Herpes in the Black Community

[Whymewhynow]

@PhoenixRising_009 thanks again for the YouTube links. A couple of them are very encouraging. While youtubing them it did take me down a rabbit hole of the possibility of permanent dormancy, which they actually call cure with an alkaline diet. Does anyone have any thoughts on that by chance?

[PhoenixRising_009]

@Whymewhynow I haven’t looked into the alkaline diet...something I’ll have to check out. 

[Livinglife2019]

On 2/15/2019 at 10:40 PM, Braino said:

@Star28 Florida in the house! 

Hello, I’m in Florida also. Finally found some Floridians on here lol.

[SeraLyn]

@AMDCRX also welcome and thank you for sharing.  It is so reassuring to hear you went so long without OBs prior to your surgery.  I hope healing is going well.  

[SeraLyn]

@PhoenixRising_009 @Whymewhynow

I'm gonna do it!  the girl is getting waxed today!😮

[Whymewhynow]

31 minutes ago, SeraLyn said:

@PhoenixRising_009 @Whymewhynow

I'm gonna do it!  the girl is getting waxed today!😮

Good luck and please keep us posted!!!! I'm almost at my breaking point. Lol

[Whymewhynow]

On 2/24/2019 at 9:09 AM, PhoenixRising_009 said:

Hi @AMDCRX welcome! First, thank you for sharing your story. I’m so happy to hear that you were able to have a healthy beautiful baby 💕. I’m also happy to hear you were able to go so long without many outbreaks (oh how a girl can dream lol). 

I’m sorry to hear how hard these last few years have been for you, but it sounds like you’re being proactive toward finding healing methods and that’s awesome. 

I am very new to the virus, this will be my 3rd month since my diagnosis. I was out of town for 4 weeks and started having my second OB, but when it healed up a couple more came and I was freaking out because I didn’t have any medicine. What worked for me (creating faster healing, stopping the pain in my leg) was taking 1g of lysine 3x a day and drinking acv tea (hot water, 2-3tbs of apple cider vinegar, squeeze of honey and lemon juice) 3x a day, and cooking food in coconut oil (since I’m not ready to just injest the oil yet). After 2 days of doing this I noticed a huge difference and haven’t had an OB since. I’m thinking this plus my acyclovir prescription will really help me fight any upcoming OBs I feel coming. 

Hopefully this was helpful, I don’t want to take meds forever so I’ve been trying to find natural remedies, my concoction above has seemed to help so far. 

Peace & blessings 💕. 

@PhoenixRising_009 how is this working for you? Have you continued to be outbreak free?

[SeraLyn]

So far so good! I won't say it didn't hurt in the moment, but it guess away so fast!  It was actually better than the soft wax process (where they use the linen strips). 

A tip my girl gave me... Shave then wait two weeks. Hair should be length of a grain of rice

[PhoenixRising_009]

Glad it sounds like it's working well for you @SeraLyn!!

@Whymewhynow That natural concoction (lol) definitely worked for me until I got back home (I'd been out town for a month). When I got home of course I got sick which led to another OB, but the acv tea and lysine was able to stop it from getting worse, I went to my doctor and got a prescription for acyclovir. I took 1 pill 3x a day as well as 1g of lysine 3x a day for five days and the healing was so immediate that by the 5th day all was pretty much gone. I definitely prefer acyclovir over valtrex. Currently I am settled back home and healthy, so I have not experienced any other obs. I take a lysine supplement every morning and make sure I eat fruit and veggies regularly. I would recommend that concoction if you're unable to get a prescription (or if you decide you don't want to take any meds), I think these natural remedies help boost the prescription so all together my healing time was super quick. 

Also, I cook everything in coconut oil now, I think ingesting coconut oil was also a big component in my healing time because coconut oil has antiviral properties. I'm also learning that while things you use topically can help with any discomfort, the healing truly comes from what goes in your body, so coconut oil worked great topically but I think it helped 10x more when I was consuming it. So I think I might be getting close to an alkaline diet, but I love chocolate and hot fries/hot cheetos waaay too much lol 

[SeraLyn]

Hello my lovies!! 🙂💞

I hope all is well in your worlds.  I'm happy to report that two weeks post waxing, no OB has been noted.  I stopped dating a HSV- guy a few weeks back and stopped daily suppressive therapy too. I'll be a year diagnosed in July so I assume my body has figured out what to do with the virus on its own (yay for the human body).

