When to medicate?

[Beachgirl16]

Hi all,

Just diagnosed a couple months ago with HSV 2. After the initial ( horrific) outbreak, I’ve been getting mild outbreaks every few weeks. Some of them are really minor and if I wasn’t in full alert mode, I might not really notice them. 
my question is this: should you medicate with every outbreak even if they are really minor? Or maybe give my immune system a chance to work on it? I just feel like I keep medicating and not sure the right approach. 

[Flowerteacher55]

Hello! 

I hope you are well. 

This is a great question! The answer is... it depends on how you feel about it! 🙂 

Some people take medication as a preventative measure, meaning they take it every day to help reduce the likelihood of  shedding and/or outbreaks. Others take it when they feel an outbreak starting/have prodrome symptoms, and others may not take it at all. It all depends on your levels of pain, number of outbreaks, your outbreak severity, your intimacy status, and just personal choice factors, etc. 

For me personally, I took my medication during my first outbreak because it was so severe. During my second (very small, only two sores) I did not have access to my medication so I did not use it, and eventually the sores went away. I used some lysine cream to help with the pain. My third outbreak was also very minor, just two tiny sores. I did not use medication for this either because I didn't have any available. 

It all depends on what works for you. If you are cautious about medication in general, please know that antivirals are pretty mild; the side effects are generally mild (unless you are taking a medicine that reacts with them or you have an allergy to an ingredient, etc). If you are worried, you can also talk to your doctor or OB and ask them for the fact sheet about the antivirals and side effects! 

I hope this helps! 🙂 

Blessings!