I thought that the virus loses effect over time — is it not odd that he’s had HSV2 for decades but never had an outbreak until recently? Can the virus really be dormant for decades before a first outbreak? Would I be able to tell from his bloodwork how long he’s had it?
About 80% of those truly infected with HSV 2 don’t know they are infected so it’s all possible.
His doctor told him that the skin swab is most accurate and that he should not get blood work done. This seems like medical malpractice.
That is certainly an error on the doctor’s part because he did have symptoms there were not attributed to something else.
Does the nerve pain indicate that I am contagious while feeling the pain? It is almost always there. Does the stubbornness of this symptom indicate that I’ll experience recurring outbreaks often? I thought that because I already have HSV1 and rarely get any cold sores, my body would be better equipped to handle HSV2. I haven’t seen much information about nerve pain and HSV2 — is this a rare symptom? Could the nerve pain be permanent? I’m 37 years old.
We don’t know that your nerve pain is due to herpes. It could be but I’ve never heard of someone having permanent nerve pain from a diagnosis of genital herpes that is continuous throughout their life. I have heard of people who have intermittent nerve pain who have herpes.
I’ve heard about antivirals causing side effects like hair loss, and I personally experienced facial redness and upset stomach during the 5 days that I was on Valtrex. Is there anything I can do to decrease these side effects? Should I try a different antiviral? Could Valtrex have caused the yeast infection too, or was the prolonged yeast infection also somehow connected with HSV2?
Valtrex does cause a yeast infection. I’ve not heard of facial redness as a side effect but I have heard of people having an upset stomach when they start taking Valtrex all of the antivirals that are available right now are approximately the same so I don’t know that switching would be helpful. But if you decide that you want to take it daily to reduce the risk of transmission and of outbreaks, you could start with a lower dose and build up to a higher dose, to a regular dose
Finally, why would 80% of people with the virus experience no symptoms while I have symptoms? Is there a problem with my immune system? What makes one person more susceptible versus another?
I didn’t say that 80% of people with a virus experience no symptoms I said that 80% of people who have herpes type two don’t know it. They likely do have symptoms but they don’t recognize that they are associated with the herpes infection. I have no idea how well your immune system is working. I think what you’re saying is that your symptoms are nerve pain are you having other symptoms? I know you mentioned that you have a yeast infection that has not completely cleared but that is not attributable to herpes directly.
Do you have any recent insight into vaccine development and/or gene editing therapies? How far into the future do you think these may happen? I feel deeply betrayed by medicine and I cannot understand or accept why herpes testing isn’t routine. It feels like protecting asymptomatic people takes precedence over people like me, and the message is that people with symptoms just don’t matter.
Herpes testing is not routine because the tests are poor and tell many people that they have herpes when they do not. False positives are incredibly common with this test and until the test is improved, it is more accurate, I do not support asymptomatic people being tested routinely. However, that is being done all over the place I’m not clear why are you feel betrayed by medicine perhaps you could explain that more clearly. Those of us in the field have worked hard for many, many years to be part of the development of vaccines or treatments of other kinds without much success. The virus is just very tough to deal with
. I think that the gene editing work being done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Institute in Seattle is coming along very nicely as our treatment vaccine trials and prophylactic vaccine trials. But I’ve been part of four failed vaccine trials so I am hopeful but not convinced yet that we have the answers.
Terri