Mirena and herpes...

[cursedone]

Hello. I have had genital herpes for about 7 years now. In this time I have had only about 15 outbreaks, and most were mild,or as mild as can be considering there's swollen blisters on my genitalia. In anycase, I had the Mirena put in about 5 months ago. Initially, I had no side effects besides the almost constant bleeding which I'm told should decrease or possibly go away in the next month or so. Then about 2 months ago, I was very sore "down there". I thought it was just irritation from the constant wetness, so i put A&D ointment on it for moisture protection. However, over the next week the pain turned into a huge herpes outbreak, from my labia all the way back to my anus, where I've never before had them. My previous outbreaks were from a week to 9 days, this one lasted over a month. I just recently felt "normal" again, as in no itching, oozing , scabs, or pain. However I now believe I am having yet another outbreak.This is very un-usual for me. On top of the genital outbreaks, I now have what look like the beginning stages of cold sores in the corners of my mouth. They are tiny and do not hurt, the only reason I even noticed them was because I could "taste" them; you know when you rub your tounge across an irritated area and taste the metalic blood taste?  The tiny bumps are white, and are just under the surface of my lips skin. They have been there for two weeks.there are two tiny ones on the right, and a group of 3 plus one solitary one on the left. the solitary one did get slightly bigger, but aside from that,they are unchanged from when i first saw them over 14 days ago. I never had cold sores before, but I know that means nothing. Although my first thought when I noticed them was that maybe I accidentally infected myself, I do know I could have picked up the virus from a family member of friend years ago.Regardless of where I picked it up from, my thought is that maybe the mirena is somehow affecting my immune system, thus allowing for the increase in intensity and frequency of the genital outbreaks, and the surfacing of these cold sores,if thats what they are. I expected them to multiply,form full blown blisters, ooze, scab a few times then go away,but its been more than two weeks and they havent changed. Based on what Ive told you and by educated guess only, what is the probability that they are still the herpes virus? Ive been very careful out of fear. my husband hasnt had a kiss this whole time, I'm afraid to let my baby touch my mouth, and Im very careful to make sure no one eats or drinks after me. I'd like to know if maybe I could relax a little. And so, to sum it up, my questions are :
1)  Does the mirena affect your immune system? I can think of no other reason that my outbreaks would increase and these "blisters" would show up. no diet or stress changes. I've also in general been getting sick more often, even my carpal tunnel has gotten worse, althought I'm not sure it's at all related. I dont want to jump the gun and have the mirena removed if theres nothing to support it affecting your immune system.
2) Is it possible for a cold sore to just sit under the skin of your lips for weeks without surfacing? If not, any other ideas as to what these can be? Worrying about the virus has given me hell these last seven years. I dont mean to automatically jump to this conclusion, but you learn to be safe rather than sorry.  If there's something else that would show those symptoms I'm completely open to a different diagnosis or even just a suggestion. Im just confused and tired.  thank you very much for your time.

[Frekinout]

Chances are you are not going to see this. But incase you do...

Help! I recently got an IUD and I think its causing my outbreaks! You mentioned in you post it got better. How long did it take? What did you chnage? I am really debating having it removed--but I hate the idea of trying to find a new form of bc.

[Taytay086]

I had my IUD for about a year but the doctor told me I have herpes and I think its the IUD because my partner doesnt have it what to do

[cursedone]

Sorry the link apparently isn't working. If you're interested I guess try to copy and paste it in your address bar.

[cursedone]

We ourselves do not. I get an extreme reaction to anything chemical being introduced to my "area". I wash with baby soap, and can't wear designed or colored underwear unless it has the white cotton strip between the legs so none of the dye can get to me. Because of this I react to every type of condom I've tried. I get swollen, red, super sensitive to the touch and my skin down there actually cracks. It takes about a week to get things back under control, and the thought of what's going to happen next time I use one makes me not really want to have sex again. But before I answered your questions I did some digging, and found out some new information regarding the frequency of asymptomatic shedding ( shedding with no symptoms).  I don't like the results of some of the test. I've got an excellent track record, one individual and I were together for  2 years , another for 6 and this current boyfriend for over a year and so far nobody has contracted the virus from me. Still..I don't want to just hope to stay lucky forever. I had a talk with him yesterday about a few things, including the results of the study I read about ( incase you are wondering...here's the link http://www.herpes.org/herpesinfo/partnerprotection.shtml ) and how I think we should seriously weigh the risks and decide again if we want to look into trying condoms. Surprisingly, he actually listened. He said he didn't want to think about it right now, he was in a good frame of mind and didn't want to have to think about negative stuff, but that he would give me an answer "later". That was yesterday afternoon so I guess we'll see. So far he hasn't even brought it up, but honestly when we do talk about it again I'm going to push for atleast trying to find one we don't have so many issues with. It has to be worth it. There's no guaranteeing that if he contracts it from me it will be as mild for him as it is for me. Just knowing he had it, no matter how calm of a version, because of me would just break my heart. So no, we don't use condoms currently but hopefully soon will be.

