Brittany and Tom sat in my office holding hands. They looked a little worried and yet were interested in finding out more information about how to prevent Tom from passing Herpes on to Brittany. They were both in their late 20's and been together for about 6 months and so far, so good, she had not become infected, which was reassuring, but they wanted to do everything they could to prevent a future transmission.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I would be taking more vacations to tropical beaches! When I hear this, what I also understand is that the person wants to be tested for every sexually transmitted disease/infection (STD) ever known. By the time, the person comes in to see me, I can offer up a few tests that will help them know if they contracted an infection.
Did you know that for a significant percentage of people with Bells Palsy that the symptoms are caused by the Herpes Virus? That's right, Herpes Simplex Virus type 1, HSV-1, is associated with up to 80% of cases of Bells Palsy. The virus attacks the facial nerve and causes inflammation and paralysis. The person is unable to move many of the muscles in the cheek, lip, eyelid and forehead which results in a drooping of that side of the face.
I get calls and emails all the time from people with herpes who want to know if the over the counter remedies they've seen in on-line ads will really help with their symptoms. Having herpes can be emotionally challenging and it's normal to want to get rid of symptoms quickly and get on with your life. It's also normal to want to use a so called natural ingredient to prevent outbreaks and make them go away as quickly as possible. If there were such remedies that really worked, I'd be the first person telling my patients about it, but unfortunately these things DON'T work.
I saw a patient recently who came in for what she thought was a yeast infection, and when I examined her, I saw that she had multiple small red lesions around her genitalia. She hadn't noticed the sores, but did notice that when urine touched the skin, it hurt. She thought that the pain was from her recurrent yeast infections that she was treating with over the counter creams because she was traveling so much, she never had time to come in for an exam. Since the creams worked after a week or so, she figured that it was yeast and no big deal. She finally had time to come in to find out why she was getting so many yeast infections.
I've heard from lots of patients who have had a 2nd bout of shingles. This was always puzzling to me since the common wisdom held that shingles almost never came back. How could it be that so many of my patients had experienced another episode. In the past, we thought that shingles rarely recurs, and now new data is busting that myth.
There
are several different herpes viruses, including chicken pox also known
as varicella, Herpes Type 1 - Oral herpes, which is typically, though
not always, found around the mouth and Herpes Type 2 - which is
typically found around the genitals.
I
heard some recent news reports about a 4 year old boy who found a used
condom in a hotel room, thought it was a balloon and put it into his
mouth. Uggghh. I know this is difficult to contemplate and honestly
makes me feel sick to my stomach just writing about it. Apparently the
child was exposed in late July and about 1 week later developed some
sores on his mouth.
Well, I've received lots of
questions about this, so I'll give you the 411 on herpes exposures,
transmissions and how to find out if it's a new infection or it a person
has already had the virus in their system.
I do a lot of lecturing on Herpes. People ask me about
expensive remedies that they've seen on the internet. I wouldn't waste my
money on those, because there is no proof that it works. Here's some
quick information that I just sent to a friend who asked about this. Herpes is
a virus that lives in the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal column.
Usually, it's sleeping and doesn't affect people, but lots of UV light
can trigger the virus and cause it to travel down the nerve and in the blood
and end up on the lip or face or even the genitals. You don't have to expose
the genitals to sun to get an outbreak. Interesting, but distressing.
It means that people going to the beach on their honeymoon, could also be
dealing with an outbreak.
Here's a hint: Take your antiviral medication at least 5
days before you're going to have lots of stress or sunlight.
