Request for feedback on my situation

For about 6 years now, since 2000 my health has been deteriorating.  I used to be extremely active and do triathlons but after a while I noticed that I was feeling increasingly tired during my workouts, would have a hard time hard time getting out of bed the next day and I started having more frequent herpes symptoms.  At the time I'd had genital herpes for
8 years during which I would get outbreaks every 2 years.  However, since 2000, I started having what felt like increasingly frequent mini outbreaks.  I would have the tingling and itching prodrome but it would never progress to the cluster of blisters that I was used to;  instead I would get redness and soreness which would last a couple of days but would then go away.  Sometimes I would have a painful, red bump but never a real blister. After a couple of days, which was much shorter than my previous outbreaks, the soreness in the skin would abate but I would still have the tingling and itching.  I went on valtrex to suppress these symptoms and it helped to the point where the tingling and itching would be controlled most of the time and I could forget about it.  However, still whenever I tried to exercise to my previous ability, the next day I
would be exhausted and the soreness, redness and bumps would appear a couple of days later.  So, I lowered my expectations and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to do less so while remaining on the valtrex I managed to do a little bit of mild exercise a couple of times a week without getting painful herpes symptoms and I just pushed through the fatigue the next day. I had worked out some kind of balance which I could manage and decided to have a baby.  I had to go off the valtrex
and within 6 weeks was having constant symptoms again.  Anyway, my baby is now 11 months old and I've been back on the valtrex for almost 4 months now with no improvement and I am constantly sick.  I've had back to back colds since September 2005, interspersed with stomach bugs.  My herpes symptoms NEVER go away now - 24 hours a day tingling and itching escalating to the soreness every 3 days or so.  It also feels like I have swollen glands in my neck all the time and when I swallow there is a lump there, like a gland is swollen.  I wake up as exhausted as I was when I went to sleep and I NEVER feel refreshed even though I get at least 8 hours of sleep.  I am feeling so frustrated
and I'm sick and tired of it all.  My doctor has done a myriad of tests which have turned up nothing - my blood work is normal. 

Thank you  for your reply, hippimom2.  I have seen tons of specialists including infectious disease, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, gynecologist, psychiatrist and internist.  But the internist wasn't very good - he diagnosed me as not wiping myself properly when I use the bathroom (I was 30 at the time).  They've all been pretty dismissive and put it down to 'depression'.  I also saw a CFS specialist and he said it wasn't CFS but at this point I'm thinking I should maybe get a second opinion.  Does it sound like CFS to you?

mhtord,
Good morning. I'm sorry you are not getting to the root of your heathy problems I know how hopeless what makes me feel. And just adds more stress to my life! Maybe you should look into Lyme. It's co-infections can realy be strange. Something is keeping the herpes active.
I have EBV that is active and I'm trying to get it inactive. It's lots of resreach work and not much help from doctors, there is so much they just don't understand. Keep searching and I believe you will get to the root. I'll be thinking about you. Take care and hang in there.

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Dee50

Have your doctor test you for the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) and see how that comes back.

From what I understand through the research I've done, most people do get EBV, but it never becomes active or causes any symptoms. However, it can cause mono, and the one page I read did say something about if you have herpes... wait lemme get some links... I know ONE of these pages mentioned it...

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/ebv.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein-Barr_virus

ahhh the second one did... the first one has some good info too. You can also do a google search and read up tons about stuff like this... and hopefully find some info that might help your doctor help you. There are medications that work for fatigue too... Provigil is one, and there's others also that help... but I'm not familiar with them personally.

Hope that helped some and hope you find some answers!!!

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Hugs,

Nikki

I have chronic fatigue syndrome, anxiety (at this current moment), and some minor abdominal pain which still hasn't been figured out yet... need a break from all the testing ;)