Herpes Yeast Infection

June 1, 2010 By Nanci Elliott Leave a Comment

Herpes Or Yeast?

Well of course let’s hope it’s yeast because that one is easy to fix!

At the early stages of herpes , the symptoms of herpes and yeast infections can seem very similar.   Both can cause intense itching and if left untreated, yeast infections can actual cause small blisters.   The difference between the two is that untreated a yeast infection can go on and on and make your life miserable.   With genital herpes, the itch will fade away as the herpes outbreak appears and it will become more sore than itchy (although yeast infections can ALSO cause soreness).   Best thing to do if you are unsure is get tested for vaginal herpes while taking active steps to treat any vaginal infection.     And if you indeed have herpes (which let’s hope you do not!) the following treatment for yeast (and any other bacterial vaginal infection) will help ease any of the symptoms of female genital herpes.

Bottom line:  The following will not hurt you and will relieve any itching.

OK, the issue with yeast is that it thrives in a moist warm environment and thrives on sugar.   Yes, alcohol (wine for me, please!) is basically sugar in a bottle.   What keeps yeast in check is “good bacteria” or “probiotics”, and when you have a vaginal infection it means that your good bacteria has dropped to extremely low levels.   As such, you need to replace them.

First you buy some pro biotic capsules (make sure they are high quality and that when you buy them, the store has them in the FRIDGE).   You start taking them internally.  Two a day is fine.

Second, you have to get the probiotics into your vagina because this is where the problem is.  GOOD health food stores will actually sell vaginal ovules that you insert into your vagina at night.  This will actually clear up the entire problem by the time you wake up in the morning!  However, these are expensive for what you get.  Here in Canada it’s like $30 for 10 – 14 ovules which last 7 – 14 days, and you really only need one or two.   I do love my red wine so I get these yeast infections about once or twice a year.  I keep the ovules in the fridge (you always have to keep good bacteria cold), and use them if I have them but sometimes they expire.   In these cases, it is a little messier (but still as effective) you OPEN one of your regular tablets (the ones you swallow), and mix the powder with a little olive oil and push it into your vagina.  This works well too and is obviously cheaper (but messier).

That’s it!

As for instant relief, you can use a bit of tea tree oil mixed with olive oil and spread it through your labia.  It is so relieving and works quickly.  Also, crazy but true, mix about 4 parts warm water with 1 part apple cider vinegar and find a way cover the entire area.  You can lie down and use a squirt bottle or at the drugstore they often sell these funny buckets you put on your toilet and sit in (I got mine from the hospital after giving birth).   You DO NOT need to do these relief things.   The probiotic  treatment will be the ONLY thing you need to absolutely cure you (shame the Doctors don’t know this) but sometimes if you wake up with a yeast infection and won’t have time to the whole vaginal insertion thing, it’s nice to have instant relief for a few hours until you can find the time.

Hope this works for you.  I’m sure it will.

Good luck!

Oh, and if worse comes to worse, and you actually do have HSV2, you can take a look at living with herpes and dating with herpes.

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Herpes: My Name Is Nanci And I Have A Vaginal Herpes Outbreak

December 10, 2009 By Nanci Elliott 4 Comments

There I said it.  Writing this blog I feel pressure to remain outbreak free.  That in order for me to be credible and communicate my message that having herpes does not in any way make you less attractive, sexy, and desirable to the opposite sex (or the same sex, of course..) I need to be outbreak free, stop all herpes outbreaks within hours, and combat/fight/destroy herpes in my body.   Of course this isn’t true.   It is just that it is so important to me to show other women that you can live successfully with vaginal herpes that I feel like my message gets crippled when I get sacked with a bad outbreak.

And this one is bad.

I have had my herpes under control for so long (which for me means on average two or three minimal outbreaks per year), that when I get hit with something like this one it makes me remember how bad herpes can be.   I started with one blister in my mucous membranes, and that was fine. I had the usual warning signs of body ache, fatigue and leg pain, and then – to be honest, I didn’t do too much to fight it.    My husband is away working for a week and I thought, “whatever”.

