So two years ago I was diagnosed with Genital Herpes. It was devastating!!!!! At the time I was in a relationship so I dreaded having the "talk"! Much to my surprise he didn't react negatively at all. We never really talked about it and just continued with our relationship. Even though I suffered emotionally his acceptance helped me through it and I learned to just deal with it because I had somebody.

Ok so lets fast forward. We broke up maybe a year later. So I haven't dated because I think my ex accepted it because we were already in love but to tell someone who I am getting to know is another story. Plus I still don't think that I have accepted it truthfully. By me being with someone who accepted it at the time made it easier but I honestly think two years later that I may just have to seek counseling. One minute I am giving myself a pep talk saying its not the end of the world. It could be worst. Then 5 minutes later i think I deserve to be alone for the rest of my life and want to give up on it all.

Well intially I choose to take Valtrex daily and when I would have an outbreak it would only last 2-3days and wouldn't be much of an hassle at all. Emotionally it still bothered me when they occurred but when I wasn't having an outbreak I was ok. So I thought I was well on my way with understanding what caused my outbreaks and how to prevent them and shorten them when I had them. Plus no one could see what was going on between my legs so continuing my daily routine was not a problem.

So then somehow I started having blisters on my finger. Ok, that wasn't that bad either I would cover it with bandaids and continue on with routine.

Then one morning I woke up with a dark spot on my upper lip. I never made a connection to it being herpes. I just started using cocoa butter to lighten the spot. I would cover it with make up and that would be it. Then a few months later a dark spot occurred on my top lip in the corner then on my bottom lip in the corner. I continued to use cocoa butter but now I'm thinking are these outbreaks? Ok so just about two weeks ago I finally got some tingling and itching on my lips so I go to the mirror and literally watched my lips begin to swell and in the days that followed small blisters appeared and diasappeared in like 2days. However, what am I to do about these dark spots now all over my lips. I can't leave the house without dark lipstick to cover my lips. I have been reading online and no one seems to think that herpes leave spots or have experienced this. Am I a rare case? What am I to do about these spots? I can't walk around like this? I am already lonely now I find myself going into a DEEP DEPRESSION!!!!!!!! PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I called about laser treatment but they were saying they could do it on the skin around my lips but not on my lips because it may cause hypopigmentation. PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!

it's doubtful these dark spots are herpes related. at this point see a dermatologist for a proper work up for them.

did you have testing on the blisters on your finger to confirm herpes?

how were you originally diagnosed?

betsy

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Thanks Betsy for your quick response. I am relating the dark spots to herpes because usually when I had a genital outbreak, they cleared up without leaving a spot. However the last OB that occurred on the genital left a dark spot as well. In addition, this last experience on the lips had the tingling as in the prodome (or whatever its called) so when that happened it left a spot as well.

I have a doc appointment with a gyne again to tell her whats going on this Tues. and I'll ask for a referral to a dermatologist at that time (insurance wont allow me to see one without being referred)

Originally I had blood work done. Then again a year later and both test came back positive. What's the name of test when they take blood am I not sure of but I had blood work done twice.

Also no testing was done on my fingers when the blisters occurred. I just assumed I may have touched below when having an OB and that caused the blisters on my fingers

How did you learn to cope with this virus emotionally? I feel alone and almost hopeless.....even though I've had it for years I still struggle every time I have an outbreak

What have you found to help you lessen the number of OB's outside of the prescribed medicines (i.e. vitamins, etc)?

really nothing helps to reduce ob's as far as foods to eat ( or not eat ) or vitamins unless you have an underlying issue because of your diet. Be careful of the products advertised saying they do so - most of them aren't based on good science and they know folks are so desperate to get rid of their herpes that they'll spend money to try almost anything.

can you ask for your blood test results to post here when you are seen so I can be sure you were properly tested and don't need additional testing done to confirm your status? All I need to see are the actual numeric results - e.g. hsv1 igg 4.9 and hsv2 igg 2.8 or whatever they are. did you have a lesion culture done at all on your symptoms or just the visual diagnosis?

if you get a recurrence of your finger symptoms, be seen promptly for a lesion culture and typing. herpes whitlow hurts like crazy I"m told by folks who have it and the odds of infecting your finger after having had a well established genital infection are very low.

how did I deal with knowing I have herpes? Almost everyone in my family gets cold sores so to me having herpes genitally isn't a big difference. I can't change the fact that I have herpes - it's just one more thing about me. It annoys me when I have recurrences but overall, it doesn't bother me. Seeing what I see every day at work helps to keep it in perspective too - most of my patients or their families would love to have genital herpes be their biggest problem - really helps to keep it in perspective. I can control my herpes for the most part with a pill or two a day - anything I can control that easily is a walk in the park to me I've also seen first hand with having had it for 25 years now that precautions really do work to protect a partner and not much scary about having it. I'm pretty pragmatic in general so when I was diagnosed I thought "well that sucks" and just went on same ole, same ole to be honest. I can't change that I have it so I just deal with it.

betsy

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