Interestingly enough (and unrelated to HSV) I found out today I have Shingles!  Crazy right, lol.  I thought it was something that happened to old people (like 50s) but, I guess not.  Funniest part is the meds is the same for HSV (since they're both in the same herpes family, just quite different strains).  At least I won't need a new prescription and it'll automatically keeps viral replication down.  Gotta find a silver lining in the small things right? 😁

Peace and positive energy to you all 💞🤗

[PhoenixRising_009]

@SeraLyn good to hear from you! Glad the wax didn’t trigger anything 😊. 

My mom has shingles too and when I told her about my diagnosis we actually traded tips on what helps lol, gotta love moms. 

Also, I found out that I had chickenpox as a kid and I got mono in college (just from walking past someone who breathed on me!). So that’s 3 strands of the virus I have now. I’m convinced at this point there’s no one who doesn’t have this virus because of how often we’re exposed to it. 

Glad you don’t have to do any new meds. How’s school going? 

[AMDCRX]

I had shingles in high school...maybe that made me more susceptible to hsv!?? I dunno! All very odd! I haven't had another OB since starting lysine and the pain on my left side is easing. Go us 🙂

[PhoenixRising_009]

@AMDCRX yay, go lysine!! So glad it’s working for you 😊

[SeraLyn]

@AMDCRX I'd be really surprised if they're related. I asked the same to my doctor and they're very unrelated since shingles comes from within (prior chicken pox exposure) vs external exposure.

I am considering that the shingles was triggered after a car accident I was in Friday & the adrenaline rush compromised my immune system. Interestingly enough, it did not trigger an OB.

[SeraLyn]

@PhoenixRising_009

School's going really well, thanks! Two A's last quarter and two more classes to end the first year (whoo hoo!!)

[OlderNotWiser]

I'm in my 50s, had a shingles vaccine 5 years ago because my mother had shingles twice when her immune system was low from chemo. She was in so much pain. I did have chickenpox as a child & had mono in my early twenties.  I was diagnosed with hsv-2 last October. Last week I got a new shingles vaccine that is supposed to be more effective than the old one, plus it was covered by my insurance this time. My doctor also told me that the shingles vaccine wouldn't affect herpes one way or the other.  I had hoped it might have some benefit to the herpes symptoms, but also worried that it would have a negative effect. So far nothing has been noticeable.  

[SeraLyn]

On 3/13/2019 at 8:15 PM, OlderNotWiser said:

I'm in my 50s, had a shingles vaccine 5 years ago because my mother had shingles twice when her immune system was low from chemo. She was in so much pain. I did have chickenpox as a child & had mono in my early twenties.  I was diagnosed with hsv-2 last October. Last week I got a new shingles vaccine that is supposed to be more effective than the old one, plus it was covered by my insurance this time. My doctor also told me that the shingles vaccine wouldn't affect herpes one way or the other.  I had hoped it might have some benefit to the herpes symptoms, but also worried that it would have a negative effect. So far nothing has been noticeable.  

welcome @OlderNotWiser! Glad to hear there have been no side effects from the vaccine.  I'm probably jinking myself, however, this shingles episode is seemingly pretty light to what I've heard, might be from catching it so early and getting on anti-viral right away.  I hear the pain can last some weeks to months after the initial flare-up (?) and hoping my other stress management activities kick this bad boy down a notch sooner than later 😁

[tmack]

On 8/21/2018 at 10:08 PM, SeraLyn said:

Lol, yes ma'am... I'm two months old on team HSV 2, 38, - TONS of loving ( and living) to do 😊.

I don't even know what it woulda been like 10 years ago for you..I'm sorry you didn't have the support you deserved at first, but got plenty now! 

 

How do you manage to not pass it to your H- partner? Do you always use a condom? We want to have a baby but dont want to transmit it.

[SeraLyn]

@tmack

We didn't use condoms. I was on suppressive therapy while we dated. Nothing else besides that. 

the transmission rate drops considerably with suppressive therapy. I've seen people on here have HSV and babies and not transmit. Definitely talk with your Ob if haven't already.

Good luck! Enjoy the baby making process 😊😊

[SeraLyn]

Hey H fam 😁

Wanted to share some good news with y'all that happened tonight  Hopefully for anyone feeling down or questioning about if (and really it's when) dating is possible, the answer is an emphatic yes!

Most you know I dated a H- guy for awhile & ended it recently. After that, I kinda restarted taking to a guy from last year whoo I ended things with tight after I was diagnosed. I didn't tell him why I really ghosted & used school as an easy excuse. Well, since we reconnected, hanging out again, things have been pretty good and he invited to a overnight trip outta town to get my mind off school for a bit. 

I figured this was good time to come clean about why I ghosted, my HSV+ status & put everything on the table tonight. To my surprise he was cool with it, actually has personal experience with his first college girlfriend. This is my third positive disclosure to a dating potential & have to say, it definitely get easier the more you do. 

