How could I have herpes?

Who gave it to me?

Had Jessica been cheating on me?

At first I was completely devastated. The heavy feeling I had at the doctor’s office followed me around like a dark shadow.

It almost felt like someone had told me that I only had two weeks more to live… And all I wanted to do was to tell them it wasn’t fair.

What was I supposed to do now?

At the time, all I knew about herpes was that it was incurable.

Since that cold February day about two years ago, a lot of things have changed. After a while I came to terms with the disease and while I still had herpes, I didn’t feel as powerless as I once did.

After that day, I decided that if I can’t absolutely cure it, then I will at least do whatever I can to get it under my control.

So I set out on a mission. I tried most of the prescription drugs out on the market…. Aciclovir, Famivir, Valtrex, Zovirax… Each one with a more “Star-Trek” inspired name than the one before it.

I even went out and tried a bunch of unconventional alternative treatments like herbal supplements and magnetic therapy… I even tried a high-cost mineral water that supposedly would cure it completely (Worst $300 I’ve EVER spent).

I can’t really say that I actually expected any of them to work, but I thought that if there really was a solution to this problem, wouldn’t it be worth spending a couple of dollars to find it?

After trying out most of the products I could get my hands on, and realizing that the results I got ranged from moderately good to straight out fraudulent, I was pretty much fed up.

“Hey Patrick, I found this site… I think you’ll like it!”

I was really close to giving up my search and just going with the treatment that worked the best so far… Even though it had a hefty price-tag of almost $1000/year… But to be honest, it was a lot more than I wanted to spend. But what could I do?

Finally, a friend of mine who knew about my dilemma sent me a link to a new product, called Dynamiclear, that he had stumbled upon.

Dynamiclear was supposed to be this topical solution that after being applied to your sore would make it disappear after only 72 hours.

The claims they stated on their site were bold. Hardly any side effects at all, relatively easy on the wallet and the little fact that it would completely heal the sore in less than 72 hours.

I was pretty skeptical at first. I had already wasted over $1000 trying out different treatments that had all left me unsatisfied. Why should I throw another $89 down the drain?

Eventually, after clicking around for a while, I found something juicy…

Apparently, they offered a money back guarantee on their product! That meant that if I realized that it was all just marketing fluff and bogus claims, I could just send it back and get a full refund!

Awesome.

Out came my Visa and I finished my order in less than a minute.

“Will It Work?”

About a week later, a small package plumped down my postbox.

To cut a long story short; when I noticed the first signs of a beginning outbreak, I quickly applied the solution. Besides a little stinging sensation, the outbreak didn’t bother me after that.

Two short days after, it was completely gone!

Needless to say, after that I’ve been a strong advocate of Dynamiclear… It’s been a great help for me and I think more people deserve to find out instead of wasting their money on useless products.

2009-01-19 UPDATE: I’ve been using Dynamiclear for a couple of months now… And I have to say, it’s been the best solution for herpes I’ve found.

If your herpes is causing you trouble or you’d like to be able to forget about it completely, I definitely recommend you order a bottle.

What’s interesting is that ocular herpes actually is caused by the same underlying virus that causes genital and oral herpes, namely the herpes simplex virus. It’s not yet been proven how the transmission occurs, but scientists think that the virus might travel through the nerve cells all the way up to the eye.

Ocular herpes is also called herpes keratitis and if you suspect you have an ongoing outbreak it is important that you visit an eye specialist, other wise it can have unrepairable consequences such as impaired vision or even blindness. Symptoms that indicate that you have herpes keratitis include sensitivity to light, dryness, sinusitis and a dull pain deep inside the eye.

If ocular herpes has infected the top layer of the eye, the epithelium, it usually heals without scarring and permanent sideeffects. But if the infection lies deeper within the eye it may lead to scarring of the cornea which in turn can cause impaired vision or sometimes even blindness.

Scientists don’t really know why some people get infected with ocular herpes and others not; but it probably is depending on the what strain of the virus you are carrying as well as your own immune system and genealogy.

Usually, ocular herpes is treated with antiviral medicine exactly like for genital or oral herpes. Sometimes when the infection is superficial, it is sufficient with an antiviral eyedrop solution. When the infection is deeper in the eye an oral antiviral medication is usually prescribed.

While a latex condom does in fact stop the herpes virus from crossing from one side to the other, and in doing so greatly reduces the risk, it is not a perfect protection from herpes. This is because the herpes virus is not only restricted to the the area the condom covers, but rather the whole genital area.

Extra care should be taken if either of the partners have any blisters present, since these essentially are virus-filled colonies. It is recommended that you refrain from having sex when blisters are present because of this reason, and also because during a period of outbreaks you are much more likely to get infected with HIV.

