now and it literally came on the morning after I found out)

-Tight jeans or underwear that isn’t laying right and rubs wrong.

 

Those are mine! Probiotics have seemed to really help me. Look at the other post/thread about it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/24/2019 at 4:22 PM, Cwgrl100 said:

For me:

-Sex that is too rough or dry; I have to prepare in advance (lube, foreplay, etc)

-Deep stress (like my dog is missing right now and it literally came on the morning after I found out)

-Tight jeans or underwear that isn’t laying right and rubs wrong.

 

Those are mine! Probiotics have seemed to really help me. Look at the other post/thread about it.

I’ve noticed that sex leaves me really irritated and sore as well, even before contracting the virus but of course now it’s way worse. Is there a certain lubricant you recommend? 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/4/2019 at 4:10 PM, IJWFB said:

I’ve noticed that sex leaves me really irritated and sore as well, even before contracting the virus but of course now it’s way worse. Is there a certain lubricant you recommend? 

I have noticed probiotics have been helping me for 1. I also think foreplay and consciously making yourself relax is extremely helpful 2. As for lubricant, we’ve had luck with Astroglide!

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  • mr_hopp changed the title to What're your triggers for herpes outbreaks?

I am having the same issue. I have had HSV for almost a year now and I on day 19 of my current outbreak.  Taking Valtrex 3 times a day.

I think I must have a huge trigger that is preventing this from going away.

Is coffee a trigger for anyone?  I really don't want to quit but I don't know what else it could be.

I am not having gluten or oats.  I have removed almonds.

I am taking Lysine and loads of other immune system support stuff and still the tingles won't go away.

HELP!

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For me its prodromals before periods and when stressed.  very rarely get stressed enough to bring them on anymore.  Interestingly I was stressing about prodromols usually! About 10 years ago I literally got fed up with perpetual prodromols and stressing about it and decided I didn't give a damn if I had them every day the rest of my life I was tired of it preoccupying my mind. I just started ignoring the sensation and got busy with my life.  I wasn't dating at all so that helped b/c I probably wouldn't have stopped thinking about it.  I don't know when but at some point I realized it had all stopped.  Over the years I've fallen into the same patterns again but then I'll remember to just not give a damn again and that seems to be the trick for me.  Periods are still sometimes problematic. Not as much though. But periods negatively affect so many different aspects of my health and life. Honestly can't wait till I'm done with them. 

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14 hours ago, LoveTheMountains said:

Interestingly I was stressing about prodromols usually! About 10 years ago I literally got fed up with perpetual prodromols and stressing about it and decided I didn't give a damn if I had them every day the rest of my life I was tired of it preoccupying my mind. I just started ignoring the sensation and got busy with my life. 

@LoveTheMountains

I am really interested in this.... did you really just start ignoring your prodromes and they just went away?  I have tingles all of the time... I am currently taking Valtrex 3 times a day for the past 3weeks.  Whenever it is time to take a pill the tingles start.  I take it and they go away.  I keep trying to cut back but the tingles get worse.

Please share more about this... 🙂

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Yah really, that's what I did.  I'm not saying it will work for everyone and I can't say exactly how it worked for me, other than that we truly know stress is a trigger so if I stopped caring about it I must have stopped stressing about it and at some point my body could heal????  I was so exhausted by thinking about it all the time.  It took over my life it seemed.  I don't remember how it played out exactly but I probably just broke down in tears  and just said "enough" . Like I gave up in a way. This phenomena is also frequently talked about by recovering alcoholics in AA. My dad was a recovering alcoholic and many talk about fighting their addiction for years, trying everything under the sun, then just breaking down and giving up, hence the first step in AA  "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable".  I used to read the literature from those meetings (also had a ex who was alcoholic so exposed to a lot of AA stuff) and read lots of stories of people who feel they got to a point where they were exhausted by the battle of wills with alcohol and once they "gave up" they felt a sudden change in their addiction/compulsion to drink.  

