Oral HSV 2 Strikes Again!

[HopefulVictoria]

Hello Everyone!

 

Well it's been 5 months now since my last OB so I guess I can't be entirely pissed off. Needless to say I extremely uncomfortable. For those of you that don't know me. Last year i was diagnosed with Oral HSV 2 after giving a blowjob, I have outbreaks in the very back of my throat. 2 days ago I started to feel run down and the sore creeping on once again, I was praying and hoping it was symptoms of this dreadful flu that has been going around but NOPE! Wishful thinking! The lesions soon appeared shortly after and I have to say this one is a bad one. I'm assuming it's because of all the alcohol I consumed over the holiday and odd pieces of chocolate. Also I recently attempted to start exercising again regularly which I think knocked my immune system down. So here I am laying in my bed watching movies feeling as if I have strep throat yet again, thinking of 1000000 senerios that could be WAY worse. Bottom line H... Pisses me off! It pisses me off that there is no cure... It pisses me off that it can just show up whenever it feels like it... It pisses me off that hsv 2 can live in your oral region and that hsv 1 can live in your genetials.

 

For those of you that have genetial H.... I truly feel for you! If any of you ever experience the pain I feel in my throat in your genitals, I can only imagine the discomfort. Anyways since im such a "rare bread" and all the Internet tells me about Oral HSV 2 is that I might have an OB once every 10 years (BULLSHIT) I thought Id post again, just incase by an off chance someone else is experiencing symptoms of Oral HSV 2 and has an questions for me.

 

 

[WCSDancer2010]

Hey @Victoria!

 

Sorry you are dealing with this again. Sounds like your H2 may be your "Drinking Wingman" ... unfortunately though it tells you after it's too late :/

 

Have you tried sucking on Zinc lozenges, chewable Airborne (I suck on them so it coats my throat when I have a cold), and Salt Water gargles? Maybe warm water and Honey? All those things have anti-viral attributes and may help to attack it at the source.

 

(((HUGS))) friend ....

 

For anyone that reads this and is panicking that you have or can give oral H2 ... remember two things:

 

H2 oral makes up only 1% of all oral herpes and

 

Because of the nature of our type of forum, we tend to get MUCH higher numbers of the people who are having atypical Herpes issues....

 

Remember, 80% of people never have an OB (so they won't be on here unless they get tested and find out that way) and the vast majority of the other 20% have mild enough symptoms that they may work through things without coming to a place like this. We get about 30-50k unique visitors every month here ... and in the past year I think I've only worked with 2 people who have oral HSV2 ...

 

Bottom line is to keep informed, and know how to protect yourself and your partners from passing Herpes to another ...

 

That said, I'm REALLY happy that @Victoria is here to help you with her experience of Oral HSV2 because it IS so rare that there isn't a lot of information out there to help those who are the unfortunate 1% with it to know how to deal with it :(

 

 

[BmoreAp]

HopefulVictoria! I just got diagnosed with Hsv2 in the throat. Turns out I have the antibodies that say I've had it for a long time. I'm guessing that that "strep" I had years ago that turned up negative for strep was probably my first outbreak. Never had another one. Didn't get tested till this outbreak 2 weeks ago. Ugh. And I too just read about how "rare" it is. Not much clinical data out there. Also am dealing with my first rejection over it. (Started the ob just days before our first date.) We actually had a second date even though we both new I was waiting for test results. Then came the results. Now..... crickets. *sigh* I want to say this sucks, or it blows, but those are just ironically funny. I have lots of questions. Let's keep this conversation going.

 

[WCSDancer2010]

@BmoreAp

 

Hello and Welcome!

 

It's interesting that we suddenly seem to be having a "lot" (ie, 4-5) people on here dealing with Herpes in the throat. Part of that is likely because a forum like this will attract people who are dealing with the things they can't find answers to... (we won't get the 80% who don't know they have it and folks with really great/helpful doctors, etc) ... but I DO wonder how many (like yours) are tested for strep and not for anything else...

