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.
I don't know what to do - I start crying on my way to each doctor's visit because I know they're going to dismiss me. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong with me? Sorry this is so long. Thanks.