Is it herpes gladiatorum

[reallydepressed]

I get cold sores and on a daily basis for over 8 years, I felt like I was fighting off an outbreak. It would start with the prodrome and I used zovirax everyday to keep it from forming blisters. This worked for the most part. However I think I gave myself herpes gladiatorum by wearing a scarf around my mouth and fell asleep and woke up sweating and the scarf fell down to my neck. Ever since then I've been getting rashes on my neck and chest. It's starts off with a really itchy red spot and then there's a small painful whitehead looking bump. It doesn't form a typical fliud filled blister. I've been to multiple doctors, dermatologist, allergist, infectious disease doctor and they haven't been able to diagnose it. I've tried antibiotics, anti fungal medicine, and even tried daily Valtrax. None of it works, the Valtrax seems to improve symptions but I still get the rashes. Now the tips of my fingers feel like they are burning all the time and I get these painful whitish spots on my fingers. Also my forehead, checks get ichy/burning. My arms also get what looks like little goosebumps all over and it's really itchy. Does anyone else experience daily prodrome symptoms? Does it sound like herpes gladiatorium? It seems to be getting worse and I'm really really depressed. Is there anything I can do to minimize outbreaks?

[WilsoInAus]

Is it confirmed that you are getting cold sores at this frequency? If you are then there is an immune system issue that your doctor should be addressing. If antivirals are not working then odds are it isn't HSV.

What do all the doctors think this is?

Your finger issues will not be related to HSV, nor your arms.

No you will not be able to spread your herpes to other body parts.

[sickornotsick]

Fyi i have the same issues with chest, arms, forehead lesions. On top of that, ive had issues with groin, thigh, calf, finger, face. Basically I am walking herpes from top to bottom.

Even though its all over, the severity of the lesions arent raging but just a few small bumps and cuts that present after prodrome symptoms of an itchy red base, shooting nerve pain.

My case is a little unique in that i caught molluscum contagium at the same time as ghsv 1 and i believe its why it spread all over (piggy backin). The distinction between the two is clear because mollscum has a white center.

When i take valtrx however, its almost as if nothing is wrong. It does wonders for me and sounds like not for you.

If you want to check your lesions for hsv, you need them swabbed. Westover heights can do it for you with an at home kit for 75 dollars.

Feel free to pm me reallydepressed if you want to swap notes or other info. You are not crazy, just need answers.

[reallydepressed]

I do get cold sores and have had the typical blisters on my mouth, but haven't had a full on outbreak for years. I am very OCD about not getting an OB, I used zovirax cream everyday. I started to get reddish spots on my lips and around my mouth on a daily basis and I would apply zovirax cream everyday which seems to prevent it from forming into a blister. It felt like it was prodrome and I don't know if I made it worse by using zovirax everyday for years. Now with the body rashes, the dermatologist thinks it's folliculitis, but nothing seems to be working to make it better. The strange thing is that before the scarf incident, I never had skin issues with my body, now almost everyday I get a new rash somewhere on my body. It's driving me nuts, I hope it's not herpes on my body but I don't know what else it could be.

I completely relate to the comment sickornotsick made, thank you so much for the info! Is it possible that I get prodrome symptoms on a daily basis? Is it possible to develop a resistance to valtrax or anti virals? I wonder if by using zovirax everyday made me resistance to anti virals. I get different kids of rashes. I get ones where it starts off as a very itchy/burning red base and sometimes will go away or it will leave either a painful white bump (looks like a little whitehead) or a little red bump. The ones I get on my arms look like I contantly have goosebumps and it's really itchy. I get nerve pains on my face, my checks. I have a burning sensation in the tips of my fingers and pain in different spots on my fingers. I feel like my body is in a constant battle mode fighting off the herpes.

[sickornotsick]

Hey reallydepressed,

Don't be depressed. I would just take a deep breathe and take it one step at a time. Here's some info on my opinion and perspective.

1) Is it possible that I get prodrome symptoms on a daily basis?

>> In my opinion, yes. I have had some sort of symptom every day since I the first symptom. Usually I would classify them as symptoms vs prodrome symptoms but I do get the dreaded prodrome that really disrupts my system and then the lesions start going crazy hours/days shortly after. I'm taking it one day at a time and it's best to just live your life and not focus too much on it.

2) Is it possible to develop a resistance to valtrax or anti virals? I wonder if by using zovirax everyday made me resistance to anti virals.

>> I believe any drug or substance can do that. Is that doing it for you is unknown. I think most doctors who are treating you with herpes and putting you on suppressive may ask you to up the dosage to see if that has a positive reaction.

3) I get different kids of rashes. I get ones where it starts off as a very itchy/burning red base and sometimes will go away or it will leave either a painful white bump (looks like a little whitehead) or a little red bump. The ones I get on my arms look like I contantly have goosebumps and it's really itchy. I get nerve pains on my face, my checks. I have a burning sensation in the tips of my fingers and pain in different spots on my fingers. I feel like my body is in a constant battle mode fighting off the herpes.

>> Now, I am someone who has molluscum contagium and those lesions sound very similar to MC. Can you upload any images or links to images? The whitehead is very MC sounding and so is the goosebumps (which is basically baby MC). I'm not saying this is what you have but you may want to broaden your search, at least look it up. I also recommend taking lots of photos of these and next time you see your dermatologist, you have more of a "case" to present that all contributes to the diagnosis.

I know I have herpes lesions on weird parts of my body but I don't know if you would classify it as gladtorium. Usually this refers to contact sports where one person touches an area (like the neck, chest, arms) and gets infected in the same area of contact. I don't officially know if gladtorium moves around or not. I just know I have hsv lesions in strange non-traditional places and new places pop up often (which I believe is due to my MC take it along for a joyride). For fingers, they call that Whitlow. But is it because it is a different strand of HSV-1 or is just cause its on the finger?

