Herpes Coffee
I have been drinking coffee since I was sixteen years old. I don’t remember my first cup, but I do know that I have not missed a single day in over twenty years (almost as long as I’ve had herpes!). I’ve been worried about how much coffee I drink for several years now but as my hairdresser says, “If it were not for coffee I would have no reason to get out of bed”, and I have to agree with her. I cannot understand people who, at 11:00am, look at their watch and proclaim, “Wow, I haven’t even had a coffee yet today!”. I cannot function until I’ve had my first jolt and it is by far the very first thing I do every morning.
The bottom line: I’ve come to a bad place in my relationship with vaginal herpes (let’s just say that if we were a couple, we’d be in serious marital counseling) in that I cannot seem to break the cycle of herpes outbreaks. I was ready to call my Doctor for a 3 month supply of Valtrex but a) he’s closed for the holidays and b) I remembered that I don’t really want to rely on Valtrex as a solution for my genital herpes outbreaks. Please don’t misunderstand. I am all for the antiviral medications and hugely suggest anyone take them if they are in a bad place with herpes, but I do believe that herpes is a message from our bodies and I am 98% committed to hearing that message. (The remaining 2% being: Screw this &*#$& herpes outbreak and pass me the Valtrex..)
Herpes Outbreaks and Coffee:
Without boring you with all the medical information, coffee has a tremendous amount of caffeine which sends a message to your adrenal glands to release adrenaline. This adrenaline puts us in a constant state of, “fight or flight” response (which is great when we are being attacked in a dark alley, but not so great when sitting at our desks posting blog entries..), until we crash and reach for something to give us another boost. For me it’s coffee in the morning and then black tea (with milk and sugar!) in the afternoon.
And now I’m worried that among other things (like anxiety, weight gain, and massive irritability) this cycle of adrenal induced exhaustion is sapping my immune system and causing me to have chronic herpes outbreaks. And for the love of God, it’s Christmas (enough with the “gifts”!) So here and now you’ve heard it here first: I’ve quit drinking coffee.
Pray for me.
Please e-mail me if you have had any experience with herpes and coffee.
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