Name: Rajah
Age: 59
Sex: M
Occupation: Chief Engineer for an elevator manufacturing, construction and maintenance company.
Type: HSV2 on genitals (on the keel just aft of the bow) and thumb. Also HSV1 from whenever as a kid. Confined to lips as "cold sores".
Yr Infected: 1995
OB's per yr: Bad primary on thumb (complicated by staph component probably present from doctor lancing the whitlow. A specialist had to remove the thumbnail. (It grew back OK, BTW) A few days later I developed a milder OB on my genitals. One recurrence on thumb in 2000 and genital ones were relatively mild and occurred about once every three months for two years with very few after that. No OB's or prodrome after ten day regimen of Famvir in June 97 until May of 98 when I was hit with a very high stress level and did have some prodrome which famvir knocked in about 48 hours.

Prodromes: Genital: Tingle followed by raw feeling in a very small area Whitlow on thumb recurrence felt like a mosquito bite so I didn't realize what it was until blisters started to appear. By the time I started famvir, the lesion was forming so it took a few days to heal.

Method of control: Initially I was on acyclovir (Zovirax). 400 mg. twice daily. I was given Famvir for ten days in June 97 to treat an OB and had no sign of another OB or prodrome until May 98 probably activated by a very high stress level. Famvir stopped it within hours before it got past prodrome. Tai Chi and Meditation for stress relief.

My Story: I had never been with another sex partner for the first 51 years of my life. In 1991, my (now-ex) wife, with whom I have five kids, had become increasingly manic, dropped 50 pounds, dyed her hair blonde and began drinking heavily and going to bars in the afternoon. I leave to the reader's imagination the other activities that often accompany that kind of life-style. Given the promiscuous nature of her afternoon activities, I am lucky to only have HSV2.

Medical Experiences: Initial treatment of my thumb infection also called herpetic whitlow (genital OB followed a few days later) assumed it was a bacterial infection and our family doctor lanced it which provided some pain relief for about 12 hours, but the pain returned and worsened. A trip to the ER resulted in removal of thumbnail by hand specialist and when culture was taken, I insisted on a test for HSV as my first wife was just getting over her primary. The culture was positive and I was subsequently referred to an infectious disease specialist. I was given a script for Zovirax and antibiotics. It was quite effective against the HSV2.

Telling: Not applicable with first wife. My, current wife is HSV-, but was introduced to me by Kingfish who started this whole website and is the motivating factor behind it to this day. By my association with this site, she knew that I had this before we even sent the first e-mails to each other. We have been married since November of 2000 and, as of this writing, she is still HSV-

08/31/2005