 

I'm going to see if I can get @Adrial to get some info from Dr Leone on this... it's something *I* would like to know more about ... so I can help folks like you out when you come on here...

 

(((HUGS)))

[seeker]

Im kinda curious about this myself. My first ob was believed to be mono. All the symptoms. Sore throat came about 3 days in. Ive often wondered if i either got both mono and H2 concuerently or if H set off mono ( it too stays with you for life, a cousin of H). I have however had nothing remotely like an ob in my throat in the 1 1/2 years since. Not even a sore throat w either a flu or ob or combo last year.

I did lose certain tastes which is known w mono. Cant imagine having that sore throat regularly, ice cream felt like lit gas going down my throat ( had a good wtf with the big guy upstairs over THAT surprise).

[BmoreAp]

@seeker,

I got a lot of relief from gargling with room temp salt water (warm hurts) drinking room temp tulsi tea with honey, or the tulsi/rose tea with honey. both are believed to be anti-inflamatory. and pain drugs. Was hurting less by the time I went to the doc (4 days).

[BmoreAp]

@WSC Dancer

Thank you for the welcome. I would love more information. (((hugs)))

[mr_hopp]

Hi all!

 

I shone the bat signal into the sky for Dr. Leone (it's a big letter H). ;)

 

He's a busy man, but I hope to get a response from him soon so he can shed some more light on this!

 

*Fingers crossed*

[hereandnow]

Hi all,

 

I too was diagnosed back in October with oral/genital HSV-2. Just traveled back east, drank some, jet lag...bam. I am seeing an infectious disease specialist next week, and am taking 2000MG A DAY of Valtrex, now for 2 weeks. I have a sore throat on the right side, and a LOT of tiny blisters just inside my upper lip. I can deal with GHSV, but this is just too much. My job requires a lot of "face time" and every moment now is agony. "Can they see it, can they???" Just went back on antidepressants to hopefully ease the mental stress some, as depression has come on very very strong. Craziest thing is, I have NEVER been healthier in my life when I was diagnosed. Drinking almost zero, quit smoking pot, cut soda, most coffee, exercising, meditation, vitamins. My first serious girlfriend after a divorce last year and she's asymptomatic...we took it slow, and both got tested by our Dr's (no HSV of course). Voila, 2 days after sex my new friend shows up downstairs AND upstairs. I was seronegative at culture time, now we are both only seropositive HSV2. No doubts.

 

I am with you all, the "limited recurrence" for HSV2 oral line I think is an assumption only. Nobody knows but us. As of now, downstairs is nice and calm while the oral rages on. No telling with this thing and our systems, no patterns. I thank heaven for every day I make it thru, and waking up the next morning is a trial all of its own. Let's help each other, as talking even to my GF now seems like a burden to her. She's already devastated this is happening to me. Love to you all, off to cuddle my body with more green tea (decaf), veggies, vitamins, and Valtrex. Wow.

 

-Hereandnow

[seeker]

@hereandnow man I feel for you ( and everyone dealing with this) if ever there is a perfect example of the stigma its the possibility of H in the throat. hearing you worry about people seeing it really hit that home for me. I don't think I have my H2 orally nor esophageally (?) but I do remember the sore throat and walking around going " check this out, ahhhhhhh" to people. "this is what mono looks like" {ladies its a guy thing, we gross our friends out, deal with it} yet if it had been H I would have felt self conscious about it. same look, same discomfort but its 2 different (yet related) viruses. I would take my blister or two and slightly swollen lymphs for a week and side pain over that sore throat any day, when freakin ice cream hurts, ICE CREAM the most gentle thing on the planet other than baby bunnies, your only thought is, what the hell did I do to piss you off god?