I'm soooooooo looking forward to this weekend now that I can't break the physical barrier hehehehehe 💞💞💞

[PhoenixRising_009]

@SeraLyn so happy to hear that school is going well! I just recently got into the grad program of my dreams so I’m super excited to start!!

Also, thanks for sharing this positive news. Glad dating is going well because honestly it’s tough even without HSV lol. Hope the trip goes well 💕💕

I’ve ended things with the person who I believe I contracted the virus from and at first I was nervous about what the dating scene would be like, but then realized I’d rather find out than be miserable with someone 😂. 

There’s someone in my life also who is super accepting of the virus and risk lol and still wants to hook up. 

So, yes, life certainly goes on & I’m happy you are still seeming to be living your best life 💕

Sending positive vibes to everyone. Glad we can uplift each other. 

[KarlaK]

Y’all... I just spent the last hour reading each post from the very beginning of this thread. I am so glad to read stories of black people living with this too! I’m a 24 year old Black woman who was diagnosed with HSV2 in February after unprotected sex with a “booty buddy” throughout the month of December. So many things about this experience have been frustrating. First off, I told my partner about a week or so after I found out. I also told him about the chlamydia he gave me too. Do y’all know this man still hasn’t seen a doctor?? He doesn’t have health insurance, so he’s just ignoring it I guess. Secondly, I feel like I can’t get a doctor to treat me with respect and genuinely hear my concerns. I really think I have HSV2 orally too but no doctor will confirm it because I am not experiencing cold sores. I had what I think was an initial oral outbreak in December before I was officially diagnosed with HSV2 (extreme sore throat, white covered tonsils, fever, exhaustion). I was tested for strep and was negative. I was given antibiotics that did not help at all. About two weeks and it cleared up on its own. Now I have what my doctor says are “canker sores” inside of my cheeks, but I also have small blisters in the back of my mouth. I just have never experienced any of these things until I contracted HSV2. Every doctor I’ve seen immediately tells me that HSV2 typically doesn’t infect orally. I know that, but I am convinced I’m one of the cases that is atypical. I have had two very mild genital outbreaks but that’s been it. I just have a one year old who I’m terrified of passing it along to orally via our day to day interactions.

It’s a blessing to find this thread and I’d love to hear the experiences of people with oshv2. 

[SeraLyn]

@KarlaK first off, welcome to our thread I totally get it's not something you WANT to be welcome to, nonetheless, I'm glad you found us 💞💞 It's unfortunate your BB won't go see a dr, at least get treatment for the chlamydia.  Do you have any free clinics or planned parenthoods in your area?  Maybe some more "supportful prodding" will get his azz in gear and take care of himself to be responsible.  You have every right to have a medical professional hear your concerns sincerely! Do you have an option to see an infectious doctor specialist?  I considered seeing one myself when first diagnosed and found quite a few in my area.  I think they would be more apt to handle specific situations better than a GP or NP. I think a few folks here have oral hsv-2, sure it's uncommon, but not so uncommon it should be discounted by your medical professional.  Hopefully you'll find one soon that meets your expectations and provide the right level of medical support. 

Until then, we're here for you!

@Whymewhynow @PhoenixRising_009

[PhoenixRising_009]

Hi @KarlaK! I second everything @SeraLyn said. I just aged out of my mother's insurance a few months before my diagnosis in January (go figure!), so I go to a pay-what-you-can clinic for my prescription and to see a NP. They definitely are very broad/nonchalant when discussing hsv; they wouldn't even tell me which type I had b/c they said they don't type them anymore. However, I'm pretty sure it's hsv2 because I've had recurrent obs since my primary one. I don't believe I have it orally. I would definitely recommend seeing a specialist so hopefully they are able to help, I did read about some people having a primary outbreak in their throat, so you definitely wouldn't be alone there. Also, you can get hsv2 orally, from what I read, it's just you wouldn't likely have a recurrent ob after the primary, sort of like if you get hsv on your genitals from someone who had it orally--I read that it's something about those strands not liking to live in the opposite area so they typically don't recur. 

I'm the long winded one in the group lol so I definitely have to stop myself. But you definitely have support, here ❤️

[Whymewhynow]

 

So far so good! I won't say it didn't hurt in the moment, but it guess away so fast!  It was actually better than the soft wax process (where they use the linen strips). 

A tip my girl gave me... Shave then wait two weeks. Hair should be length of a grain of rice

Hey! I'm so glad to hear that it's smooth sailing for you so far😂😂 I think I'm going to make any appt. I'll keep you posted this time around.