Worsening herpes outbreaks

[Clark5677]

Hey everyone. This is my first time posting. I've had oral herpes for over 10 years now and I've been able to live with it fine but recently I've had some worrisome outbreaks. I contracted herpes when I was in about 7th grade from sharing drinks food etc from a friend who had cold sore outbreaks pretty frequently (never realized what it was at that age). Since then I've always gotten what you would consider very mild outbreaks in the corners of my mouth only (almost looked more like angular chelitis). Over the years the breakouts have become less frequent (maybe once or twice a year at most), but about 6 months ago I started getting breakouts one after the other. Then at the end of October, not only was I getting them in the corners of my mouth, but my entire lower lip had a horrible breakout. IF I hadn't known any better it almost looked like this would have been someone's initial breakout of herpes, it was that bad. Since then I've been breaking out in a spot here and there one after the other (no longer the corners of my mouth). So I guess what I'm getting at here is what's going on? I don't understand why the herpes has spread to a different part of my mouth and why I'm getting break outs one after the other? Hoping someone here can help me. Sorry for the log winded post :(

[PositivelyBeautiful]

Hi Clark5677, So it's very uncommon to contact herpes from sharing food and drinks with people. The herpes virus does not live outside of the body for long, and contacting it usually involves skin-to-skin friction, sores or no sores present. It's likely what you were experiencing earlier was not herpes, and that this recent outbreak is a new and actual herpes infection. Also, I'm not entirely sure on this point, but I think once you get herpes, the outbreaks normally recur in the exact same place that you initially were infected, and so should not be spreading to other locations randomly. Another sign that this is likely new... You can try using daily supplements of L-lysine and vitamin C to help your body fight the virus, and in extreme cases, or when you want, antivirals can be helpful to keep outbreaks at bay. Hopes this helps. Tons of information on here to help minimize symptoms.

 

[WCSDancer2010]

Actually, @PositivelyBeautiful, kids DO pass it around by sharing drinks and such when they are young ... remember, 60% of young people have Oral Herpes by the time they are young adults. I got it at age 4 the same way as @Clark5677... probably because young kids share drinks with very active OB's and their immune system is a lot more fragile than ours ...

 

And "fun fact" - the CDC believes that one of the reasons for the upswing of HSV1 genitally is that with the increased awareness in the public that kids can pass OH1 (so parents and child care workers try to keep them from sharing drinks and such) that fewer young people are getting oral HSV1 so they don't have the antibodies to it and thus get it down south when they have oral sex)

 

And adults very rarely acquire Oral HSV1 ... even if they don't have it, they have been exposed to it (so they already have the very low levels of antibodies to it...even though it didn't manage to take hold....) and adults are more likely to avoid sharing drinks and kissing with a full-on OB ... which is the only time that enough virus would likely be present to pass it on without the full on skin-to-skin contact.

 

Now, @Clark5677 why it's "spreading" and getting worse? It could be that your immune system is struggling with something else. Could be your diet. Could be stress levels. Exposure to sun? (Oral HSV1 often reacts to a lot of sun) What has changed in your life in the last 6 months???

 

What are you doing to control it? I can highly recommend Ammonium Alum and Oragel One Dose.... and I'm asking people to try Bactine because it's the EXACT same thing as the Oragel stuff and a LOT cheaper.

 

L-Lysine may help too ... and you may want to look into Acyclovir ... I'd take a double dose at the first sign for 2 days ... you may find that if you hit it hard and early from the inside and outside that you can knock it down. Sometimes it's a matter of helping the skin to repair and settle down to get it back under control. These links will help you to see what you are looking for in the store :)

 

http://tinyurl.com/pmosahc Link to Alum

http://tinyurl.com/bactine

http://tinyurl.com/Oragelsgldose

 

Hope that helps :)

[PositivelyBeautiful]

Aaaaah, ok! Thanks for the clarification Dancer! So many facts to remember, and so many 'maybes' to consider.

[WCSDancer2010]

NP: the issue of kids and Herpes plays by different rules ... I only know because I got it myself so I researched it more than most :)

[Clark5677]

Thank you @WCSDancer2010 you've helped ease my mind a bit! Yes I did start a new job in May of last year, and my diet has not been good the last few years. I'm sure that isn't helping at all. I will try some of the vitamins you listed and finally clean up my diet and hope for the best. I of course got myself paranoid thinking something else was going on. The constant outbreaks and cosmetic worries of course adds to my stress level :(

[WCSDancer2010]

Well, the Alum is something you put ON the area ... dries it right out ... I've used it since I was a kid.... and it dries mine up in 1-2 days.

 

The faster you can learn ways to control it the less stress you will have around it all, so try it all and see what works for you :)

 

[hereandnow]

@clark...

 

I am having a ton of early success with essential oils for my lips (morning and night)...when i get that burning sensation, i liberally apply a mixture of lavender/melissa/thyme thymol/myrrh/tea tree in a grapeseed carrier oil. i use Veriditas oils (true organic and WAY cheaper than doterra). the owner of the company, Melissa, is also available by email to answer any questions. she also makes a cold sore formula that ive used, but its still pricey compared to making it at home.

 

during the day (since the oils have a strong odor), i keep applying the Super Lysine + lip balm. it has lysine, tea tree, propolis, honey, and a ton of other all natural ingredients. been working MUCH better than Abreva for me lately. Any cold sores on the lips are super tiny if they linger, and many disappear same day. Super Lysine also has a chapstick version with similar ingredients and is SPF 21 for sun exposure.

 

i also grew a lovely new beard to keep the sun off the mouth area, good thing my lady really likes it. not shaving is a huge plus for guys, and you don't worry about spreading it that way with microcuts.

[Clark5677]

Thank you @herandnow. Are these oils I can buy at most stores or do I need to go to a store like gnc or vitamin shop? I have had issues with chronically chapped lips (assuming this is caused by the herpes?) so I will try the lysine shop stick as well. Most chap sticks haven't helped me much. Maybe the chapped lips aren't helping my outbreaks either

[WCSDancer2010]

It's best if you go to a place that specializes in essential oils - a lot of the time the stores have inferior quality products that they can sell for less ... there's no standardized "quality control" in place (ie, nothing that is enforced) and given that these are plant oils, you need a company that you can trust will only be taking oils from plants that are at the peak of their growth and that have not been sprayed with all kinds of chemicals that will end up in the oils :)

[hereandnow]

I buy the USDA Organic oils from www.rosemarysgarden.com...usually arrives in a few days. Veriditas is the only company I can find with true organic processes.