Hi

Is genital herpes generally more severe in woman than man???

Could any ladies who suffered from genital herpes share their experiences?

I have known someone recently and I would like to provide her with some important sharing regarding this.

Thanks
Alex

My ob's are very mild. I went undiagnosed for many years. The ob's would occur during or before my period. Sometimes I would pop the bump then dab peroxide (:nono: i wouldn't suggest, makes the ob last longer :nono: ). Also, i'm not on any type of meds and just recently began to take Lysine. I think it depends on the person's immune system. Hope this helps!

In general, the evidence shows that:

- women's outbreaks are thought to be a little more painful and severe (although many women have internal outbreaks which do not hurt until touched e.g. during sex - so in some cases don't know they have an OB). They are also often affected by the menstrual cycle so that some women get them every month or at that particular time of the month

however

- men tend to have slightly more outbreaks than women.

Terrible first outbreak...awful that I believe traumatized me. Then the next year I spent hating myself, and crying and hating the man who gave it to me. Some women get it mild, I did not. It has calmed down a lot now, I am on Valtrex. I still get it during my period and get the odd tingling, burning during the month. It is a strange disease and does not affect any one person the same way.

my first and only outbreak was absoutly horrible.......i was in so much pain.......i couldnt do anything.......i couldnt walk, i couldnt even shower b/c even the water hitting the area was like torture...........it lasted almost about 2 weeks...........i hope so much that if i ever get another outbreak, it will not be like that

Hi Alex, that's so nice and considerate of you to want to learn about herpes and help out another person with information.

In my case, i don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but my outbreaks occur at my anal area for some odd reason. I was diagnosed in november 2004 and have since had 3 ob's. My first ob was the worst and it took virtually a whole month for me to feel "normal" again. No sooner did i feel better then i got another ob, but less severe and then another, which again was less sever. I have type 2.

They say that over time the ob's should become less severe and less frequent, but a healthy lifestyle and a good immune system do help. This virus treats everybody differently though, so what experiences one person has, another will have different experiences.

In regards to men, i don't know appart from what i have read on these boards. My partner has only had five ob's in 20 years, then again he has an extremely healthy immune system and doesn't even get sick with the normal cold/flu. I think women get affected differently than men as women are governed so much by the hormonal disturbances their bodies go through each month as each ob i have suffered has occured after my period.