My oral HSV Story - 2 months in

[Penumbra]

Hello everyone,

This is my 3rd post on his website.  I thought of doing it simply to share my story, in case anyone may want to see what I've been through with Oral herpes and it very varying symptoms from a person to another.

I was completly in the dark regarding this virus and despite still feeling a bit like that still, time does provide some answers.  Maybe those answers can be of some help to other readers here.

So here a psychological AND physiological update about my story.

To resume my first initial infection happened on september 1st.  I got in direct contact (french kiss) with someone with a cold sore. it was a real roller coaster of emotion. Not knowing if I had it or not.. having lots of symptoms associated with cold despite not having a cold sore itself.

Symptoms were:

-Mild pain-tingling in lower, then upper lips.

- extremely dry lips, ended up having some dead dry skin peel off

- slightly swollen lips (altho im still not 100% sure about this one)

- bridge of my nose (between upper lip and nose) became extremely dry and flaky.

- some fordyce spots on the middle part of my upper lip. It is not clear if those were always there and only got found because of increased lip inspection on my part, but I feel they are new.

- one at a time, a tiny zit would appear nesr my lip. Wouldnt crust nor puss.. Would basically just appear to act like a normal zit except near the lip (barely touching it).  1 of those little zit even left a mild pink scar that even after 1 month, is still apperant. Never quite figured what the deal was with those.

all these together made me so confused.. I was extremely depressed not knowing what were all those symptoms.. Why not just a cold sore and being done with it?

I ended up spending 250$ on a dermatologist appointment only to get toldthat my simptoms were not typical of a cold sore. That I may or may not have been infected but that those symptoms were inconclusives. Oh, and I got told to simply use vaseline for my dry lips.... Ugh

so it stayed like that, got a couple more extra little zits. I'd say the frequency was once every two week.  But they wouldnt hurt... Wouldnt act like coldsores at all.. I feel like they werent.  

What really made me realize I had caught is the recurring tingle/pain im now having for the 3rd time located exactly in the middle of my upper lip. That pain seem to last between 2 and 3 days each time.  And each time, im starring at my lip several times a day to see if a cold sore will appear. It dosen't. But yet, after reading several website, i've learned that many people do have prodromes without ever having an actual outbreak.

I guess it should makes me feel lucky. It more or less does.

Psychologically what affect me the most is the idea of being stuck with something that will affect me all my life and cannot be cured.

The idea of never being able to go down on a woman again without a dental dam, at the risk of exposing her to the virus.

I hope those prodrome will also calm down. Once a month seems frustrating, altho I know that again, I shouldnt complain, other goes through worst. But you know what I mean/feel right..

I refused to change my eating habbit.  Im a healthy person (gym, food) but have yet refused to give up on whole bread, occasional peanut butter, occasional drinks, occasional chocolate.

Maybe ill have to consider doing so if prodrome keep being so frequent. That idea also make me sad.

Regarding questions I still didn't find answers yet.. Are the following:

- considering I dont have any real breakout, when should I avoid kissing someone? When a feel the tingling make the obvious answer. But when it stops, should I wait a few more days to be sure?

- can I expect things to be better around the 6th month mark?

 

There goes that chapter of my life with O-HSV. Hopefully it can help someone. Don't hesitate to reply/comment/question :-)

 

 

 

 

Edited November 3, 2015 by Penumbra