Question:
i have hsv1 genitally for over 4 months now. it's awful. i have only been free of it for a few weeks out of the 4 months. it ping pongs back and forth all over down there. many bumps all over, sore and raw. stabbing pains all day long. it's even in the rectum which burns like hell when i go poop. luckily that burning is only for a few days at a time. i've only had that 2x inside the rectum. i can't walk which i like to do for exercise. i wear skirts all the time, which i'm sick of. i don't eat coffee, choc, nuts (all of which i love) nor other foods to provoke it. i have been taking 1000mg of lysine 2x a day and multi vit., calcium all to no avail.
104 days i didn't even get a period, thankfully. but now i have my period on top of this shit, making it worse. this is hsv 1. i took acyclovair which probably made it less painful i guess. i think i should have stopped the acyclovair after the first ob went away but then it came back in 2 weeks so stayed on the acyclovair 3x a day for a while then tapered to 2x a day. that's probably where i went wrong as they say it gets worse after being on suppression therapy.
i took an aids test even at the advice of one dr.which turned out to be negative. i am low risk anyway.
has anyone else had it this bad??????

Answer:
i have had hsv1 and 2 genitally since april 2007. I feel your pain with the discomfort; screwy periods/no periods, etc. I am now in month #5 ad it is def. better than it was in April/May/June. Hang in there. Also, up your lysine intake. I think the daily recommended is NOT less than 1250 mgs. I take 1500 mgs a day and 2000 mgs a day when i had my second ob.

Answer:
I replied once then the site went down so pardon me if this one comes up plus the other one. I have genital HSV1 too and was just diagnosed the beginning of August. I have only had one OB and it was the worst in the rectal area. My Dr said because of all the bacteria in that area that it's easy for those sores to becom secondarily infected. I put some peroxide and neosporin on those sores and it helped TONS. All the stuff on the net says that after two years hardly anyone with genital HSV1 is bothered by it at all, I hope that's true for both of us! Hang in there and feel better soon!

Answer:
witty,

sorry to hear you are having it so rough!

The acyclovir should not make your OBs worse. It seems to be a common misconception, but the anti-virals do not prevent your body from fighting the virus, nor does the virus quickly become resistant to it. Acyclovir works by stopping the virus from producing as many viral particles, but it doesn't stop whatever triggers the virus to "activate" in the first place. Lysine and some of the other herbal remedies, if they work, are suspected to do the same thing, that is, stop the virus from producing as many viral particles.

What does make OBs worse is anything that could be detrimental to your health, whether it be stress, poor diet, bad sleep habits, etc. Hormones (esp higher progesterone levels) can also play a role in OBs and increased viral avtivity, which since you had amenorrhea, it might be something to check out.

Taking antivirals can really help someone with chronic H, at least until your body learns how to fight the virus itself better (which can take a year or two). I originally was not planning to take suppressive therapy, but after having OB on top of OB (with no break at all in between), I changed my mind. I'm glad I gave it a try cause Valtrex has made life livable again, and nothing else was helping.

If you aren't comfortable with antivirals like acyclovir, Valtrex, or Famvir, I've read you can safely take up to 3g of lysine a day. Some people really think the lysine helps, but some don't (maybe since you are already taking 2g it might not work as well for you, but you could experiment more with it). Too much lysine has been reported to lead to high cholesterol levels, so use caution with that.

There are other vitamin and herbal supplements that people take to help the immune system, and there's plenty of ideas on the forums to try out. Just make sure that whatever you try seems reasonably safe...

I hope whatever you try you are able to get some relief soon, cause I know how insane constant H and pain will make you.