But then I got even more warning signs and I woke up with another blister on the outside on my skin.  I’d forgotten how much I hate these ones because the pain and swelling seem so much more intense when they’re on the skin.   And the right lymph node in my groin is so swollen and painful that it actually woke me up in the night.

Thank god for extra strength Tylenol.

And of course there is not a lot of people I can tell.  I have made friends with the mother of one of the kids my kid goes to school with and she came over for coffee today for the first time.   When she asked how I was, it wasn’t exactly like I could say, “well I feel like crap because I’ve got this massive herpes outbreak and I just can’t seem to shake it”.   Nope.   It’s even difficult just to say, “I have herpes“.

Now that I’ve told you how I feel, let’s clarify how I don’t feel.  I don’t feel like I am under attack from herpes.  I don’t feel like herpes is evil or against me.  I don’t feel like I am being punished for being a filthy disgusting whore.   I don’t feel less sexy or attractive.   And most importantly:  I don’t feel like this is my fault.

What I do feel is a sense of responsibility to myself because I know that I only get vaginal herpes outbreaks when I’ve stopped taking care of myself.   These past few weeks I’ve spent too much time in front of the computer (like, 9 hours a day), not enough time walking, breathing or sleeping.  Also (I know this is what pushed me over the edge), I’ve been drinking too much wine.  Not like, you need to call AA or anything but the other night my husband and I drank almost three bottles together and this alone messed up my sleep patterns, and gave me a horrible hangover that took 72 hours to recover from.  My youngest son is sick and so I am up once or twice a night with him and not being able to get back to sleep after 4am in the morning.   All this to say that I am thankful for herpes in that it gives me a kick in the butt to say, “you need to make some changes here, because what you’re doing right now, isn’t working”.

So I will break out the Vitamins C and E, the tea tree oil, and I will put the red wine away (not that there’s any left).    I will go to bed earlier and I will take walking and breathing breaks throughout the day (and maybe even a nap!).  These outbreaks will heal in a few days, and I know that with everything I understand about herpes, I can live outbreak free.   And if I don’t because life gets in the way, that’s OK too.

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Vaginal Herpes

November 6, 2009 By Nanci Elliott 9 Comments

Just a quick post to let you know that vaginal herpes is not different from any other form of herpes.   All herpes viruses come from the herpes simplex virus of which there are two types.  I know this is shocking but they are actually called Herpes Simplex 1 (HSV1) and Herpes Simplex 2 (HSV2).  While it is possible for either virus to appear on either the mouth or genital region, the vast majority, experience HSV1 on the mouth (yes, all cold sores are HSV1 – don’t listen to people who say, “It’s just a cold sore, not herpes.”   At this point it’s your call whether to kindly suggest they seek out any medical dictionary or reference literature), and HSV2  in the genital region.  This would be female genital herpes, vaginal herpes, vagina herpes, HSV2 – we can come up with many names but it’s all the same.

You don’t need to spend a lot of time (like I did) searching the internet for scary pictures or evil herpes experiences.  It’s not the end of the world.  And sometimes, because of what genital herpes can teach you about yourself,  it’s the beginning of something great.

UPDATE (May 11, 2010):

I received a complaint (see comments below) that I would use the term, “vaginal herpes”, and that somehow I was suggesting that genital herpes comes from women.   The author of  the comment requested that I change my terminology to, “genital herpes”.   Please understand that I in no way attribute any form of herpes as starting or spreading from only women.   I can say that according to Google, over 150 people search the term *vaginal herpes* every day and like I responded to the author I was attempting to reach this audience and let them know that vaginal herpes is in fact not different from genital herpes.   People hear and call it different things and I wanted to set the record straight that female herpes, vaginal herpes, whatever you want to call it is either HSV1 or HSV2.   So please don’t misunderstand.  I do appreciate any and all comments and welcome your feedback.

You will also note from my responding comment that herpes is nothing to be ashamed of.   Women do contract and spread herpes – we are equally as responsible as men for protecting our partners and using effective means (condoms, Valtrex) to stop the spread of herpes and to reduce the rates of herpes transmission.

Take care and be safe!

Nanci

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