Herpes Menegitis?

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Tom - 19 Mar 2005 00:53 GMT

A friend of mine was telling me that he thinks I could have a complication
of a herpes outbreak called Herpes Meningitis. I was telling him that some
other weird symptoms I developed right after the big outbreak were severe
lower back and mid back pain and stiffness in the neck. Does this sound
feasible? I heard its not dangerous, it goes away and doesn't cause any
nerve damage. Right now the all the main outbreak symptoms seem to be
lessening and there is little more than some occasional itching and slight
burning in the genitals, but I still have a very sore lower and mid back and
my neck is still a little stiff. He said that he read somewhere that Herpes
Meningitis is caused by HSV2 as a complication. I'm going to mention this to
my doctor also when I see him in a couple of weeks, but I am thinking more
and more that I need to take valtrex or something. Half of my family says I
should take valtrex and the other half thinks I should not, because they
think it could be dangerous for long term use. I haven't heard anything bad
about valtrex.

Tom

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M2slo2cht@nospam.invalid - 19 Mar 2005 05:25 GMT

>Half of my family says I
>should take valtrex and the other half thinks I should not, because they
>think it could be dangerous for long term use.

There's no evidence of danger in taking Valtrex long term. I know
people who've been on suppression with acyclovir for over 20 years
with no ill effect.

I'm no expert but your symptoms sound more like Neuralgia or just
standard prodrome than Meningitis to me.
Here's a paragraph taken from the U of Maryland Medical Center site:

"Herpes Meningitis. Herpes meningitis, an inflammation of the
membranes that line the brain and spinal cord, occurs in 4% to 8% of
cases of primary genital HSV-2. Women are at higher risk for it than
men are. Symptoms include headache, fever, stiff neck, vomiting, and
sensitivity to light. Fortunately, herpes meningitis usually resolves
without complications. The condition generally lasts for two to seven
days, although recurrences have been reported".

M2

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SweptUnder - 19 Mar 2005 05:38 GMT

Hmm I thought Herpes meningitis had a much greater association with HSV1.
Did you also have a fever? Did you experience any other symptoms like
photosensitivity (sensitive to light) or nausea or vomiting?

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Tom - 19 Mar 2005 15:34 GMT

I did have a slight fever when I was in the middle of my primary outbreak,
but no vomiting and no photo sensitivity. I had a headache, very sore lower
back (still sore but not as bad), tiredness, chills, and all the other
symptoms in the genital area. That was in the middle of the primary though.

Right now I just have a sore lower back, feel under the weather on and off,
tired, achy, still have the pains in the thighs and other genital symptoms.
I feel like I just had a smaller outbreak that occurred about a week after
the primary ended. I don't even know if that was a primary, all I know is it
was very bad and lasted 5 weeks. What I just had was smaller and seems to be
around a week in length.

Maybe it is just neuralgia, but I know I never had that until I had the
"primary" outbreak. I know for a fact that my tests showed that I have HSV1
(borderline reading) and that could explain the previous symptoms I was
getting for 7 years in the buttock region and slight lip sores. I was also
with someone in November 2004, and have a suspicion that she could have
given me HSV2, but I don't know for sure, and that's why I am thinking I
could have had this other bigger outbreak all of a sudden.

Tom

> Hmm I thought Herpes meningitis had a much greater association with HSV1.
> Did you also have a fever? Did you experience any other symptoms like
> photosensitivity (sensitive to light) or nausea or vomiting?

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