Search Results for 'symptoms'

[Dr. Kelly]

There are no guarantees that you won’t pass the virus onto your partner, but you can greatly reduce the chance.

The first thing you need to do is have your partner get a blood test to see if he already has it and doesn’t know that he does.

If he truly doesn’t have it, then here are the statistics.

Assuming there is no sex during symptoms, the chance is 4%/year.

If you use a condom, then it decreases to 2% and if you use a 3rd layer of protection i.e. an antiviral, then it decreases to 1%.

[Birdie1018]

Hello,

As of right now I would like to introduce myself as A. I would like to start a few months back when I was at peace with myself, not my life but myself.

I dated a man I love for 5.5 years. In October I decided to end my relationship because he couldn’t seem to get his life together and didn’t realizes that his constant job jumping was killing our relationship along with his debilitating depression. I was patient for years and tried to help as much as I could. He slept for HOURS and didn’t wake up till 7 or 8 at night leaving me to do everything on my own. At the end of our relationship I started to spite him and dislike him. I decided it was time for a change. I left him… I left him and I moved to a city an hour away. Everything went so smooth.. too smooth maybe? I started to have feeling for a friend of mine. I was single and the attention from my friend just made me feel so wanted and so enjoyed. I also just LOVE being around him. One thing led to another and we ended up having sex. We became even closer and I start to really fall for this guy. Everything is going so smooth until all the sudden I fall sick with this AWFUL flu and I was just unable to get out of bed for days. On top of the flu I thought I was getting a UTI. I went to med express and they diagnose me with a UTI but nothing seems to stop this AWFUL burning. I made an appointment to see a OBGYN because I could tell something wasn’t right. I told the guy I recently just slept with that I thought something was wrong and he assured me there was nothing wrong with him he was in a relationship for 5 years as well and never had any sexual health issues except for the time he was told by a partner when he was 22 that she had a curable STD. He went to the doctor and had that cleared up but has never had any issues since then and that was roughly 8 years ago. We both thought we had a clean bill of health. I went to the doctor and she confirmed my biggest fear. It was Herpes.

I called my friend and told him I was diagnosed with herpes and he was completely clueless because he was in a long term relationship neither of them having any issues. I started to think it was me but I know I was clean before him no issues as well. He handled it very well and went to the doctor right away and had a blood test done because he didn’t show any symptoms. The doctor told him most likely he’s asymptomatic and was only shedding the virus and never had a first OB that was recognizable. His test came back positive. They didn’t tell us which type they said they didn’t do specific testing nor does it really matter (I disagree).

He has been wonderful through this diagnosis and has supported me and wiped my tears and has done everything he can to build my back up. I know for a fact he didn’t know, this blew my mind and opened my eyes to how the world has a stigma on STDs. My friend has spent years with this and never knew it. I’m currently a month into my diagnosis and I and still up and down all the time. The worst part about this is my ex boyfriend has been getting his life together and wants to start dating me again and wants to prove he can make a great life for us. He even moved to the town I moved to so he didn’t have to be to far from me.

We have gone on a few dates and it feels like my old life again. It feels wonderful but I am worried and scared for the moment I have to tell him I slept with another man and now I am broken and I’m not sure he will want me. He will look at me like I am gross and contagious. Even if he did want to stay with me I worry that he will never be able to be turned on by me with the thought of me being contagious. He will hate when he finds out his perfect girl isn’t so perfect anymore. I also think about just staying with the guy who gave it to me so I don’t ever have to give the talk or make it weird. I obviously did something to deserve this. I’m not sure what it was. Maybe I should have just accepted my unhappiness with my ex to begin with and I wouldn’t have been in this situation.

Overall I am getting better and in my head I think that herpes isn’t that bad its just a few bumps on the skin. Then I remember society doesn’t see it that way.. To society and people who don’t have it I am a dirty woman.

