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Herpes and Neuropathy

Is it possible that exposure to several different herpes viruses could cause neuropathy?  For example, if you have been exposed to HSV-1 (Cols Sores), HSV-2 (Genital Herpes), Chicken Pox, Mononucleosis and possibly HHV-6, do you run more of a risk for neuropathy?  (I know for sure I have or have had the first four).  Recently, I have been using acyclovir because I was having genital herpes outbreaks almost every month right before my period.  It is strange because I have had genital herpes for 20 years, with barely any symptoms and about 6 years ago it slowly started reappearing until I was having breakouts once a month.  About 5 years ago I also started getting stinging pain and numbness concentrated mostly in my hands and feet.  Sometimes when it is really bad, I can feel it running from my shoulders, down my arms and up the back of my legs.  More recently, about the last six months, I have been getting muscle spasms or twitches.  When I exercise, the day after I feel like I have been hit by a truck (pain and stiffness all over).  I never feel refreshed after sleep and am often very fatigued.  I have been diagnosed with hashimoto's thyroid disease (hypothyroid) and take sufficient synthroid (TSH is 1.5 to 2: T3 is good also).  I have been tested for all kinds of autoimmune and neurological diseases and all have been negative (i.e. Autoimmune arthritis, HIV, Hepatitis, Syphilis, Lupus, MS, Lyme Disease, etc., etc.).  Coincidently, the problems started about the time I started using suppressive therapy (Acyclovir) for the outbreaks.  My Question(s):  Is it possible that a combination of Herpes viruses can cause neuropathy?  Is it possible that acyclovir might be the cause (side effect)?  Can chronic fatigue cause neuropathy and/or neuralgia?
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Avatar universal
I had chickenpox as a child and had an occasional sore inside my mouth, but didn't have any real problems until I married my current husband and he was "generous with his germs." He had frequent herpes outbreaks on his lip and sometimes didn't tell me until after the fact. We both used acyclovir at first, but then took the approach of changing our diet to eliminate foods that are high in arginine and taking lysine as a supplement and outbreaks decreased a lot.

Then around 3 years ago, in late October, I got what looked like an insect bite on the top joint of my little finger. The redness, swelling and pain spread to all of my other fingers and then to my toes, and the only relief came from taking high (2 grams) and frequent (5-7 times a day around the clock) doses of Vitamin C with biolflavanoids. It took a year for this to go away, and then it came back. It seemed to be seasonal, beginning in late October and lasting until the warm weather of spring. This year it showed up again and formed a blister underneath the skin of the tip of my index finger. My husband had an outbreak at the same time, which is when I made the connection between herpes and what I was experiencing in my fingers and toes.

It all fit together and I realized that we had been eating dried coconut (very high in arginine), which opened us up to herpes problems, so I loaded up on lysine supplements, used topical lysine and it's quickly going away. I want to continue eating coconut, so I'm going to supplement with lysine to balance it out. Lysine needs to be taken on an empty stomach, like all amino acids do.  Topical lysine really helps the lesions heal.  For maintenance, I take 1000 mg (2 x 500 mg capsules) twice a day, more when I have an outbreak. We don't eat any nuts other than coconut. Nuts are very high in arginine, which herpes thrives on.
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Avatar universal
Worry wort I have ghsv1. The last OB I felt coming in I took 1 week of acyclovir and this was back in July. Since then I've had nonstop irritation pain neuralgia burning.
I feel the acyclovir flipped a switch that cannot be turned off.  
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2 Comments
I feel the same way, the gastroenterologist that I saw, among all the other doctors I have seen, said antivirals were very dangerous medicines! I agree!
Kidney damage is long-term problem with those pharmaceuticals. What are they actually doing to help?
Avatar universal


Herpes Simplex 1 and 2 can BOTH cause neuropathic pain syndromes. It is not limited to herpes zoster.  There is plenty of research out there about it. I cannot understand why MDs are still ignorant of this or denying the association, when there is ample material in the literature documenting this problem.  HSV infections are epidemic.  It's time for primary care physicians to get current on the subclinical (not visually observable) and atypical (non-standard) manifestations of the disease.

HAVE HERPES? If you have been paying attention to your symptoms and you think your pain is related to your HSV infection, IT PROBABLY IS.  Your doctors may not know of the neuropathic aspects of HSV, so you will probably have to educate them.  Tell them to check the Merck Manual, the NIH research, the Journal of Pain, etc., etc.  Google it up yourself and go prepared. Try searching Herpes Simplex and neuralgia, HSV and neuropathic pain, genital herpes and neuropathic pain.  Your pain is real and it's not that unusual, but once doctors get a particular disease profile in their head, they will dismiss anything that doesn't fit it.  They are just people too, and they're expected to have all the answers.  Research shows MOST (70%) herpes simplex infections are not correctly identified by either patient or doctor, and more than half (51%) present with symptoms other than the typical lesions.
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2 Comments
So, what to take if the neuropathy is associated with herpes,  will antiviral medications help with the neuropathy?
Now 2018 and doctors still not informed on herpes symptoms, treatment nor prevention recommendations. SHAME on medical industry... Herpes is a horrible disease warranting understanding and a cure!
Avatar universal
I seem to get out-breaks when I am under alot of stress.  Although i gave natural birth to me son who is two years old and by the grace of GOD he is as healthy as can be.  I don't take any medications and I never did.  Medications can cause other things is what I believe.  I have an out break also maybe once a year (HSV-2).  When I had my first out break I had tingling in my feet along with flu like symptoms.  But thats about it.  As of now I just had my first really bad outbreak in about 4 years and I had diarreha.  i was also highly stressed at this time.
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280418 tn?1306325910
I have an active infection of HSV-1 but no cold sore.  I ALSO have all you are saying, fatigue, burning hands, feet, back, etc.  My neuro thinks this is what the issue is.  I take Famvir and in Aug. I slacked off of taking it in the morning and my burning/twitching came back!  Very annoying.  My neuro has no studies to back this up, so he gave me a diagnosis of fibromyalgia for insurance purposes.  He talks about the need for this type of research to be done, but virologists will not "think outside of the box" and say that viruses can travel into other tissues/nerves (like the hands and feet).  I think he is on to something, because many people complain of neuropathies that are idiopathic.  About half of all neuropathies are idiopathic!  Something is happening to us!  Take care:)
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Avatar universal
PS  I have a lot of other physical problems also, but the only thing that gave me relief from the pain was morphine, which I now take several times a day.
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Avatar universal
Might be herpetic neuralgia caused by shingles.  I suffer from this also.  And I used to only get my outbreaks once a year and after a series of 5 surgeries I started having outbreaks 3 - 4 times a year.  Both genital and on my left hip along my paroneal nerve.  Shingles cause terrible pain that can last for years in some people.  Shngles (herpes) are caused by chicken pox.
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