[january922]

Ok, thank you so much.  DO you and your partner use condoms at all times?

[cursedone]

You can have sex without condoms but never without risks. When you have herpes, even if there are no symptoms the virus could potentially be there. They call this "shedding", and basically it just means that even though you can't feel an outbreak coming, you could potentially have live virus on you and could infect someone. So honestly, no. It's technically never 100% safe to have sex without a condom. That being said,some people weigh the odds and decide not to use one anyways. There are sometimes outside factors that come into it..For example, if there are severe reactions by one or both partners, or if a couple is trying to get pregnant. In those cases, some couples decide not to use condoms.The decision to use one or not is something that has to be taken into serious consideration by you and your boyfriend (or husband,if you guys are waiting till after marriage).

[january922]

Wow, thank you soo much.  I NEEDED that.  The thing is that he is head over heals for me and loves me, says he wont let anything or anybody take that away.  I just hope that he understands when i tell him about my symptoms..  I am SO terrified of telling him but i know im going to have to.  And yes, it is sad that he has never been with anyone and he falls in love with  me and ..surprise :(  Have you and your bf been intimate yet?  If you arent having any outbreak, is it safe to have sex without a condom?

[cursedone]

Wow..I had forgotten I had written this. It has been quite a while. Petal 130 was almost right..You nearly didn't get a response. I received an email letting me know something had been posted to me. I had forgotten about this site. I even began reading my own post and had no clue it was me till the middle of it. Wow..Lol. That was a mind trip. In any case..To follow up on what I've now found out about the whole Mirena/herpes connection. I think that the Mirena most definitely did trigger a horrible batch of outbreaks when it was first placed and my body was adjusting to all its weird voodoo hormones. I was right, at the time that I wrote that I was getting another outbreak even though I was barely healed from the first one. But after that current one healed, things mostly got back on track as far as my hsv2. It went back to being a mostly dormant docile curse, and I've rarely had any outbreaks at all in the years since then. As for my lips..turns out I was having a reaction to my lip gloss. It was the same exact one I had been using for years, the only color/brand I buy, so I was confused. But the doctor assured me that's what it was, so I did some trials of my own and it turned out that my body had decided to randomly be allergic to my lip gloss. I still get the same bumps along my inner lip line when I use it or any gloss or lipstick. I'm very glad that my herpes calmed down, and I'm very glad that I still only have hsv2 and didn't trigger a dormant hsv1 virus to wake up and torment me.  As for your story/question..Sweetie, I don't know if you've gone to a doctor yet or not but it sounds to me a whole lot like an outbreak feels.  The tender to the touch warning is very familiar..that's when you know to feel around a bit and sure enough, once you do you find the spot. Then it itches like crazy (at least for me ) when the bump first raises, and hurts like heck. It breaks, weeps and scabs over and is typically gone within 7 to 9 days. Just from what you're saying , I'd say chances are that's what you have. I'm not a doctor, and you definitely need to go see one. You need to go when your outbreak is fresh so they can send a swab to the lab to get checked. I went years and just suspected, and didn't confirm. It was a mess..believe me, it's much better to know for sure. My sons father and I are no longer together. But to answer your question, no, he didn't ( and still doesn't ) have herpes. He and I got together when I was still  suspecting herpes, but didn't have it confirmed. Even with it just being a suspicion, I still told him after we had hung out awhile and had a few dates.I wanted him to know from the beginning so I could be fair and let him make the decision to go further or not. I told him I was pretty sure that it was herpes, and that I felt he had a right to know about it. He thought I was being very responsible, and thanked me for being honest,  and that he could see why I was nervous about the "talk" I had been telling him we needed to have, but said it was something we could deal with. I considered it a potential deal breaker, and have had to tell 2 others since he and I split and feel the same way about it still. It's something scary to tell people about. My boyfriend I'm with now hadn't had a girlfriend before, and was a virgin when I met him. It was hard to get up the nerve to tell him, but I did as soon as I thought we were serious about wanting to date each other. It's been about 15 months since then, and just tonight ( I swear..I'm not making this up..we really JUST talked about