Before this diagnosis I loved myself. I loved that I was obsessed with yoga and had such a beautifully clear mind. I love the things I loved… Simple things like my bird feeders and reading books while listing to the birds sing on my balcony. Now life seems so dark, scary and unfair. I left to better my life and I managed to wreck it in 1 day. I left the love of my life because he refused to seek help for his depression.. I ended up with a virus I will never get rid of.. I guess the joke is on me… I went from loving myself to just being an empty body walking around.

-A

[Dr. Kelly]

Unfortunately, there are not guarantees. The first thing I would do is to have your partner tested with a blood test. That way, you will know for sure if he already has it. Does he get cold sores? If so, then we absolutely know he has HSV-1. Up to 85% of the population has herpes and doesn’t know it. So, finding out for sure is the first step. If he doesn’t have herpes, then the chances of passing it onto him is 1% IF
1. You don’t have sex during times that you have symptoms
2. You take your antiviral daily
3. You use a condom.

Hope this helps.

[Dr. Kelly]

Trying To Stay Calm,

Thank you for sharing. It gives me great insight into what might have happened to you. I applaud you for giving us the details.

My guess is that you have had herpes for some time now. It could have been with your first sexual encounter. The symptoms that you felt could have been internal because the herpes virus lives in the nervous system. Anywhere alone the path that the nerve takes from the spine to the surface of the skin can illicit symptoms.

To answer a few more of your questions…yes, a thong can irritate the skin enough to cause outbreaks. I don’t think the bleeding was from the herpes, but I do think that the lump could have been a swollen lymph node…hard to say.

The most important thing I can tell you is that the chances of having complications with your baby are next to nothing. In fact, since we know you have probably had this for some time now, your body will produce antibodies that will be given to your baby. This will help your little one to fight of infections, including herpes.

I encourage you to buy my book and read the chapter about herpes and pregnancy. It can be found at http://www.livelovethrive.pinktent.com In it, you will find answers to the most commonly asked questions of pregnant moms with herpes. If at least 1 in 4 women have herpes, the number of neonatal herpes cases would be astronomical if it was a more statistically substantial threat.

Take a deep breath and do your best to stay calm. You are loved beyond belief. Know that you are whole and that you are not alone.

Live. Love. Thrive.
Dr. Kelly

[Calm]

When I was 17 I had my first sexual relationship (there was no penetrative sex but other stuff…) and I remember there was this pinprick of sensation at one point if I leant or moved a certain way. But nothing to see at all. It was strange but nothing really. It went and that was that. Then I had to stop wearing thongs because they began to irritate me, but again nothing physical that I could really see. I went to the sexual health clinic and they said that because I had not had penetrative sex, there was nothing they could test me for, and pretty much sent me packing.

Then a while later I met a new boyfriend and started having sex. At first it was fine, but then it became uncomfortable and I began to bleed whenever we had sex. I recall also a lump near my vagina. Not open or raw, but just a sort of bump under the skin, and I think a discharge perhaps. I went to the doctor about the bleeding and she took a look (the lump was nowhere to be seen by then) and said that I had thin skin on my cervix and would likely bleed whenever I had sex for the rest of my life (just what a 17 year old needs to hear! This transpired not to be the case at all).

A year or so later, after I left school, I went travelling and had a couple of relationships. When I got back I had more typical symptoms of herpes. One ulcer in exactly the place I had the pinprick sensation during my first ever relationship, and sharp nervy sensations shooting in my lower abdomen. That is the one and only blister or ulcer I have ever had (now 12 years later), and because of its location I assumed this all came from my first ever relationship. I distinctly remember the guy having a cold sore too.

Would a pinprick sensation and a sudden irritation with thongs be indicative of a herpes infection most people wouldn’t notice? Would vaginal bleeding during sex and a miscellaneous lump be indicative of herpes? Or is it more likely that I contracted it on my travels when I actually had a blister and the nerves started acting up? Certainly after that I was much more bothered by it…the strange sensations and discomfort that followed over the next couple of years.

It is a most confusing virus, and I suppose when I actually contracted it is hard to determine.