So yes I'd have non-stop tingles and just general feeling that things weren't "right" down there.  Back then I think I just dove into a ton of hiking and walking, learning to identify the plants in my area.  That's what I was into so it was easy. These days I feel like I've developed some quicker at home tricks when stress hits me. The most common being reading and having a marathon hour of watching SNL skits or anything really funny.  Hope this helps.

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53 minutes ago, LoveTheMountains said:

Yah really, that's what I did.  I'm not saying it will work for everyone and I can't say exactly how it worked for me, other than that we truly know stress is a trigger so if I stopped caring about it I must have stopped stressing about it and at some point my body could heal????  I was so exhausted by thinking about it all the time.  It took over my life it seemed.  I don't remember how it played out exactly but I probably just broke down in tears  and just said "enough" . Like I gave up in a way. This phenomena is also frequently talked about by recovering alcoholics in AA. My dad was a recovering alcoholic and many talk about fighting their addiction for years, trying everything under the sun, then just breaking down and giving up, hence the first step in AA  "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable".  I used to read the literature from those meetings (also had a ex who was alcoholic so exposed to a lot of AA stuff) and read lots of stories of people who feel they got to a point where they were exhausted by the battle of wills with alcohol and once they "gave up" they felt a sudden change in their addiction/compulsion to drink.  

So yes I'd have non-stop tingles and just general feeling that things weren't "right" down there.  Back then I think I just dove into a ton of hiking and walking, learning to identify the plants in my area.  That's what I was into so it was easy. These days I feel like I've developed some quicker at home tricks when stress hits me. The most common being reading and having a marathon hour of watching SNL skits or anything really funny.  Hope this helps.

I wouldn’t say that I have necessarily “given up” yet but this is definitely something I’ve noticed myself. I contracted the virus a few months ago so it plays heavy on my mind sometimes still, and when I’m deep in thought about it is when I’m most uncomfortable. when I’ve had a busy day at work and my mind was busy w that, I’ll realize I wasn’t really uncomfortable until the thought came back around. 

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23 hours ago, LoveTheMountains said:

I don't know when but at some point I realized it had all stopped.  Over the years I've fallen into the same patterns again but then I'll remember to just not give a damn again and that seems to be the trick for me.

 

 

So the prodromes stopped.... do you still get OB's

 

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The mind is a powerful thing...what you give power to will have power over you, it’s not hippy talk haha it’s real. Just like how fake flowers can cause an asthma attack to an asthmatic that doesn’t know the flowers are fake. I like to listen to sleep hypnosis for healing before bed as well...worth a try! 😊 

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Right @Fmals. I personally am not a hippy or new agey person at all so my input is coming from a pretty practical and science driven person lol. There's definitely a connection between mind and body. I'm currently trying this approach with some serious lung issues I'm dealing with. Unfortunately I'm not confident it will work as there appears to be some actual physical damage/scarring in my lungs versus say simple asthma that might have the potential to be impacted by stress. But I'm trying anyway. Even a little relief will be most welcome.  Also its way way way harder to ignore not being able to breath or pain with each breath than to ignore prodromals so I'm not being very successful at not caring/ignoring it.  : (   

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@no_joyride

To the best of my knowledge I'm not getting classic outbreaks.  I never had a huge problem with outbreaks too much after the initial but like I said prodromols were like a permanent thing for me for a very long time.  I have talked about this elsewhere, sometimes when really stressed I would get a sudden itchy red welt/welts on my chin area that would go away within a few minutes. Those started with the initial infection so I've always attributed that to  H.  I've seen other people on here talk about it too.  Also last year I got teenie tiny hard bump like a little bigger than a grain of sand that stayed a couple of months then disappeared. That happened at least one other time in my life.  Someone else on here describe the same exact thing so I assume that was from H.  Also I've only been on antivirals when I was in a long term relationship.  

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  • 1 month later...
On 11/22/2019 at 7:44 AM, Clarity said:

The only thing I’ve identified is stress. The kind when you can feel the cortisol pumping through your body, your heart is racing, your hands are shaking, your mind is laser focused on that one thing that really pushed you over the edge. 

I like coffee and work shifts so coffee helps ..some coffee types right away

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