4 those of you that have tingling and stinging AFTER herpes outbreak has healed....

[Ladyf123]

Hey guys. So for some reason my last 2 outbreaks were different. After they have healed and the sore went completely away, I still have tingling and stinging at the sight of the sore. It isn't sore to the touch but I sometimes feel it when walking or sitting in certain position. I talked to my doctor about it and she prescribed me Gabapentin (Neurontin) or Horizant is the new timed release version. She had a bunch of samples so I am trying it out. I believe it should take a few days to get in my system and start working on the nerve pain. I am praying and hoping it works!!!!!! I will keep you all posted. I also wanted to see if anyone has had good results with this!? Let me know... I am hoping and praying that this medication works. It is annoyinf enough that I have to deal with outbreaks. I hate that fact that the tingling/stinging lasts months after the ob subsides. Fingers crossed. Please give me your feedback if you experience this / have had good results with this medication or other medication for this problem. Thank you ! ! !

[WCSDancer2010]

That is one HELL of a strong drug for "tingling" ... it's an anti-epileptic and anti-convulsant ... so please, be REALLY careful about taking it... and only take it for as long as you need to get through that OB....

 

Yes - the tingling is annoying ... but please.... consider the LONG TERM effects of the drugs on things like your liver and organs and possibly your BRAIN (there's a lot of stuff coming out about every day drugs causing Alzheimers with long term use and I bet there will be a LOT more coming out over time).

 

So after writing that I did some more research: I read that you are supposed to start on a low dose and build up slowly and that it's not meant for short term relief of pain. I'm reading about people having short term memory loss after 10 yrs on it.

 

I STRONGLY suggest that you do some research yourself before you take this ... (which really, you should with ANY drug that ANY Dr gives you) because I fear that the Dr is just handing out samples because the drug reps have told them to give them to anyone with nerve pain ...

 

I know you are frustrated with the pain and that you are excited to have something that might help relieve it in the short term ... but I hope you will look into the drug and the possible long term effects, because that may not be worth it in the long run .... it's your body ... your call .... but I also want anyone else reading this to realize that they need to do their research before taking ANY drug :)

 

(((HUGS)))

[Ladyf123]

I am going to try it for awhile if it makes a difference I guess I will take my chances, I am tired of living like this ;(

[Pollyanna1]

I had the constant tingling for 4 month on my first year

[Ladyf123]

ugh its horrible... but this is my 4th year I don't get it.... i am wondering if my bf gave me his HSV 1 ? n now that I have 2 strains this is why this is happening? I don't know if that's even possible that hsv 1 would make my hsv2 worse... I don't know?

[WCSDancer2010]

If you got the other one then it's possible that it may temporarily cause the other one to flare ... but it may be that you are under a lot of stress or whatever that is causing a flare too. Maybe it's time to take stock of your life .... perhaps H is trying to send you a message that you need to make a change somewhere?

[cclife90]

@ladyf123 please promise you will be careful with gabapentin. It's typically used for particularly painful nerve issues such as diabetic neuropathy. I had to chime in because, like Dancer mentioned, I see doctors start patients on certain meds everyday just because the drug rep has been through recently. Your doctor definitely means well but I don't know if this is a good med for H symptoms. I can relate to what you're going through though and just wanting to try anything to make the symptoms stop. Good luck I hope you feel better soon. :)

[Ladyf123]

Thanks guys. I am also bipolar and clinically depressed and the drug supposedly works wonders for that as well. So I look at it as killing two birds with one stone. I will talk to my Dr. about it though. I suggested other meds and she said this is bomb for the pain associated with outbreaks. I should get tested to see if I have HSV 1...bc my outbreaks never lingered until I was with my current bf. Maybe he was shedding the disease during oral and gave it to me? That is the only thing I can think of. And the HSV1 is making my HSV2 worse? I dunno sounds stupid but its the only explanation . I've had many obs b4 I even knew I had herpes and I don't remember this tingling /stinging/throbbing lingering so long.

[Ladyf123]

PS- Dancer , my job is completely burning me out mentally and physically. .I just put my 2 weeks in...hope to find my niche elsewhere... bc this is not working for me... trying to take the steps to make myself healthy outside and in .

[WCSDancer2010]

Well, I read that several people on one forum reported that gabapentin actually made them depressed so again, *please* monitor yourself very carefully. Do you have a psychotherapist for your meds for your bipolar disorder? If so I would call them to get their opinion... really... esp with bipolar ... it's sooo easy to set that off in a really bad way :(

 

It wouldn't hurt to see if you got HSV1 too ... that would explain things ... although your comment about your job might also be a really solid explanation too ... and perhaps H has been trying to tell you to put that notice in ;)

 

 

 

 

[hereandnow]

I'm a big believer in minimizing how many chemicals we put in our bodies...that being said, I've never had to deal with this kind of stress and depression from a chronic illness. The ups and downs are like nothing I've experienced, and I am prone to depression. I am taking the supplements, the valtrex, zoloft and clonopin for anxiety and when needed pain meds for mouth ulcers. Sounds like the opening of an Intervention episode! But, if you REALLY become your own health advocate and do the research like Dancer has suggested, these things can be the supports we need to keep a floor underneath us right now. I have no problem surrendering to my current needs for this, and the relief is absolutely real. Make sure you do things like find a doctor you can email/communicate with as needed, who will order you liver/kidney function tests to make sure the meds aren't hurting you long term. With our health care system, these things become more and more the patient's responsibility to manage. Our doctors are just seeing too many people at once. Good luck.

[WCSDancer2010]

It's not just that they are seeing too many people - there are too many drugs for them to keep track of the intereactions with other drugs, issues of age (seniors often need less of a drug because theri body doesn't excrete some of them very well), and most importantly, "lesser known" side effects.

 

My ex hubby ws put on Zoloft for depression. Within 2 weeks he started stuttering. The shrink said it wasn't the drugs. Within a month he was having spells of not being able to articulate/talk .. the shrink said it wasn't the drugs. Then one night he woke up chanting and then went mute. Shrink STILL said it wasn't the drugs (we ended up in the ER and they kept him over night - took 3 days for him to get back to normal) and that it was like a self hypnosis that my ex was doing to escape his issues at the time. We had a lot of episodes of this for the next year - till the shrink told my ex that he had another woman start to stutter after going on it so he called the drug company who said they had a small number of people who had "speech difficulties" when they sent on it .... my ex *still* had the occasional spell of not being able to talk (especially when something really stressful happens) even though they cut him down to a miniscule amount of the drug (they can't seem to get him off it now :( )

 

This experience made me learn to research and find out ALL the possible side effects ... because many of the neurological side effects are irreversable :(

[Ladyf123]

I was on zoloft for almost 2 years it helped me immensely ! I'm sorry your husband went through that.

[WCSDancer2010]

I know it helps a lot of people ... but like every drug, there will be sections of the population that have adverse reactions to them and if we had known of that possibility we might have got him off the drug sooner and he might not have the permenant effects from it :/