You might want to try to address your overall health to see if it improves things with simple taking care of your body.

- Sleep

- Exercise

- Diet (HUGE)

- Vitamins and supplements

For diet, trying to balance more lysine over arginine rich foods. Vitamins, people have lots of suggestions on this forum that you should check out. I like lysine, monolaurin, olive leaf extract, oil of oregano. For topical, super lysine+, propolis, benedryl cream, tea tree oil.

Everyone is different. Everyone tries different stuff. See what works for you.

Good luck!

[reallydepressed]

Thank you so much for your response, I really appreciate it! I have so many questions if you don't mind as I can completely relate to your story. You said you also get daily symptoms or prodrome symptoms? When you take the valrax do the symptoms or prodrome symptoms stop? When you get symptoms, does yours turn into the typical blisters/lesions? Mine don't look blister up which is why it's been so hard to diagnose. However I do get the itchy/burning/pain which is why I think it's herpes. I will try to upload some pictures, and thanks for the MC info, I will look into it.

When you say you get herpes lesions on weird parts of your body, is there a test you did that confirmed it was herpes?

I have been trying so many different types of things, I have tried lysine, oregano, zinc, vitamin c. I wll try some of the other things you listed above, thanks for the tip. It's been over a year since the body rashes started and I haven't gone a day where I feel like my skin is normal, everyday I feel some kind of itchy, pain, or burning sensation. When it was isolated to my lip area, at lease that was managable, now I'm going insane with the rashes on different parts of my body.

[sickornotsick]

Hello,

Some responses for you.

>>You said you also get daily symptoms or prodrome symptoms?

I get daily symptoms. Prodrome symptoms I would say about for me about every 4 weeks. The daily symptoms are little red spots that appear all over the chest and arms. They usually just appear and disappear. They usually itch a little, some times form a lesion with a head but don't blister or anything. I also get drastic bouts of fatigue where I will feel fine and then all of a sudden I get crazy tired out of nowhere. And it goes away and stops. When that happens I also start to experience other symptoms like warmer temperatures, blurry vision, like a flu like malaise. When I have prodrome, I start to get tingles all in my feet, neck and lips. Now the next symdrome I have never heard anyone else having but I start to get crazy bouts of running nose. I think it's more that my system is under attack and it's causing everything to flare up but without fail, that is a known trigger for me. Once the prodrome hits, I start to feel the itching, burning sensation and get the angry red base. The itching for MC vs HSV is dramatic for me. HSV is like a crazy non-stop itch and always happens under the other prodrome. My fatigue gets more severe during this time. I actually have other symptoms than this but it gets too much to mention them so just the highlights.

>> When you take the valrax do the symptoms or prodrome symptoms stop?

Usually. Sometimes it's crazy how dramatic the symptoms alleviate. The maliase, sick feeling, cramps go away to the point I'm like wow. But not always, I took one yesterday and started to feel the crawling sensation only a few hours later.

>> When you get symptoms, does yours turn into the typical blisters/lesions? Mine don't look blister up which is why it's been so hard to diagnose. However I do get the itchy/burning/pain which is why I think it's herpes. I will try to upload some pictures, and thanks for the MC info, I will look into it.

I've had some that were more traditional bubbling up but it never looks as severe as the pictures. For the most part, I have these small red bumps all over and the biggest distinction is I have little cuts. I've taken before and after shots of this where a strange line forms in my skin and the skin breaks open into a small paper-cut sized fissure. HSV is the only thing I can find that does that. And it happens all over for me (shoulder, finger, calf) and keeps repeating. The thing that really pisses me off about herpes is that it doesn't always look the same. There is a classic presentation of it that all doctors use to diagnosis (cluster of fluid filled sacs), but the smarter doctors know that the presentation can vary as smaller separate lesions and cuts. One way to confirm what you have is HSV is through PCR swabs.

If you are having itching, try benadryl cream. Also add in super lysine+ cream. I can stop things from surfacing by caking tons of that on with an initial cleaning of tea tree and also applying propolis. I found all these separate tips on this site actually and combined them for pretty good results.

A note about lysine, I've read how much people take and I think they aren't taking it enough. This is going to be subjective but I take a lot and I think people can take more of it. Livestrong recommends 3,000 mg a day and up to 9,000 mg for an outbreak, I take somewhere in the middle: http://www.livestrong.com/article/422565-how-to-take-lysine-for-fever-blisters/

[reallydepressed]

Thanks so much for sharing! I feel for you, how long have you been experiencing these symptoms? So the herpes outbreaks can look different, I need to find a doctor that is more knowledgable about herpes. All the doctors I have seen tell me it's not herpes, but it feels so much like the cold sores I have gotten. That "angry red base", the itching, burning, pain. Did your PCR swabs come out positive? The little white head bumps or the red bumps for me are small, but it packs a punch, I can immediately feel the burning/itching/pain. When you have the prodrome on your body or the little red spots, is it contagious? I am so paranoid about spreading it to someone else I avoid contact with people and I cover up the areas and even wear gloves when I can.

Do you take the valtrax and all the other supplements (lysine, monolaurin, olive leaf extract, oil of oregano, etc) at the same time? Can you take all of these on a daily basis to prevent outbreaks or do you only take them when you feel a prodrome symptom? I will ask my doctor to increase the dosage of valtrax to see how that works, have you ever tried daily valtrax for an extended period of time? I really appreciate you sharing all the research you've done.

[Bkoof50]

Hi can you also message me too! I am having the exact same symptoms I would like to know more about MC!