Question:
Hi all -

Boy do I need your help and guidance. I am a 34 year old female and have had HSV2 for about 10 years. I read so many times that the first outbreak is always the worst. Well not in my case. I have had continous outbreaks for the past 10 years and have had no luck at all with any meds. However, I have not tried any of the things discussed on this board, nor am I familiar with any of it. I would GREATLY appreciate it if somone could take some time to explain what these different things are - like HBOT. I have never heard of this. Like I said, I have had continous outbreaks and am at my witts end. I have been married for four years and hubby has never had any signs or outbreaks thank god. We are trying desperately to have a family and I have suffered 3 miscarriages in the past 1 1/2 years. I cant help but think that the HSV2 has something to do with the miscarriages. So PLEASE - any input on different things I can try would be greatly appreciated. Also, what do you use as a topical ointment during an outbreak? I have used Zovirax cream, but it only seems to spread it. I have given up on that and usually stick with just peroxide to help dry it out, but it lasts for usually a week or so. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I really needed to find this site since my most recent miscarriage was 2 days ago and Im feeling like I am about to lose my mind. Oh yeah - one more thing. I work in a very stressful industry and know that it doesnt help at all. Once again - please send me your input and let me know if you are aware of ANYTHING I can try that wouldnt be harmful if I try to conceive again.
Thanks so much ahead of time.
T

Answer:
I'm sorry about your miscarraiges. :( Have you discussed testing to identify possible causes for your miscarraiges? Usually after 3 miscarraiges doctors will do a panel of blood tests to identify possible problems, most of which can be treated. HSV doesn't cause miscarraiges.

Are you on a suppresive dose of valtrex or acyclovir? Have you considered that? Both of those would be safe to take while trying to conceive, but you would probably need to come off them during your first trimester.

Answer:
Thank you so much for writing back to me. I cant tell you how much it means. I am not on any type of suppressive therapy but I did make an appointment with my doc next week to be put on it. I will try Valtrex, since that is what he has given me before during an ob. Thank you for telling me that it would be ok to take while I try to conceive. I have had more testing done than you can imagine. I am positive for a blood clotting disorder but was put on lovenox right away once I had a confirmed pregnancy. This last time I was doing IVF with a doc who ran a bunch of immune test. Im not sure if you have ever heard of any of this but apparently I have over active natural killer cells and my husband and I share dq alpha. This is pretty new stuff from what I understand and you have to go through IVIG treatment to protect the fetus. So we did IVF, I had a confirmed pregnancy, I was taking the lovenox, I had the IVIG treatment (which is given intravenously) and still miscarried at 5 weeks. So the only other thing I thought of was that as soon as I found out that I was preg. I had a very bad outbreak. Im sure it was all due to the stress of getting pregnant and wanting to have a baby so badly. But like I think I metnioned I do get outbreaks very often. I am always stressed out. Once again, thank you so much for writing. I put my post up and was checking everyday and was so hurt that no one responded. I feel like a cat trapped in a paper bag and dont know what to do these days. Thank you again.

Answer:
this forum is a very slow forum, so don't be offended if a post goes days without a response.

I would definately talk to your RE about getting on a suppressive dose. As I understand, most REs suggest getting the hsv under control as best as possible before going through an IVF or IUI. I'm sorry about your miscarraiges. It's hard for anyone, but especially after going through the heartache of infertility treatments. Were they good quality embies transferred? or did they do genetic testing prior to transfer? My RE tests for the things you mentioned after the 3rd m/c and I was tested, but all came back normal so I don't know anything at all about it. I never researched it since it didn't affect us.

I wouldn't worry that the hsv is causing your miscairrages.

Answer:
Thanks again for responding. After my second miscarriage I had testing done on the fetus. it cam back as a normal female. The doc says when its a female they cannot say for sure that is was normal because its very possible that some of my own cells were mixed in because it was so early on. This go around I did IVF with PGD. PGD is where they check 8 out of the 46 chromosomes. The embryos implanted were normal on those 8 chromosomes. The 8 that they check are the ones that are ones that most often cause early miscarriage, but since I miscarried so early I was not able to chech the embryo when it passed. This is all to much information for me to handle and much more than I ever wanted to learn about. Not sure where we will go from here but need to concentrate on getting over this first. Thanks for being so supportive.

Answer:
Hi

I'm sorry - what a stressful 1-1/2 years you have had. I don't know much about hsv regarding fertility other than I have hsv-1 and have had 1 miscarriage and 1 full term pregnancy (I just gave birth to my first baby). But I wanted to pass along that if your ob is not on a mucus membrane portion of your genetalia, you might try a diluted solution of tea tree oil. It has been shown to kill the virus in a test tube. When I had my ob on my pantyline (regular skin area, obviously) I applied a solution of about 50% tea tree oil and 50% jojoba oil (just a benign oil to dilute the tea tree oil) to the ob and it both dried it and stopped it at once. If your ob's are on your genetalia though, I don't know what works there. That tissue is very sensitive and I believe I have sustained permanent damage to the very opening of my vagina by applying zinc oxide ointment too close to it...it creeped in and I've been really sensitive there ever since. I had read that zinc cream works to dry up an ob but didn't realize this was only approved for men since it is harmful to delicate female tissue.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck in conceiving. I know lots of women with hsv have had healthy babies and hope you don't let it discourage you. Take care - Palomita

Answer:
I am NOT a doctor, so don't take my word for it... But I wouldn't worry too much about TTO. I use TTO on everything and have never had a problem with it. I make my own baby wipes and we use TTO on any part of them, as do my girlfriends with baby girls. Like I said, I'm no doctor, but I wouldn't worry much. If it were me, I would make a solution (TTO doesn't have to be used only as an oil, you can mix it with many other things) and apply it with a soaked tissue or cloth, like a TTO version of Tucks. I would NOT use it internally though.