Living With Herpes

This herpes diagnosis page is intended to help you self-diagnose, in order to figure out if you actually do have herpes. Of course, this can’t replace actually going to a doctor and getting a blood test, but that may not always be an option for one reason or another.

During the life of the herpes virus in a human, it goes through several different phase, and each phase has it’s own symptoms. We’ll go through the whole cycle so just stay with us.

• Phase 1 or The Activation Phase. The virus has been activated and is coming out of it’s dormant state; coming out it’s hiding spots inside the nerve-cells. This stage is the precursor to the actual outbreaks, and most people several experience flu-like symptoms like fever, backpains, muscle pains, maybe a cough. You might notice the lymph-nodes around your groing area or your neck being swollen. You might notice some unobtrusive red spots on your skin.
• Phase 2 or The Outbreak Phase. The second stage is when these red spots either start to appear or start to grow into small pus-filled blisters. These blisters contain a transparent liquid pus, that is actually concentrated herpes virus. It is extremely contagious so care should be taken not to infect your loved ones; keep an extra eye on your hygiene. It’s when this phase is beginning to show where you really have a chance to impact how slow or fast this part of the cycle will pass. Check out the Herpes Treatments page for more information.
• Phase 3 or The Healing Phase. These blisters continue to grow until they’ve matured, and then they crust over and fall off. Herpes blisters usually don’t leave any scars, since unlike other skin problems they’re located in the uppermost layer of the skin. Just don’t try to scratch them off and you’ll be good as new in a matter of no time.
• Phase 4 or The Dormant Phase. Your skin is clean and healed! You’re body has overcome the herpes virus! You’ve been cured! Yeah! Well, not really. The tricky part of herpes is that even though the virus is forced into submission by the body’s immune system, what happens is that in order to not get killed off it goes deep inside our cells, stays quiet and hides from the world. That is, until you piss it off and it comes back out to play…. If you want some tips on how to keep the virus in check, check out the Herpes Prevention page.

If you recognize any of these symptoms or the descriptions on your current state, there might be a chance of you having the herpes virus. But as I mentioned earlier, you should really go visit a doctor to get a firm diagnosis. There are actually a couple of other diseases that look pretty similar to herpes so to be on the safe side I recommend that everyone get their herpes properly diagnosed.