[jmac111]

Hey everyone. looks like i'm not alone. I contracted throat HSV2 from my now ex-boyfriend in May. He had told me prior to me catching it. I had a hard time in the beginning but then accepted it...until we broke up recently. And now i'm having the hardest time. He had no problem with it surprisingly and said "you have it, you have it. move on. take the pill when you feel it and thats it." I wish i had that kind of approach to this but it's really stressing me out. I can't tell when and if i'm having breakouts or if i've had any since the initial one. i don't know anymore. I'm self conscious about being with someone and i keep reading that people leave them when they find out. I mean i know i didn't leave my boyfriend when he told me because I thought he was worth it but now i regret everything :( and now i can't tell if i have it on my penis also because i feel tingling lately. Maybe i'm just my brain playing tricks on me cuz i just Valtrex for 3 days because i thought i felt smth my throat. so I don't know anymore. That's stressing me out even more. This is so debilitating. Why does this thing even exist! It's so stupid!!! i used to love kissing and now i'm so self conscious about it. i don't know if i'll ever be able to kiss anyone the same way again...

[hereandnow]

@seeker...thank you friend. Theres something different about hiding this thing in your pants vs the oral/facial. At least mentally for me. I'm so glad to find you all here, though I wish none of us needed it!! The really good news is that I'm only a few months in, and it really feels like being a newborn struggling to make your way in a new world at times. H is causing me to shed (literally) all of the anger and negativity I've carried along with my old self. In some ways I do know this will make me better. I can't remember allowing myself to feel emotions this strong, I always numbed out or stuffed it. No choice now for us.

 

@jmac111...the fear of intimacy is a huge one so far for me too. Kissing is the ultimate expression sometimes. the good news is, despite symptoms that keep showing up, I can tell and feel to my core that they are arising and resolving MUCH faster. I think a lot of the people who post about the "nightmare scenarios" that we've all spent hours reading and making ourselves crazy over, I think they may be trying all the therapies we know of. But I don't believe they are making the commitment that H requires to truly treat these temporary bodies like temples. I have done more reading than is probably healthy, and I see so much of people who are smoking, drinking a ton, eating fast food or junk. Caffeine, drugs, etc. it may take a good long time, but if we do it right I think we can live in peace.

[WCSDancer2010]

Interestingly, I have oral HSV1 and genital HSV2 and never ever worried about the oral herpes as far as people seeing it. I've had it since I was 4.... it's just something that lot of kids get (60% by young adulthood) . Now, dealing with not passing it on is another thing and it IS HSV1 and not H2 but I'm addressing how some people are worried about people "seeing" it ..

 

Interesting how we each may gravitate to one part of the stigma or the other, isn't it?

 

@hereandnow

 

H is causing me to shed (literally) all of the anger and negativity I've carried along with my old self. In some ways I do know this will make me better. I can't remember allowing myself to feel emotions this strong, I always numbed out or stuffed it. No choice now for us.

 

I LOVE it that you have made this breakthrough!!!! Sorry that you needed to get H to make it but friend, in the long run, you may well thank your "lucky H" for changing your way of being in the world :)

[BmoreAp]

No one can see my herpes (back of roof of the mouth) but psychologically I feel like my entire mouth must be bathed in Herpes. I'm being super vigilant about not sharing utensils, even toothpaste. I just met a guy during my first ever outbreak and we ant to kiss and it's killing me! It's killing him too. I'm not sure he even believes me, since there's no real literature on it. I don't know how easily I could pass it to someone else by kissing. It' get's even more "unusual". My outbreak started 2 weeks ago or so. Maybe 3 now. I haven't had any contact sexual or oral in 11 months. I've never had symptoms before. I grew up with Hsv1 on my lips but have never had an outbreak as an adult (20+ years.) I've never had any other herpes like symptoms anywhere else. And because of that no doctor ever suggested a blood test (didn't know it wasn't protocol. )

I had the oral sore swabbed and it came back negative for both. But then the ob continued. so I got a blood test, came back positive for H2 old antibodies AND recent ob antibodies. So I've had it for a while without knowing. Now I'm on Valacyclovir and every time it heals I get another little blister. At least the subsequent blisters don't hurt. That first sore was agony! But I keep getting them. I don't have a primary care doctor yet (I'm new to the area) but I heard the best kind of doc to see for Hsv is a gyno. What about an infectious disease specialist? any suggestions?