this) he thanked me for telling him about it, and said that sometimes he thinks about how he could have said " You know what..that's too much for me to handle. Sorry" and we both would have gone our separate ways. We agree that that would have been a tragedy cause we are awesome together. You can have the same successful story with your boyfriend. Tell him you know he likes ( loves, if that's where you guys are ) you, and you care about him too and that you guys need to have a serious discussion. Tell him that you had an intimate encounter with someone before you knew him, and recently began having symptoms similar to genital herpes outbreaks. Tell him you are scared yourself, and can understand if he is and needs time to process things, or if he feels like its too much to handle (it sucks..but for some people it is) but that if it is herpes, you really hope it's something you guys can manage together, and that you will take every possible precaution to make sure he never contracts the virus from you.  Hopefully he will listen, and either say okay or at least think about it. You will be proud of yourself for telling him, it is the responsible thing and the only thing someone with half a conscious could do. Be honest and upfront about it and it will hopefully pay off. Get tested as soon as possible to make sure that's what it is, and if you want to get on preventative medication you can talk to your doctor about it. Mine is very mild, and I only have outbreaks typically once a year, occasionally 2 times. I don't personally take medication but would definitely consider it if my outbreaks were more frequent. As for working around it..It goes without saying that any time you even suspect you're going to have an outbreak, you don't do anything intimate with anyone. Not even with a condom. It's just too risky. If you feel that tender to the touch sensation, or that tell tale itchiness, just back off from sexual activities for a few days. If it turns out to be nothing, then at least you were cautious. I've been very careful through the years. I was with my sons father for 6 years, another man for over a year, and with my current b/f for over a year, and none of them have contracted my lovely little virus from me.  Its sad when I think of how easily I could have been spared myself..I wasn't even told my "friend" had herpes. We had dated without being intimate for 2 years when we were younger, and had decided to try to date again. We we're just making out..pretty hard core, but we didn't have sex. Just messed around..but that was enough. Within 3 weeks I had my first outbreak, and within the next year I started hearing rumors about him spreading it to his girlfriend and 2 girls on the side. To this day he denies it. I don't want to be like him, and thankfully it seems like you don't either. You definitely don't want to hide it from your bf any longer. He deserves to know, and it will only hurt him if he finds out about it after getting deeper into the relationship. It's too close to trickery if you wait till he's head over heels then drop the bomb on him..You don't want to hurt him like that. Plus you could use the support.I wish you all the best luck..Hopefully you don't have hsv2, but if you do I hope your boyfriend is understanding and sticks with you. It sucks, but it's not the end of the world and definitely can be managed.  

[petal130]

Honey, you posted to someone who wrote this 3 years ago, chances are you won't get a reply. Start your own new post and we'll help you there.

[january922]

Hi, i just have a question.  I am afraid i might have herpes because over the last 4 months, i have had 3 outbreaks on my inner labia and once on my outer, which i am experiencing now.  I havent been officially diagnosed but ive done research.  I get small sores that last about 6-7 days, very painful, and weepy.  I get like a painful feeling before i get them, kinda like tender to the touch and thats when i suspect i am getting an outbreak.  But the thing is that i am 20 years old and have found the love of my life, which has never had a woman in his life, we have not yet been sexually active and are waiting to get married first.  But i am afraid to tell him what i suspect.  Does your husband have herpes also? How do you guys work around it? Please help!

[keisha64]

Hi All,
I have herpes and also got the Mirena placed a couple months ago. I started noticing alot of itching on my labias both inner and outer. I've also noticed a sore on my labia which I've never had before. I went to the health dept and they said i have alot of WBC on my smear that is probably from the Mirena. It was not cultured though so I'm not too hasty about believing that. I will go to my reg. GYN for a culture since they are the ones who put the Mirena in.

[KB132]

GracefromHHP,

Though in some cases you may be right in saying that these are seperate illnesses, apart from the Merina, but it is all too coincidental that these outbreaks are worse after inserting the Merina IUD. It must be something to do with the levonorgestrel.

