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Genital herpes

Prodrome. Is it real or am I inventing it?

I get a tingling and a heavy feeling in my thigh a day before anything appears. Sounds like something I could easily be imagining into existence.

blue_hour 2 months ago
NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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It is real and it is well described. The virus travels along nerves, which is why the warning signs are neurological rather than skin: tingling, itching, shooting sensations, sometimes ache down a leg.

The fact that it follows a consistent pattern for you is itself a sign that it is not imagination.

It is also clinically useful. Episodic treatment works best when started at the earliest sign rather than once blisters have formed, so learning your own prodrome shortens episodes in practice.

Mine is a dull ache rather than tingling and it took a year to recognise it for what it was. Keeping a note of the days helped me see the pattern I was dismissing.

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