Suffice to say that my entire sexual history has been littered with doctor’s appointments and struggles to determine what exactly was wrong with me. I was swabbed about six times over the years (I sometimes get linear fissures, perhaps just one, at the time of my period), and each time it came back negative. My experience with this virus has caused me to lose faith in doctors because they gave me a dozen other alternative diagnoses – eczema, dry skin, thrush etc I suppose because I never displayed ‘typical’ symptoms, and I was never offered me a blood test to satisfy my conviction that what I had was herpes.

I have been with my husband for 9 years now and have recently discovered that I am pregnant so I paid privately for a blood test to satisfy myself once and for all. Bizarrely, having an incontestable positive result hit me much harder than I thought it would, having suspected that I have had this virus since I was a teenager. It became instantly real again and I felt as terrible as I would have felt had it been entirely new to my body.

And because now there is potential for this sneaky virus to harm someone other than me, I am nervous about my pregnancy.

[Dr. Kelly]

I am so sorry to hear that you have had outbreaks for 3 weeks. That is a long time to have to deal with the symptoms and the emotional upheaval. The best thing you can do for yourself is to be pro active in managing your stress by meditating daily and doing things to support your Immune System. I encourage you to try some supplements that specifically target herpes like garlic and/or a good medicinal mushroom blend. I also go into detail of what to do in our 30 Day Quickstart To Success program in our online course, Foundations. You can check it out https://pinktent.com/funnel/foundations-book.php

Know that we are here to support you.

Live. Love. Thrive.
Dr. Kelly

[Dr. Kelly]

Hello,
I have had herpes for 2 years.
I take 2 co-valacyclovir caplets every day since as preventative measure.
I have not had any further outbreaks since.
With me being on this medication consistently as I have, no outbreaks and my partner uses condom,
what are the chances of me passing it on to him. He said he would stay with me as long as
I don’t infect him, but I don’t know how I can guarantee this.
I spoke to my family doctor. He said that if I have no outbreak of open sores or symptoms, I will not pass it on.
I need my partner to trust me. It would kill me if I told him he was safe with me and then he got infected despite all of these preventative measures we are taking.
Thank you

[Dr. Kelly]

