It's been 4 Years with Herpes (HSV-2) and Symptoms Keep Getting Worse.. need advice

[santaclaus1]

Hi,

I caught genital herpes (HSV-2) when traveling in South-East Asia in 2014, after the condom broke with a girl I slept with. I have done a lot of research on this since and I'm so sad there doesn't seem to be any proper treatment for help.

My initial outbreak was just one painful blister that quickly disappeared with a course of Acyclovir for 5 days. Since then I had some more outbreaks near the top of my penis, which to be honest weren't really that bad and I managed to get rid of them quite fast with Acyclovir. Since I had outbreaks quite often, I was prescribed suppressive treatment of two 200mg Acyclovir tablets per day.

Most articles online state that outbreaks typically get less significant and frequent over time. However, for me it's been the complete opposite as my outbreaks keep getting worse and worse. It's now been 4 years and I can't find a solution for this.

Instead of just getting a few blisters on my penis, I have started getting large packs of blisters on my buttocks. I don't care about these so much, but I also get a very swollen lymph node in my groin and get fever-like symptoms. I feel so terrible I have to take a day off work and the gym. If I notice it early enough and eat lots of Acyclovir I can manage but even a day too late and it can last may days.

My lifestyle is extremely healthy; I go to the gym 4 times a week, eat very healthy and balanced and rarely drink alcohol (if I do, an outbreak is almost guaranteed). I sleep 8-9 hours a night and my job is not stressful. I'm still on suppressive treatment of Acyclovir (2 x 200mg/day) and also eating 1000mg of L-Lysine along with vitamin-C, multivitamins, fish oil etc.

I don't understand what I can do more to stop these recurring outbreaks? I recently broke up with my long term girlfriend who caught the virus but luckily didn't mind it during our relationship. Her immunity is so strong that she only had a minor outbreak once which disappeared in 2 days and never suffered it from since.

I'm so worried right now as I have many new sexual partners. I'm using condoms of course but I find it really hard to enjoy sex with a condom. The future doesn't look very bright for me if I want to have a long-term relationship and not use condoms.

I have just switched to Valacyclovir (Valtrex) which is 15 times more expensive than Acyclovir where I live, hoping this will be more effective with suppression. I read some clinical studies showing that it is slightly more effective.

​Any advice?

[Single_224_why]

Id look at teying alternative / natural products to see if that helps. Look into an alkaline diet also

[TooHip1973]

I would up your daily suppressive dose. 400mg daily might not be a dose that works. I would download the herpes handbook from Westover Heights (look it up online) and see what her recommendation is for daily dosing.

[santaclaus1]

Thanks, that sounds good I had a look at the article. I wonder if 800mg/day of Acyclovir is safe for permanent use, or can it be unhealthy? It would kind of make sense since I'm a pretty big guy as well to have a larger dosage.