Herpes symptoms include itching, tingling, and burning. It may also cause painful blisters or sores on your vagina, vulva (vaginal wall), cervix, anus (butt), penis, and scrotum. Symptoms can appear suddenly or over several weeks or months.
Herpes is caused by the herpes simplex virus. This virus usually spreads when someone with herpes has sex. It can also be transmitted through contact with body fluids or secretions from a herpes sore.
The herpes virus is usually in the nerve cells of your skin. But, sometimes the herpes virus wakes up and starts to multiply inside your body. This can happen when a herpes virus “trigger” (such as illness, stress, friction in your genital area, exposure to ultraviolet light, or steroidal medication) activates it.
When your body’s immune system isn’t strong enough, the herpes virus can be hard to kill. This can make it harder to heal the herpes infection and keep your sores from coming back.
Your herpes can also stay in your body even when you don’t have any symptoms. This means you could still spread it to other people, such as your partner.
Herpes is most easily spread when you have blisters or sores on your genitals. This is why it’s important to talk about herpes with your sex partner.
It’s also important to use condoms when you have sex, and never have sex during an outbreak of herpes. A condom is the best way to protect your partner from herpes.
Treating herpes with medicines can shorten your outbreak and make it easier to get better. These medications can be given as a pill, cream, or shot.
Treatment for a primary herpes outbreak takes from 2 to 5 days, depending on the type of medicine and dosage. It should start as soon as you feel itching, tingling, or burning.
Taking medicines every day to prevent recurrences can also help. This type of treatment is called episodic therapy and works best if taken in the prodrome stage before an outbreak of lesions.
Recurrent herpes episodes are less common than primary herpes episodes. These recurrent herpes episodes can occur more often or for longer than the first episode, but they usually get less severe as time passes.
If you have herpes and your symptoms are getting worse, see your doctor right away. You might need to take a medicine called an antiviral.
Herpes is a very common disease and millions of people have it. But, it’s not serious and doesn’t mean you can’t have a sex life.
You should tell your sex partner about herpes as soon as you have it so that they can have a test to check if they are infected. This will give them the chance to get a herpes test and talk to their doctor about ways to reduce their risk of getting herpes.
It’s best to try to keep yourself healthy and limit your stress as much as possible. This can help you avoid herpes recurrences and other problems, such as thrush, that can affect your sex life.