I am 29yrs old and did not have oral genital herpes, but a week after I had the IUD inserted I had my first outbreak of coldsores (which no matter how you put it, they're part of the HSV - 1, as HSV - 2 is genital herpes.

I've read that you get the herpes complex 1 when you're a child from friends or family through sharing utensils or kissing (as much as 30-60% of children have HSV - 1) And by the time your 50yrs old 80-90% of us have the HSV - 1, it's just a matter of it being "woken up" within our system which triggers the coldsore on our mouth/lip.

Obviously, my trigger was Merina. I don't know enough about coldsores to know that if I have the IUD removed if the outbreaks will decrease, as I seem to get a new one once a month, usually around the time of my period or if I'm a little run down. (Not enough sleep.)

To say the least, I'm beyond upset that this wasn't mentioned in the possible side-effects. This is not only embarrassing to have a coldsore on my lip every month, it hurts. I've found that Abreva doesn't work at all, for me. The best thing I've found to make the cold sore go away was Carmex chapstick, as it has many ingredients that kill germs and cut the healing time to 5 days. I love Carmex.

I will be contacting my doctor to have a consultation about whether or not I am going to keep the IUD or remove it. I don't know that the hassle of a cold sore is worth 5yrs of not having to remember to take a pill. I did it to cut cost. (If you do the math you save somewhere around $850. $350 - 5yrs = $5.83/mo. Or $20 a month for pills x 60mo. = $1200.)

If you go to: http://www.medicinenet.com/levonorgestrel-releasing_intrauterine-implant/article.htm

You can read more about levonorgestrel and the side effects. There you will see the ance, blisters, heavy bleeding, abdominal and lower back pain, etc. I wish I would have found that site prior to getting my IUD.

Hope you all find a balance with the IUD or go back to a less painful and annoying birth control.

-KB

[gracefromHHP]

you need to see a dermatologist about this. sounds like something else going on.  lots of MRSA out there in the community to cause issues like that too.  

grace

[ruoughgoing]

MRSA and other staph gets WAY overlooked, because we're too often used to iffy, unintelligible things going on down there.  Go see a dermatologist!

[WTF_is_this_]

       I have some of the same things you are describing happening to me! I pretty much bled continuously for the first 2 1/2 - 3 months . I never even knew I had HSV 1, until I got Mirena! I contracted HSV1 on my genitals somewhere between 5-7 years ago, I had symptoms so mild I was misdiagnosed for years. I was told the itchiness, was from using soap to wash the outer labia. I was told the little slits/cuts/cracks were from wiping too hard; and I am like I have been using soap, and wiping all of my life. However the doctor knows best, so I went through two vaginal labors since the end of 2007, completely unaware. I got Mirena in Oct. of 2009 (after baby #2), and then my vagina turned on me! I have had at least a couple of sores all of the time since then. I have been getting these thick lumps under my skin at my bikini line as well. They itch sometimes, I have to shower twice a day. I feel like the Mirena is somehow involved in these mega-outbreaks.

I also get strange super painful to the touch "sores" on my legs. They are more like slightlty raised 2in diameter circles, with a tiny whitehead-looking thingie in the center, sometimes with a tiny leg hair growing out of it. At first I thought it was a follicule issue or ingrown hair, but I don't think so. Who gets ingrown hairs on their legs? I am not even hairy! Has anyone else experienced this.

[gracefromHHP]

Mirena can trigger vaginitis. I recommend you go and be seen and get checked for yeast and bacterial infections. Usually when a herpes ob isn't healed it's because of something else going on so that's the first step.  You might also want to give suppressive therapy a try for a few months until your body is fully adjusted to the iud too.  

As for the lip thing - this doesn't really sound like oral herpes. Your doctor will need to further evaluate that too.

I've never heard of mirena affecting your immune system.  This just sounds like one of the joys of being female and trying to find a more convenient method of birth control than crossing your fingers and/or taking pills everyday.  

I hope you get answers and relief - none of this sounds like fun :(

grace

[daisy315]

I don't know enough about this form of contraception,so therefore would be reluctant to say too much on it,however  I have read several articles and more than a few women  have experienced problems and allergic reactions,there is a possibility that it may be triggering your Herpes outbreaks but that is something you would need to speak to your Doctor or Obs/Gyn about I am not qualified to say more regarding this.If these symptoms have been ongoing since the device was fitted I would definately be suspicious.
Please see your Doctor again and ask him his thoughts on it.

Good Luck
Daisy