Emotional effects + Valtrex question

[JC2019]

Hi, All, 

I am at the tail-end of my first outbreak. I found out 2 weeks ago that I have herpes after the arrival of painful sores and flu-like symptoms. I cannot believe how sick I was. I still feel kind of traumatized by it. Wow. I missed an entire week of work. Was anyone else's first outbreak that bad? I am a 41 y/o female in a committed relationship. My partner has been extremely supportive. I am a professional with a business and 2 degrees. I have never in my life had an STI so it was a shock. Reading about the stigma of herpes has been so helpful, but I still feel gross and ashamed. I feel like I will never want to have sex again. I feel like I won't psychologically be able to get past it. What has worked for you in this area? 

I also have a question about Valtrex. I was diagnosed by a Dr. at the local urgent care and given a week-long Rx for an anti-viral. Am I now supposed to be given a lifelong Rx for Valtrex? I have never been on any kind of meds in my entire life so the prospect of this is kind of scary. I'd love to hear from anyone who is willing to share what their meds journey for herpes has been like. I feel like I sound like a complete baby about all of this, but I also know that talking about it and giving support is important. 

[Djwahe]

I missed two weeks of work and I’m only 29 years old. Still dealing with the psychological aspect every day. People on here say it gets better...I’m new as well, good luck.

[Sally23]

I’m 47 and was diagnosed 7 months ago with oral and genital Hsv1. My first outbreak was horrible, mostly because of the flu-like symptoms I experienced. The sores weren’t that bad. I am on suppressive therapy bc I’ve had monthly outbreaks right around my period.  I really want to go off of the valtrex but I’m afraid of having the symptoms again and an outbreak. 

[Marc C]

@JC2019 @Djwahe @Sally23

Hey all, i'm 36, and i just got diagnosed 3 weeks ago myself, had my first outbreak last Easter Sunday (April 21, 2019)

Same for me, flu-like symptom that gave me extremely high fever for one night, only for one night.  The next day i'm almost back to normal (temperature wise) but i'm still having a lot of side effects like, backpain, etc etc  i dont consider myself back to normal yet, there are days i feel normal, there are days when i feel like i'm getting sick again.  My body is still adjusting to the virus, one of the members in the support group that im part of says it will take approx. 6 months for her to actually go back to completely normal.  It sounds like a long time, but hey, lets take it one day at a time. 🙂 

 

@JC2019 dont take my word for it but i've been everywhere from support groups to very intensive research, you dont have to take Valtrex your entire life, in fact, you dont really need to take it at all.  I'm prescribed Valtrex myself too by my physician.  However there are several uses of it, what my physician told me is to take 500mg of Valacyclovir every day for "suppression" of outbreaks.  Doesnt mean you will never have OB (outbreaks) every again, you will but less.  There is also this 2000mg of Valacyclovir which you take one time, and another 2000mg after 12 hours, this is when you have the actual OB on your lips (or wherever).  This will shorten the OB duration.   So as you can see, you dont need to take Valacyclovir everyday if you dont want to.  Me myself, i chose not to coz i dont want to burden my kidneys with it.  Also drink a lot of water when you're on Valtrex (valacyclovir) coz they may cause stones in your kidney if you dont drink enough.