Genital herpes

First outbreak was the worst pain of my life. Does it stay like this?

I am about a week into what the clinic swabbed and confirmed as a first episode. I could not sit down properly for three days and passing urine was genuinely frightening. I am on antivirals now and it is starting to settle.

What I want to know, and I could not bring myself to ask in the room, is whether it is like this every time. I don’t think I could do this every few weeks for the rest of my life.

paper_lantern 4 months ago

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

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slow_thaw 4 months ago

No. Almost universally no. The first episode is the worst one because your immune system has never seen it before. What comes after, if anything comes at all, tends to be smaller, shorter and much less painful.

Mine went from something that put me in bed to something I sometimes only notice because I’m looking for it. That shift took a couple of years but it started well before that.

almostfine 4 months ago

Adding to that: the frequency usually drops off over time too. First year is generally the busiest and then it tapers for most people.

If it doesn’t taper, or it does and you still don’t want to deal with it, ask about suppressive treatment rather than treating each episode as it comes. That was the conversation that changed things for me.

paper_lantern OP 4 months ago

Thank you. I have read this thread about ten times. Two weeks out now and almost back to normal, and knowing it isn’t a permanent state has made a bigger difference than the tablets.

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