HIV works by attacking and taking over a part of our immune system, more specifically it’s the T-Cells that are the targets. Since herpes is a disease as any other, it provokes an immune system response and therefore, if you have for instance genital herpes in your genital area and the virus is active, that means that all the immune cells in your body are rushing to your gential area. And by doing so, they’re basically creating a feast for the HIV-virus and raising the risk substantially.

They recently conducted an experimental study on a group of people that were given antiviral drugs in order to decrease the risk of getting HIV. Unfortunately, while the drugs helped with the blisters themselves, they saw no change in the risk percentage in a positive manner, but rather, they had some indications that the antiviral drugs rather increased the risk of getting HIV.

Therefore, both for your own sake and your partners, you should avoid having sex when either of you have herpes blisters present.

First of all; when we talk about herpes we usually talk about one of two things, HSV-1 or HSV-2. HSV-1 is commonly called mouth or oral herpes, while HSV-2 is commonly referred to as genital herpes. This doesn’t mean that either of them are restricted to either location; they’re both perfectly exchangable in their locations, the only thing is that they prefer one spot or the other. What this also translates into is that even though your partner has genital herpes, you can stil get it around your mouth.

The second thing I wanted to mention is that while I know there’s a very popular myth out there that your partner needs to have a visible outbreak in order for the virus to actually spread. This is completely untrue. Yes, it’s true that the herpes virus is available in bigger concentrations when there’s a visible outbreak (the outbreaks are actually big virus colonies, for more information check out the Herpes Diagnosis-page), if you have herpes, the herpes virus is always present in your body. So be cautious, and don’t listen to what anyone says.

The third thing I wanted to point out is that the herpes virus is transferred through any type of bodily fluid, that includes sweat, blood, saliva, vaginal fluids and the all empowering semen. This is the “transmission” of the virus, you also need some sort of reciever such as an open sore, a mouth, a vagina or a penis. Even a micro abrasion can be enough, so you might not even be aware that you have it. What this means is that if you find a way to perfectly stop the virus from transferring from the transmitter (i.e. some sort of human bodily fluid) to some sort of reciever, you have the perfect herpes protection.

The fourth little point I have is that you can get infected by herpes even though you use a condom. A condom definitely protects from the herpes virus and I recommend everyone to actually use a condom, but the problem with the herpes virus as we’ve seen above is that it requires so little to transfer from one body to another. It’s not only the genitals and the mouth that are in on the process, but the whole of the genital area and all of the face.

Ideally you would need some sort of full body condom, but this would probably make sex very boring. I’m not saying do one thing or another, just that be aware of what the risks are and then make your own decision. I hope you enjoyed this article, and there are a lot more like it on this site. I recommend you check out the living with herpes post in order to get the quick scoop on the situation.

Studies have shown that the intake of Lysine can help inhibit the herpes virus from reproducing and growing. While it doesn’t cure or completely stop the cycle, it does however increase the dormant phase, giving you longer, herpes outbreak free periods. Combined with living a good life it can make a big difference in what living with herpes means for you.

What is Lysine?

Lysine is one of the body’s essential aminoacids, meaning that the body needs it but cannot produce it itself. To get our share of lysine, we need to get it through our diet or through supplements. Lysine is found in high concentrations in for instance meat, dairy products and lentils.

Some scientists have shown that the amount of lysine in the body is balanced not only by how much lysine you take in, but also on how much arganine you eat. They say arganine is lysine’s “antagonist”. It’s therefore recommended that you stay on a high lysine/low arganine diet to maximize the herpes prevention effects. Arganine is found in high doses in chocolate and nuts.

To simplify your intake of lysine, there are several Lysine supplements out there on the market. The most important things to notice is that the dosage is right. To get any noticable effect, you need doses of over 1 gram per day. Otherwise it’s just a waste of time and money. The second point to notice is that it should be L-Lysine. L-Lysine is the active form of lysine. There’s also R-Lysine, but it is completely useless for herpes prevention.

Herpes blisters, however, become larger than both pimples and clogged pores, and are filled with a clear liquid pus. After they’ve matured, they usually crust over and fall off. Another difference from pimples and pores is that herpes blisters are usually accompanied by other symptoms, such as fevers, pains or muscle soreness. You can check out the herpes diagnosis page for more information on the lifecycle of the herpes virus.

Well, this is a difficult question to answer confidently. The herpes virus it self is not capabable of living outside a host body for an extended period of time, it usually dies of pretty quickly. The only “caveat” is that if it is contained in a moist, or wet, slightly heated environment then it gets an increased chance of survival. With that said, if you accidently sat on a toilet seat with droplets of herpes infected water, yes, you could be infected. This is however, very unlikely. Personally, I like to wipe off the seat before I sit down. Herpes is not always the biggest worry I have!