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I was all excited because I finally figured out how my Herpes Simplex manifests itself (how it makes me know when has relapsed).
For folks who don't know, I developed systemic (throughout the body) Herpes Simplex when I was coerced by the VA (on threat of losing our positions in Critical Care or the lab) to participate in the Phase III trials for the Hepatitis B vaccine in 1982. The vaccine was to be given in three separate shots and after the second one, I almost passed out right there as did one of my male co-workers. We laughed it off as anxiety.
Before I forget, thanks to every US convict and every Critical Care Nurse and laboratory worker in the VA system, the Hepatitis B vaccine that you get today is made from the dead virus, so no germs can be transmitted to you!
Our vaccine was live-virus meaning that it was taken directly from Hep B patients with the minimal filtration available in 1982. We didn't know until later that the donors probably died soon after from AIDS since they were mostly IV drug users and/or gay men. We had to sign away our rights to sue the manufacturer even if we developed HIV/AIDS.
Within a couple of days, I developed a huge upper torso red rash (which totally covered the upper part of my body from jawline to waist and made my skin feel like leather and itched but was numb at the same time), severe fatigue, swollen glands, flu-like symptoms, some coughing. That's all I can remember nowadays. (If you're like me and have occasional brainfog, you know I may remember more later).
Anyway, the medical department cared for me very well, I thought. Lots of bloods were drawn. I was given some meds for symptom relief and was put to bed until I felt better - which I recall being more than a month. Once a week I would drag myself into their doctors' offices and they would deny my returning to work and send me home for another week.
Somewhere along the way, I believed I'd had an allergic reaction. The lab results were that I had developed a slight antibody rise to the Hepatitis B bug and didn't have HIV/AIDS. (Whew!) I don't believe that I was ever told about the Herpes Simplex. I was told to never take another Hep B vaccine in the future. In a job where having the Hep B vaccine is necessary in order to work, every year I had to fight with our medical department to keep from getting it. (Thinking about that now, it was aways strange that I would go into my tirade about how I couldn't take the vaccine, them tussling with me over it and then no reprisals or aspersions cast as to the validity of my claim. I think they looked up on my medical records and knew years before I did that I'd been "given" systemic Herpes Simplex.
Nicely in the dark, I went on with my life. Had a partner, got married - all the things that unmarried folk did back in the '80's and 90's. Until 1996 when I had some very painful sensations "down there" - well, on my labia. As an IV Home Therapy nurse, I was driving hours a day so I initially thought it was from that or from a fungal infection. I made an appointment with an GYN/OB guy after over-the-counter meds did nothing to relieve it. I went into his office and told him I thought it had to be Herpes. He was rather nonplussed at my openness, I guess. Anyway, after examining me he told me that he didn't think I had ever had Herpes Simplex since I had no tell-tale scars. (I had been trained by the CDC to be an HIV/AIDS educator and didn't know that Herpes left scars.)
He drew blood and 2 weeks later we found out that - somehow - I was in a relapse of my chronic Herpes Simplex. He was very surprised.
Since I had taken an early retirement in '94, I requested my medical records from the VA in the hopes that some finger stick along the way had transmitted Herpes. I was certain that I hasn't caught it in the traditional way. (If I had emoticons here, this would be the place for a winking smile.)
Lo and behold, my records held the key. That "allergic" reaction was caused by the systemic Herpes Simplex virus. Talk about angry!!
So bringing this story up to this decade, I had long suspected that my continuing fatigue was caused by all of my various Herpes infections relapsing. Back when I was going to my Lyme guru, he tested for that routinely and I was given meds that combated it. Since I've been "between" doctors, I haven't had any anti-virals in over 5 years.
Over the years, I've noticed that I get "dry" blisters on my right hand mainly. I've always recounted these blisters to my docs and always surmised it was Whitlow's, an infection that nursing staff often used to get from patients. My doctors always would nod in agreement. But when I was on the anti-virals, those blisters never appeared. Hmmm.
After finding my new beloved doctor, I desperately wanted him to chase down these relapses. A month or so ago, I wrote that my doctor was scaring me because he wouldn't check my immune system or draw Herpes levels until I saw an Infectious Disease doctor. But at this appointment, I had the remains of two "sores" that had developed on my right palm.
The beginning of this episode was a complete intolerance to water running over my hands, especially in my palms. Pretty strange symptom, eh? After about a week of that, these sores popped up, numb and itching. Not open, just red bumps that I could easily ascribe to something else (like being scratched by the bottom of my BIC). While this has happened many times before, this time I was able to connect it to a sudden increase in my fatigue, thighs aching, and other flu-like symptoms.
SO THE BLOODS ARE DRAWN!! I will call him next week for the results. Here's hoping some answers will be found AND treated!
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