Bad reoccurant outbreak!

[kaybee]

Hi everyone! I'm sorry if this is graphic but I need some advice!

 

I've had hsv 2 for a little over two years now. I had a terrible first outbreak but after that I've only had a few mild outbreaks mainly just tingly/itching with maybe a few cuts every once in awhile but never blisters. Yesterday I had intense itching/swelling in the spot I was infected and today I wokeup with about 12 extremely painful and itchy clustered yellow blisters. I've never had an outbreak with typical hsv2 blisters let alone this many! My first outbreak was only two bumps and randomly two years later im having this horrible, painful outbreak. I took a bath with Epsom salt and it helped a little and i dug up acyclovir that I haven't used in over a year but I'm scared of the blisters popping and I don't know what else to do. They cover a good inch of skin inside the outer lips of my labia so there's pressure against them and I'm just terrified that the pains only going to get worse. How long do the blisters typically take to heal from this stage?

 

I was really happy with how my body has been handling the virus and thought it was supposed to get better with time, not worse! Now Im terrified that I'm always going to have these awful outbreaks... I'm on summer vacation from school and im not working but I have been stressed about my on and off relationship and about 2 weeks ago I did a full panel std test (negative thankfully) that had me anxious until I received the results last week. I feel like my stress triggers were all a few weeks ago more so than now, is it possible that they carried over? I also realized that I've been drinking more this summer than usual (wine with/after dinner almost every night plus going out on weekends...the curse and blessing of turning 21). I am also due to start my period this week. Maybe I need a life style change because I can't handle having another outbreak like this I've been crying on and off all day :( i just don't understand why im having such an exteme outbreak for myself compared to ever before. Any insight or advice is much appreciated!

[2Legit2Quit]

I went put drinking, got a mild OB. Stayed around and wouldn't go away, hormones started to flare from PMS, drinking again for my bday then no sleep and boom, another one popped up. I doubled my meds and made sure to sleep as much as possible. Now it's gone after having it 3 weeks... I don't get blisters now.. Just bumps.. Use bactine to spray and numb the area, continue w the baths and double up your meda and it should start to clear in a couple of days

[Sadpanda]

Oh wow, sorry to hear that. I'm kinda worried about this happening to me since I never got a bad primary ob either and was actually misdiagnosed twice. Went about 8 mths without knowing I had H. For some reason what I thought were monthly yeast infections (with papercuts that I thought were from sex), actually got worse and the symptoms hung around nonstop for a few mths, during diagnosis and after. I started acyclovir and that didn't work so I switched to valtrex and it took awhile but I've been doing very well on it. Haven't had an actual ob since I started it back in Feb. Hope this helps and you can get some relief soon.

[WCSDancer2010]

@kaybee

 

First, nothing is too graphic. You need to be able to tell us what is going on for us to help you, and we are all adults here ;)

 

I would look back at what has changed in your life in the last few weeks or month. Odds are the drinking is your culprit... try not drinking at all for the next few weeks (sorry to be a buzzkill here!) and pay attention to what happens with that ... and keep a food and activity journal... you may find there is something that sets you off there. Herpes is what I call a "First Responder" - it will tell you when you need to check in on yourself and your lifestyle/diet. Listen to it ... because nine times out of 10, when you figure out what the trigger is, you can get it to settle down. Hormones certainly don't help and periods can be the #1 trigger for many women but even with that, you can either take an anti-viral proactively right before your period and/or make sure that you dont consume/do things that aggravate/trigger your OB's around that time of the month...

 

And keep up the Epsom Salts baths, blow dry the area after, and go commando when you can. Bactine works for some (both to numb it and it has antiviral properties) I'm not at my regular computer but if you look around here I've posted topical/OTC treatments that help many to get OB's to clear up reasonably quickly...