I’m so happy that I found this website. I was diagnosed with HSV-2 about a week ago. I, like many other women on this site, was devastated when I found out. I can remember the night that I contracted the disease very clearly. I had gotten out of a relationship back in October of 2012- was tested immediately after for STDs and my results came back negative. My relationship had ended poorly. I was coming to the realization that I was dating people that I wasn’t truly interested in. I was staying in relationships because I didn’t want to hurt the individual that I was with and that I was very unhappy in doing so. I decided after my most recent relationship that I was not going to date anyone that I wasn’t truly attracted to-mind, body, and soul. Things were really looking up for me, with 2013 fast approaching, I decided to make resolutions for my health. I was going to start taking the stairs at work everyday, make sure I floss after every meal, and get to the gym at least 3 days a week. 2013 was going to be the best year of my life..or so I thought. On December 15th 2012, my roommates decided to hold a holiday party at my apartment. I had a comedy performance that night (I’m an aspiring comedian) and I remember thinking, “I just want to go home and go to bed- I hate that there is a party going on at my house right now…maybe I will be able to sleep while it goes on.” However, when I got home, my apartment was completely packed and I decided to socialize- be a good host- meet people and have a good time. I did not have one alcoholic beverage so I cannot blame the following scenario on anything but my own choice. I met a very handsome man that night at the party. We hit it off immediately and had a passionate make out session in my room. I remember thinking, “this guy is different-I really like this guy!” He got my phone number and texted me the very next day. On New Years Eve, we decided to meet up and we ended up sleeping with one another- and stupidly, we had unprotected sex. I remember asking him if he was clean before we engaged in anything without a condom- his response was, “I’m as clean as a whistle!” and being the naive person that I was, I believed him. The next morning, our conversation became very intimate-we shared our passions, our dreams-I learned that he was a trainer at a health club-someone who put health of himself and others first… I thought that I found a true catch. He drove me home, told me he would call me the next day…and I saw him again. About 3 days later, I started to experience symptoms that I thought were a yeast infection; however, after 2 weeks of intense itchiness I came to the realization that it was something more serious. I was terrified to get tested. I started researching on my own- Did I have crabs? Was it gonorrhea? Chlamydia? After 2 weeks, I noticed a few bumps but the itchiness had pretty much disappeared. Was I overreacting? I panicked one night and texted the guy that I slept with. I basically demanded that he tell me if he had an STD that he was aware of- that I knew that he wasn’t interested in pursuing anything with me since he hadn’t called me in 2 weeks, but how I would never put his health in jeopardy and how I hoped he would at least be honest with me and tell me if I needed to worry. I must have sounded like a complete freak texting him at 3am about STDs, but I WAS TERRIFIED! He texted me back the next morning, “I’m clean as a whistle”…and so I believed him and went on with life. I ended up dating someone in late February. I knew that I really liked this guy and I was sure things were going to get intimate, so I decided that I wanted to get tested just to be sure that I didn’t have anything. I went into my doctor, got an STD test and blood work and left feeling good about being responsible and starting something great with someone that I truly liked and who liked me. About 2 weeks later, I got a call from my gynecologist while I was at work telling me to call her back. I knew it couldn’t be good- usually the doctor would call and leave a message saying that everything looked great and there was no need to call her back, this wasn’t good. I began to panic. I reached out to a close co-worker who told me that I was probably overreacting. When I finally got a hold of my doctor she told me that the STD tests had come back and that I was clean, but that I just had signs of a bacterial infection. She wanted me to call back with my pharmacy information- I immediately rejoiced with my co-worker that I was in fact overreacting and called my doctor back with my pharmacy information. That was when she dropped the bomb on me- she forgot to look at my blood work tests when I initially called…and the results showed that I tested positive for HSV-2. I immediately started bawling. I was shocked and devastated. Anything but herpes! Herpes is incurable! Herpes isn’t something that a 24 year old aspiring comedian who had her first kiss at the age of 21 would contract! HERPES!? My mind was racing- panic mode. What would this mean? What would I tell the guy that I started dating!? Is my love life over? Will anyone ever love me? How could I be so naive, so irresponsible, so…stupid? My co-worker took me out that night, she listened to me cry, she hugged me and told me that everything was going to be okay. I stayed home from work the next day, cried all day, researched the disease extensively on the internet and became a victim right there. Blog upon blog about this disease causing women to stop dating! I decided that I had to tell the guy that I was seeing that I had contracted the disease…I researched how to tell your partner that you have herpes- “sit down with him and tell him in a calm manner that you have herpes- that it is very common- give him the facts”…I knew it would be over. I decided to text him that I wanted to meet with him and discuss something important…immediately he asked what. I didn’t want to tell him over text so I just kept telling him, “let’s meet in person”…which seemed to scare him even more. He finally just told me that I had to tell him right then- he didn’t want to meet in person…clearly I was scaring him with the “serious talk” text. Thanks Google. I just blurted it out to him on text- how immature of me! It would all be over- I was convinced- but his response was “that’s it? I know a lot of people with that…it’s not a big deal…never freak me out like that again…okay?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. DID HE NOT HEAR ME!? I HAVE HERPES! ITS NOT CURABLE! HHHEEELLOOO!!! And guess what? We have been dating ever since that conversation and having an excellent sex life. Yes, I’m terrified of what is to come, but you know what? It could have been worse. I could have contracted HIV…I could have had an unwanted pregnancy…but I didn’t. Is it weird that I’m choosing to make this disease make me into a better person? I refuse to become a victim of it…I know I am in store for some bad times…but that is true of life in general. If I could go back in time, I would shake myself and tell myself to not have sex with the guy I did. I would tell myself to find more worth in myself before having a one night stand. I would tell myself that I’m not invisible. But you know what? I can’t go back in time…no one can. We make decisions and we have to live with them…and honestly, its not about the decisions we make, but how we choose to react and deal with the consequences. I’m responsible for contracting this- while many women were in committed relationships when they contracted this- I was not. I had a one night stand…without a condom. I didn’t think about the consequences- granted no one deserves this disease- it has been a huge wake up call to me. Isn’t it funny how I made a resolution to put my health first and now I am being forced to do so with this disease? I’m forced to practice safe sex, to not have one night stands, to take my meds, avoid stress, and above all…love myself. There is good that can come from this- I refuse to be a victim. Tonight I had a crying fit about it- it is my third outbreak and I know that I will have many more in the future. I allowed myself to cry for an hour- to feel the anger- feel the weight of my decisions- feel the reality of life…then after an hour of feeling sorry for myself, I got up and said “enough” and started focusing on something that makes me happy. As I said before, I’m a comedian and trust me…I’ve been one of those people that has laughed about STDs. I’ve made jokes! AND NOW I HAVE ONE! In my last comedy last class, our teacher told us to start pitching sketch ideas for things that we care about- things that matter to us because that is what makes you stand out to an audience. Guess what I’m going to do? I’m going to pitch ideas about this STD- but not in a negative light- in the most positive light I can. You know why I love theater? You can bring an issue to stage that an audience is scared about and you can bring light to it- make it less of a monster…I’m going to do that. I’m going to help change what the stigma is behind herpes. I promise every woman out there- I will not dishonor your fight or your integrity- I’m right there with you! If you have this disease, stop reading blogs about how your life is over. Just stop. It puts you in a negative mind set and its not worth it! You have Herpes. What is done, is done. I mean that’s what it comes down to. Life is unfair and you just have to deal with crummy situations like this. It doesn’t make you dirty, it doesn’t make you stupid, it doesn’t make you a slut, a whore- or anything like that. You are a unique, wonderful individual with a virus- that’s it. How to tell your partner? I mean you can read about it on google, you can ask friends- my advice is, yes- be responsible and tell your partner because hey, I want to shake the man who gave this to me and scream “WHY DID YOU LIE TO ME!?!?!” but honestly, maybe he didn’t know he had it…and it takes two to tango- right? I was irresponsible….But my point is, tell your partner in the way that makes you most comfortable. Join support groups that stay positive like this group! Don’t waste your time scaring yourself- you are playing into the stigma as much as society is when you do that! Have the attitude you want society to have towards it and if stress is a trigger of your outbreaks, stressing out about how your life is over…which it certainly is not…will probably cause more outbreaks! Stay strong everyone! AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS WEBSITE! I already bookmarked this page for whenever I need strength and support- Thank you! Thank you! THANK YOU!!!

