Herpes with neuralgia

I've had herpes for almost 4 years now (HSV-2). I used to get really down and depressed about it, still do now and again, but the main problem now is not the sores/lesions, which are manageable, it's the unbearable nerve pain down my leg. Normally it would just be for a day, right before an outbreak, just a small tingle but for the past week now i've been in seriously uncomfortable pain. I can barely walk and sometimes the painkillers don't even touch it. Reading up about this it's only been connected with shingles, which i'm pretty sure i don't have...

I'm really lost and worried as to what i should do. I'm living in a country with pretty awful healthcare and lots of judgmental doctors. I really need someone to talk to...

[MarianJill]

Hi, although some doctors don't accept it, the helpline for the Herpes Viruses Association (HVA) gets a lot of calls about this. One expert doctor says that taking antivirals every day will stop this pain. (Aciclovir is now very cheap: 400 mg two or three times a day should be right.) I'm not too sure.

You could pretend you have had shingles and get the "nerve pain treatment" that it given to people with post herpetic neuralgia. See the shingles page on the HVA's website for details of these drugs.

However, since this is fairly new and was not happening for four years, you know that your body can control the virus and keep it quiet. So what's different now? Can you improve your sleep, your diet, your stress levels?

[Hidden in reply to MarianJill]

I probably should have mentioned that i tried the antivirals, they did absolutely nothing unfortunately. Also i'm worried about approaching doctors as i'll be judged and looked down upon.

My diet is very healthy (same for years) but as for my sleep i barely get a few hours due to high stress which is hard to manage. Over the last few months the pain has come and gone every few days, i'm a mess. I will definitely look at those shingles drugs though, worth a shot.

Thanks very much for your message, much appreciated!