It's my first time with a cold sore and the dose of Valtrex didn't help since I had already had it for 7 days. My primary doctor didn't do a culture and we thought it was staph so he just prescribed antibiotics... But those didn't work and I was worried it was antibiotic-resistant staph since I've tried 3 different antibiotics over the course of 2 weeks and a few days and they were all futile. 😓
If only he had cultured it right away and prescribed Valtrex, it would be gone by now since I reached out to him as soon as it happened. 😔 Can doctors please start culturing things, I BEG!
New appointment with Dermatologist and she asked if anyone cultured it. I was so relieved to hear that because I have been wanting a culture of these reoccurring infections since they first popped up in 2018! But they've all been different and not one of them has ever been a blister... We have always treated them as staph/impetigo but who freaking knows now because no doctor ever did a culture until this doctor. They were just randomly treating me without evidence of the cause. Turns out (at least this time) it's a cold sore / fever blister / HSV-1.
Dr. J is prescribing 1g of Valtrex a day for 7-10 days (with 2g of Valtrex 2x a day for the 1st day) since it's spreading in my nose. This means if it's not gone by Christmas, I won't be able to visit my family. 😭 She told me to avoid newborns/babies and immuno-compromised people. Apparently, all of my immediate family have it - but I'm the last one to show symptoms! My oldest sibling had their first one by age 9! But that makes sense since we used to share food and drink after each other as kids. 😮 Also, at least 60% of the population has it. Oh, and I'm asking my s/o to get a blood test to see if he carries antibodies for it because, if for some reason he doesn't, then idk what to do. I don't want to give it to him. 💔 He said it's fine but I don't think so. I'd rather know if he's a carrier and then plan what to do.
Extra emotional because it's spreading up inside my nose AND I'm on my period which is heavy as Hades. I'm going through 1 super tampon an HOUR. If I could just rest and not do all this laundry and dishes, that'd be great. But I can't. There are things to do.
How is there no vaccine for this when it affects over half of the global population? 😭👊
