Valtrex medication for relieving acute herpes outbreak

Resolved question:

Dear doctor, I am a 33 years old male suffering from genital herpes for the last 14 years. I was in a long term relationship for the last 6 years and it was broken down recently. She came to know that I was affected and she simply left me, breaking our relationship. Now, I am very much frustrated and am afraid to engage in a new relationship. I am afraid to start a new relationship also. I don’t know how to meet someone and to be with anyone. Everyday my thoughts are all bound with herpes and curing it. I feel very much distracted and nervous whenever I think about my life. I read that herpes will not show an outbreak after its first outbreak. Why is this not happening with me? I used to see genital herpes pictures and compare with my own condition and I am sure that mine is worse than what I see from those genital herpes photos. I heard that people suffering from genital herpes can use drug called Valtrex, which is quite effective in curing genital herpes. Can I ask my doctor to prescribe it to me? Will it be effective in my case? I feel ashamed even to go to a doctor to describe my situations. Please help.

Submitted: 4 Days
Category: Community

Expert:  Dr. John Monheit replied 4 Days.

Thanks for your concern about your condition. As you may already know, genital herpes is caused by a virus called Herpes Simplex Virus. There are two types of HSV viruses- Type 1 and Type 2. Usually, after an outbreak the virus will stay dormant in the body without causing any more visible symptoms. But if your body immune system is weak and do not pose good immunity against the virus, you may start getting outbreaks frequently. Outbreaks are localized and type 2 HSV infection causes visible lesions and blisters in genital area and type 1 infection causes warts like symptoms in the mouth. Valtrex is used by HSV patients to reduce effects of outbreaks but is only used when the symptoms go acute. If you also think that you are in the worst stage of being infected, by seeing genital herpes pictures, you can also go for it. However, Valtrex medication is also insufficient to cure and eradicate HSV from your body as no medication is found till date to remove infection. Valtrex can help in reducing the span of outbreak and give shorter period of symptoms. Your pain also will be decreased by the same. Herpes is a commonly seen sexually transmitted disease and there is nothing more to worry about it as people will become dormant against the virus soon after infection. Follow a healthy diet and do exercises regularly to build up immunity of your body. Hope my answer helps. Take care.

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