[Dr. Kelly]

I am so embarrassed to say that I was diagnosed with herpes when I was 16 years old. It was devastating! It happened after I slept with my boyfriend for the first time. He was my first and I was head over heels in love with him. A few days later I had an outbreak that was so painful, I had to stay home from school. My mother was supportive and she took me to the clinic. I am so grateful to have such an awesome Mom. I cried for days and I never thought I would be normal again. For a while, I got into some drugs and really started to make some poor choices for myself. My grades tanked and I stopped socializing with all my friends. No one understood what was going on with me. I didn’t tell anyone I had herpes and figured if a partner didn’t ask, I didn’t need to tell. Luckily, I never passed it onto anyone, or at least I don’t think I did. Luckily, I rarely got outbreaks and when I did, I would just take it easy until the symptoms passed.

[Dr. Kelly]

Every day I have women ask me about how herpes is transmitted. Herpes is transmitted from skin to skin contact. The virus likes warm and moist environments (mouth, nasal passages, genitalia etc.). The virus is most easily transmitted when there are sores present. However, it is possible to transmit the virus when there are no symptoms present.

[Dr. Kelly]

If you discontinue your meds, then you might have a short rebound effect where symptoms might worsen initially. It can take some time for your body to recognize the virus again and to begin to fight if off naturally. If you do discontinue your meds, be sure to have another immune building strategy in place. There are several herbal supplements and topical remedies that are very effective. Check out the 30 Day Quick Start For Success program in the Foundations Course.