oh, and 1 more question - as i was taking aciclovir already, should the herpes have been able to spread to my hands?
I really have to wonder if herpes is the issue here in any of these locations at this point. the swelling issues you have had genitally sound more like a bacterial infection than herpes as well as the extensiveness of your hand and face symptoms also sound like something more than herpes since you've had a well established oral infection for many years.
acyclovir doesn't stop working for the vast majority of people who use it.
at this point if you can be seen by a dermatologist this week, that would probably be in your best interest.
you should not be having sex with your partner at this point until you are completely back to normal and also have a better idea of what is going on.
grace
Hi Grace, thanks for the reply.
A swab of the penis taken on Monday tested positive for hsv1 according to the Dr. Sorry i'm in uk and he didnt give me any of the results figures that a lot of people seem to post on the site, he just said it was positive.
That said, due to the inflammation of the cheek - and now penis, i think you may be right in what you say regarding a bacterial infection as well.
With regards the aciclovir / acyclovir - this is also contained within blistex so i have no doubt that it still works, it just seems that Zovirax no longer works for me. Dont get me wrong, there could be a few factors here, i am now 30 years old and stopped using it when i was maybe 13 / 14 yrs when i used to get coldsores every month or so.
I dont think i used much of it as it was really expensive whereas blistex is a third of the price so since i was a teen i've used blistex 4 times a day, every day and i get a coldsore maybe once or twice a year now.
I will be seeing a dermatologist on friday if my hands have not improved, however, i am pretty sure that it is herpetic whitlow, it fits perfectly and feels exactly as described. This tied in with my genital herpes and facial herpes and the amount of scratching i have done (also my genitals were quite moist due to the condensation from the ice packs - which i have now stopped using) i think points to hand herpes.
I have, over the past 2 years, had a few autoimmune problems. I have had Alopecia areata, Vitiligo and suffered anaphylaxis and an extreme allergic skin reaction from lager which i had previously drank since i was a teen - prior to this i had never had an allergy to anything in my life.
I think my crappy immune system may have something to do with how easily this has spread.
I would also be extremely grateful to anyone who can answer my above questions based on the info i have provided - the aciclovir is being taken orally.
Thanks again
Given your amount of medical stuff I would really suggest you stickin with grace/petal's advice. Grace has the medical background and really knows her things when it comes to HSV (she has both types so even better).
Unless your blistex is different in the UK (which I just spent about 20 minutes looking to see if it was) I don't think acyclovir is in it. I looked at all the ingridents on the main blistex website and didn't see it listed.
I would say you need to be seen sooner on your hand though. Given the fear of HSV you may want to get a culture done on that to see if it is HSV as well.
To be honest I would really take advice from grace at this point. Her knowledge on this subject is pretty darn deep.
Again, thanks for the reply, the blistex site and box states 5% aciclovir which i believe to be the same as zovirax - i understand zovirax can be taken orally in tablet form, this is not something i have tried - please see below link for blistex site (UK site doesn't list ingredients but the box clearly states aciclovir, the below Ozzy site does though ):
http://www.blistex.com.au/coldsores.html
As i say, this is really the only thing that helps with my coldsores. Short of trying zovirax again next time i get the dreaded 'tingling' then i'm unsure as to whether it will work now and dont want to risk wasting money - it has been over a decade since i used it but as i recall it just used to spread coldsores whereas the blistex stops them from emerging - maybe some of the other ingredients assist with that, i dont remember the zovirax burning as much as blistex.
I am at the docs again tomorrow for my hands (seeing the on call dermatologist) so will update this post when i know more but i'm 99.9% sure that it is herpetic whitlow.
I am taking note of all advice given but would still appreciate some resolution to the questions posed above, preferably from sufferers who have experienced the same things. ie will hsv1 re-emerge on genitals when it feels like it and do the above listed creams work?
Quite a lot of the scrotal swelling is going down now but because im taking something for the herpes, an anti inflammatory and penicilin its impossible to tell which is really helping (if not all) - I also have managed 2 days without the icepack now with minimal itching so my first question with regard to the 5 days worth of aciclovir can be ignored as the answer to that would be 'yes', 5 days sounds about right :-)
Apparently it is possible to completely get rid of hand herpes using propyderm nf over a few months which is something i'm willing to try when i get the results back from the dermatologist. Has anyone had experience using this at all?
genitally topicals don't work all that well on herpes. some folks swear by dynamiclear for symptom relief but with your history, I'd be wary of trying it for fear of adverse reactions to the essential oils in the product.
topical acyclovir seems to have limited effectiveness on oral herpes but is ineffective on genital herpes. we also don't recommend it on herpes whitlow at all.
you never get rid of herpes. once it's infected a nerve ganglia, it's there for life.
Grace,
He's herpes mistaken a lot for rosacea, because the doc told me its rosacea, but I also have a kind of mild razor rash with a big pimple white head, and I have another whitehead pimple below the noze. I have a rash on forehead, nose, cheek, chin, around eyes, temper.
forehead; lot of very small bumps and redness(did hurt a lot for a week) nose redness kinda like razor burn but no realy bumps matbe one or two, cheek realy red doesnt hurt at all, beard area like I said previously( I have to shave every day and never had that I think). This happean gradually starting with the nose, cheek forehead, chin. And also my skin is a lot flaky dry (never had that)
Dors sonds a lot like rosacae but
The thing is I had unprotected sexe 5 months ago, and caught something hurt a lot for 5 days, and burning when peeing for cople weeks.
Red spot on the extremety of my penis
So pass test and came back neg but clamedia which i cauhgt 5 years ago took the meds but never went back to the doc
Doesnt burn anymore after 2 weeks took the pills but still have that red thing that my doc said its nothing ,
Plus now all this in my face , afraid I autocontamined all my face