this is real life?

[amyweeks]

I recently turned 22, im engaged and I have an 8 month old son. Ive traveled and lived in many different states, the west coast and maui beingg among my favorite. I currently reside in my home state and havent been here but two months. Ive been a stay a home mom since my son was born and actually was lucky enough to not have to work during most of my pregnancy. Well that is until we moved back to Wisconsin. The past few weeks ive been working at a local restaurant doing night shifts hosting, dishing, expoing... and its been stressing me out. Well sunday I started feeling feverishly, went to just the walk in clinic and had some blood work taken to test for lyme disease. Got a drs note to have the night off, went home took an ibuprofen and went to bed shortly after my son did. Well all through the night I was having chills and hot sweats, freezing underneath three blankets and a puddle of sweat. This went on all night along with the body aches. I couldnt get my self comfortable. Pretty much felt like a wasted night of what I wanted to be a good night's sleep. When the sun came up, so did my son so I dragged myself out of bed and my fiance was getting ready to go to work. I noticed something uncomfortable happening so I decided to check it out. Ive had cysts before so I kind of thought thats what was happening. My fever and chills still hadnt gone away and couldnt figure what was wrong. My mom is a nurse and was able to get me in to see onw of the drs at the hospital late monday afternoon.. well they did some blood work, took a urine sample and did a paps for the hell of it. The dr mentioned two things to me and that was hsv and strep grp a... and at that time I was kind of like yeah sure.. okay. Well they sent me up stairs to sit in one of the rooms and get some fluids because I was extremely dehydrated. Well on top of the fluids they also were giving me viral iv meds. My temp was soaring at 103 and not showig any signs of going down. Can you say miserable? Ive been in the hospital since monday and it ia now Wednesday and as long as my fever doesnt come back for 24 hrs im good to go on thursday. So, fever, chills, hotsweats, bodyaches, headaches, loss of appetite, dehydration and borderline meningitis. Im ready to have this iv taken out of my hand, I havent had a cigarette since monday, I want to walk outside in the real world like a normal person again. Yesterday all I could do was cry here in my hosptial bed feeling shameful and gross. So many questions running through my head. But im better today. My test results havent come back but boh my doctor and specialist have stated this is what it is and are thinking its been dormant for awhile . Im curious to know but I have no idea how I wouldve gotten it if it was a recent exposure. There seems to be so many variables to hsv... its still so new that im still a little shocked...how do I tell my family, do I tell my family? My fiance knows and so does my mom but thats it. Im in the hospital, ive been sick as hell and everyone wants to know why im sick. My dr says just tell them you had a blood infection.. im like what if they know what that is? What else is blood infection. It just sounds funny. I guess I shouldnt be worried about it but.. theres a certain stigmatism that comes along with hearing the word herpes. I dont know anyone with it that I can talk to about it.. so im glad I found this forum..

[WCSDancer2010]

@amyweeks

 

First - hello and welcome. Sorry you had such a rough start with Herpes.

 

Quick answer of how to tell people ... you got a virus and is kicked your butt pretty bad. No one will ask you "which virus". It's simple and its the truth ... they will just think you got a viral flu or whatever.

 

As for how you got it... yes, it could have been dormant. Or your Fiance may be carrying it asymptomatically and he may have given it to you. Odds are neither of you were ever tested for it because it's not on the STD panel unless you specifically ask for it. I suggest you ask him to get tested because if he doesn't have it, then there are measures you can take to reduce his chances of getting it.

 

Did they do a swab of the sores or just blood work? The IGG blood work will only be accurate after 4-6 months with H. So if that comes back positive, you've had it awhile. Some may run an IGM test but that one is much less accurate and most places don't do it any more, but it tests for a more recent exposure.

 

Also, it's possible you have HSV1 (which most people think of as a cold sore) from oral sex ... many people don't know that cold sores can head south ... 50% of new cases of genital H is H1 from oral sex.

 

You should probably start with the links I'll post below, then come back with any questions you may have. Just a quick note... don't worry about your child or future children. You can't pass it to your current child and it's very possible to have a normal pregnancy and birth with H. ;)

 

Check these out then come back if you need to with more questions, thoughts, or to rant if you need to :)

 

(((HUGS)))

 

Handouts + disclosure e-book:

http://eepurl.com/b4IPP

 

http://www.cdc.gov/std/Herpes/STDFact-Herpes-detailed.htm

 

http://herpeslife.com/how-can-you-get-herpes/

 

Herpes facts video

[amyweeks]

Thank you :) I am pretty sure my dr took both swab and blood. I will be checking out those links definitely. And yeah thats a good way of going about tellig people I guess im just thinking too much into it.