Herpes Outbreak Lasting For WEEKS! But was it really? 🤔

Ok so I have known I have herpes since about 2018. I normally get maybe 4-5 outbreaks a year, usually around my period, and they typically last about a week or so. I abstain from sex or any sexual contact during that time and just allow myself time to let all the open lesions heal with the use of over the counter anti-itch creams and pain-relieving Neosporin/Bactine to keep the area clean and itch/pain free. I can easily tell when an outbreak is coming (itchy, tingly feeling down there) so I have felt pretty comfortable managing my virus.

Well, since New Year of 2022, I’ve been dealing with what I’ve thought is the LONGEST LASTING HERPES OUTBREAK EVER. Itching and burning for weeks. I have been miserable! I never wanted to go on antivirals (Valtrex) but by the time February rolled around, I was STILL itching and burning. The skin around my vagina & in my butt crack was white and wrinkled (like when you’re in the bath/pool too long) and there was a big, hard bump under the skin (like an ingrown hair) on each side of my vagina lips. I completely stopped wearing panties & switched to compression shorts or loose boxer briefs to avoid any friction. It was terrible!

Finally, a few days ago, I was in the drug store looking for more anti itch cream & I had finally gotten an Rx for Valtrex. For some reason, I picked up cream made for ‘jock itch’ (athletes foot), mainly because on the box said good for itching and burning around private areas and seemed a better alternative than Benadryl cream. Well I got home and used it that evening and then the next day. By the end of the first full day, I saw so much improvement! Each day I used the cream, I healed more. That discolored, wrinkled skin around my private area has completely gone back to normal. Those hard bumps have softened and gone down to almost nothing now. Very little itching, no burning or that feeling of having ‘open sores/lesions’. Jock itch is essentially ring worm of the privates and now that I look back, that’s what that wrinkled, discolored skin looked like…an old school ring worm. I’m taking the Valtrex episodically and using the jock itch cream until I feel completely free of symptoms. I wanted to share that because I suffered for so long because I was convinced I knew EXACTLY what was wrong with me but I was mistaken.

Hope this helps someone!