Herpes and Your Menstrual Cycle

By Charlotte Grayson, M.D., Health Pro Tuesday, November 13, 2007

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Bloating, irritable mood, pelvic pain or pressure. All are common signs that your monthly period is coming soon. And for many women, this monthly visitor brings a VERY unwanted guest: genital herpes outbreaks. It may seem like insult to injury, but several studies have confirmed that the menstr...

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hgirl

12/17/07 9:39pm

Great information. I will recommend your article to alne, my friend I met on a herpes dating site stdpal.com. There are many other women who are confused about this also.

Anonymous

7/16/08 4:48pm

If i have missed my period in the time frame from which i found that i have herpes, that is still unrelated? If it isnt related and ive taken pregnancy tests and they have all read negative, what does it mean?

Mells_001

10/ 1/10 6:24am

I also had this issue, it was stress related. Quite often you stress because of the outbreak and (Even if not meaning to, or knowing you are) this causes your period to be delayed. I was a week late and was freaking out, my period did eventually come and the next month all was back to normal. So it's more psychological than anything, try to stay calm and get a lot of rest and you should find your periods fall back into line. If you continue to have problems see your doctor.

grateful

7/30/09 8:08pm

Oh my god! This article describes my symptoms exactly. I thought I had siatica pains in my legs when I get my period.

Thanks so much.......

24 year old woman

11/19/09 6:08pm

i have never seen any bumps or blisters..but i get swolen, and it is very anoying...what can i take for that to stop everytime i have my period?..I'm on acyclovir 400mg..I don't think is helping me that much, probably i need something stronger,huh!

Thanks for the information, is very helpfull.

Mells_001

10/ 1/10 6:27am

My doctor suggested Valtrex, which has always worked. But quite often your body can develop a resistance to the drug, so it is best not to take it all of the time, only when you absolutely need to. I find that taking salt baths as soon as I feel an outbreak coming on tends to stop it lasting as long, a small amount of tea tree oil in the bath tends to help too. I only take valtrex when I get severe outbreaks, which is maybe once a year, sometimes it seems to be a seasonal thing.

24 year old woman

10/ 2/10 10:10pm

Thanks a lot for your sugestion....it was very helpfull..

I want to ask one more question...shoul i tell my future boyfriend i have herpes before i say "yes, i want to be your girlfriend" or after i say i want to be his girlfriend?

thanks again for your answer.

Mells_001

10/ 2/10 10:18pm

Well if he really cares about you, he will want to know the truth. It may freak him out a little, but if you are honest up front you're off to a good start (And he can be aware of what precautions to take so he does not get infected too). My husband is always wonderful about helping me out when I have outbreaks, making surehe buys me what I need (Mostly salt) and spoils me until I am feeling better :) Hope it all goes well with your boyfriend. Herpes is nothing to be ashamed of, it's very common now and with the right care you can recover very quickly. Good luck.

en uteto

4/ 4/10 11:18pm

THIS CANNOT BE TRUE... afriend of mine has herpes and no menses at all(no ovulation) and started taking antiviral medication for the out breaks and a week later ovulated...genital herpes can cause low estrogen therefore can affect fertility, menstration etc.

empyre

11/18/10 4:48pm

I've had Herpes for 3 years. 1.5 of those years I have had it chronically. (ie. it NEVER goes away. I have one sore (or several) right after another. My only relief is when I'm ON my period. I have no idea why, but the sores just stop hurting and the little ones go away (The bigger ones stick around, but do get smaller.) I have absolutely no idea if this is related at all, but it's happened every month for the last year and a half, so....

On that note - any ideas for how to get rid of chronic herpes? I've tried ViraSoothe from New Zealand, Famvir, as well as salt baths (w/o the tea tree oil though.) Anyway, I sure am getting sick of not being able to even walk a few blocks w/o being quite uncomfortable. Thoughts??

SMILEYDESPITE

3/21/11 10:34pm

YOU ARE ME EXACTLY...I USE TO PRAY FOR PERIODS AS THAT WAS MY ONLY RELIEF, ALSO! First, i will tell you to watch your diet. Research the food that triggered outbreaks. Also, i had several prescriptions for Valtrex, it was ineffective. I started researching Herbs...!!! God answered my prayes! ... the herb is called, NEEM. the awesome thing is it comes in all form, water, pill, oil and lotion. i take two NEEM tablets a day per DR's request (its a retired DR at the her store). the neem oil is great if you have a lesion, i do hope this works for you. GOD BLESSED

empyre

4/ 4/11 12:39am

Hi There - I will certainly give Neem a try! As for everything else - I figured out that the Birth Control Pill that I was on was making me have Chronic Herpes. I've stopped taking the pill and now I'm having very few issues. I still get them when I get stressed out, but now I can go for several weeks without having any lesions. Hooray! I guess the moral of the story is watch the hormone levels!

Thanks for your suggestion!

Cheers!

Herpes and Your Menstrual Cycle

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