recurrence in a different area!?

[mattfoley]

I'm currently experiencing a recurrence in 2 areas- one area has been in recurrence for almost a week and is where my first OB occurred, the other is in a completely new area, on the underside of my penis and i just noticed it today. this new OB/recurrence is almost as severe as my first. wtf?

thankfully, its not too bad(small area, no raised sores, almost no tingling or itching) seemed to come up very suddenly, didnt notice anything yesterday and now, suddenly there are sores on the underside.

anyway, i was sure that recurrences only occur in the same area and that u cant 'infect' yourself in a new area. but i guess i was wrong.

anyone experience this? i'm starting to think my acyclovir isnt working.

i live in a humid climate so im sure thats not helping, ive been experiencing prolonged work related stress in the last 2 months- probably what triggered the recurrence.

any feedback would be great!

[quietpendulum]

I've heard that you can DEFINITELY 'infect' yourself in a new area. You must be veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy careful.

If you just experienced your first OB, it is very likely that you are experiencing another immediately after. Until your body develops antibodies and can effectively fight the virus, recurrence is known to be quite common. That's why they say the first year is so bad.

Stay dry down there. Use powder or something. Best wishes...

[mattfoley]

is powder safe to use?

thanks for the reply. no, this is not my first OB, thats why i thought this was so strange. i guess i just infected myself. ive probably had a total of 5 OBs(that I know of) since my first.

funny u mentioned powder- i have been using baby powder and a few times noticed it dried my skin a little too much. so i was thinking this may have added to the cause of my current OB. i think i should b more careful with it.

along with the stress, i have been drinking a little more coffee in the past few weeks, i eat oats for breakfast at least 5 days a week, i eat granola and sunflower seeds..from what i've heard all these things have high levels of arginine which possibly causes OBs

time to make some changes

[quietpendulum]

Yes, it sounds like you consume foods that tend to trigger OB's. I know it's hard to let go of those habits but just remember that you have to have a good balance so if you MUST have those things, counter them with foods high in lysine...

When eating your oats for breakfast, try them with milk. Dairy foods are supposed to be good for you.

Best wishes!

[BoxofRain]

very long reply...sorry so long

Your outbreaks can and will occur ANYWHERE in the genital region. Having genital herpes means having just that.........GENITAL herpes, which means your whole genital region is contagious when shedding or having an outrbreak, not just the location where you can visibly see symptoms. So I hope that helps clarify. You didnt need to ever spread the virus to different areas around there, as herpes travels the many nerve pathways in the whole genital region. Symptoms just tend to appear in the same locations for some but always different for others. OR you might get outbreaks in the same location for a long time and then one day it randomly appears in another area or an area close by in the genitals but you never needed to "spread" it there if it is occurring in the genital region, then it is just the virus showing itself in a different spot, but the virus has always had the potential to travel the nerve pathways anywhere in the genital region.

In terms of spreading the virus to other parts of your body, it is true you can spread it easily to other parts and that is why having proper hygiene and being very careful to wash hands thorougly is very important at any stage into having herpes.

The food could in fact be triggering the outbreaks but some people get tons of outbreaks or ones that appear to never leave because they are so close together. Often they have a compromised immune system and dont know it ( my case). So try and build up your immune system, there are natural supplements to help boost the immune system, as well as vitamins. For some people taking lysine also helps, but for some it does nothing. Also, in terms of your acyclovir not working ........it doesnt work for everyone and it will never completely eliminate outbreaks, but it tries to control them to some degree ......there are also antiviral resistant strains, which acyclovir and valtrex and famvir and zovirax offer no help against so if that happens to be the case for you, then try and seek alternative routes to help. Id cut down on the oats and coffee for a while and see if it helps.......maybe eliminate it for 3 weeks and see. Controling herpes is often a multiple step approach on various levels and even then sometimes it cant be controlled easily. Some people are just luckier than others with the variation of the type of strain they get and the strength of their own immune systems. I hope you are one of the lucky ones and are just having a little trouble right now.

[thiscantbe]

ditto the comments BoxofRain said about outbreak location... the virus can travel anywhere the nerve path goes and that covers the whole region...

Antiviral resistant strains are extremely rare, except in the dual HSV/HIV infected population, so that's probably not an explanation (unless you have reason to believe you caught H from someone dually infected - the strains tend to only crop up in HIV infected people, probably because their HSV is raging out of control when HIV is compromising the immune system).

It's pretty much all about the immune system, but our immune health can be affected by so many things...

The stress could be affecting you, or who knows, because of the stress you may not be taking care of your body as well (sleep, food, exercise changes, etc)...

Hopefully your body will get control soon...