i just had my first outbreak starting last friday. it has been very painful. my dr had to prescribe percocet for me to be able to tolerate it. from what i have learned so far, there are two stages of herpes infection. theres the point at which you become infected, and then theres the first outbreak. when you are initially infected there is an immediate reaction, but unfortunately it can be so mild that most people wouldnt even notice. then your first outbreak is usually within 2 weeks of your being infected. HOWEVER, some people may not have the first outbreak for years. its weird. the herpes virus lays dormant under your skin and its triggered for unknown reasons. my outbreak has been OUTRAGEOUS. i have a lot of sores/blisters (inside my vagina and all over the external areas as well). I can't sit, lay down, walk or anything without painful throbbing occuring. and urinating is rediculously painful. I've had to resort to pouring warm water over the area while urinating. i wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy!... its been a week and the pain is just now subsiding. i have found some very useful methods to help with the pain. If this is your first outbreak, then count yourself lucky that it is not a bad experience. the first outbreak is always the worst, the recurrent outbreaks will be milder. and you will know the signs beforehand (itching, tingling inside), so you can start taking any antiviral meds that your dr prescribed. if the itching is really bothering you, try buying a SITZ bath. its basically a bowl that fits over your toilet and when you sit over it, your groin is submersed in whatever you put in the bowl. buy this stuff called DOMEBORO solution. its a powder that you mix with plain warm water and you can put it in the sitz bath. sit in it for like 20-30 mins. it gave me a lot of relief. and remember to be careful with the sores becuase u don't want them to get infected. i went to a dermatologists today and he told me to put caladryl on the outside areas to help speed up the process. fortunately the symptons of herpes breakouts are very similar to hives or shingles, so there are a lot of 'comfort' products out there that you can use. you can find all this stuff at your local pharmacy. the sitz bath thingy is in the area where they have heating pads and humidifiers. the domeboro is in the same area with the caladryl and bandaids, stuff like that. i hope that you dont have it, but if you do it sounds like you're one of the lucky ones that have mild outbreaks.

Yes, I'm very lucky to have supportive friends and family that I can talk to about this. Not talking about it was almost worse then having it. I can't imagine what I would do if I had the sort of mother some people have mentioned, telling them they're a whore and such.

And, yes, if it is herpes then it's extremely minor. I'm still hoping it's something else, just no idea what that something else would be. Yeast tests came back normal. The problem with herpes is the symptoms can vary so much from person to person, you can't know really until you get the tests back.

Trying to think it is something else just feels like I'm trying to fool myself though.

Seriously, having to wait two weeks for results is just cruel. Doctor wasn't very sympathetic, but I can understand when you have to tell people they have something fatal or life altering, that telling someone they appear to have an occasionally recurring, if very contagious, rash... doesn't seem as big a deal.