How do I receive treatment for herpes?

             How do I receive treatment for herpes?

 

 

Herpes has no cure. However, you can take medications to make flare-ups shorter and less painful, which can also help prevent flare-ups in the future.

What is the treatment for herpes?

While herpes has no cure, there are many ways to treat the symptoms and control the infection. Medicines to treat herpes help to shorten outbreaks and prevent them from coming back so often. Your doctor will inform you of the best treatment options for your case.

If you are having an outbreak, your doctor can give you medicine to heal the sores faster. You can also do things to decrease the pain:

Take a hot bath

Keeping the genital area dry (moisture makes the sores last longer)

Wear soft, loose clothing

Apply an ice pack to the sores

Taking a pain reliever such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), or acetaminophen (Tylenol)

How can I prevent herpes outbreaks?

If you have a lot of flare-ups, your doctor may recommend suppressive therapy - taking medication every day. This helps prevent future outbreaks and reduce the chances of passing the infection to your partners.

Whether you take medicine or not, habits like eating healthy, sleeping well, and avoiding stress can help prevent future flare-ups.

It is not known exactly what triggers genital herpes outbreaks. Other infections, operations, skin irritations, sexual intercourse, menstrual periods, and stress can cause breakouts. Oral herpes rashes can be caused by sunburns, sores on the lips, or other infections. If you have oral herpes, avoid heat stroke.

Generally, outbreaks of genital herpes appear more sporadically and become shorter and weaker after a few years, whether you bring them or not.

What happens if you don't get treatment for herpes?

The good news is that herpes is not deadly, not even very dangerous. It can be bothersome, but it doesn't get worse over the years or cause serious health problems like other STDs.

If you don't get treatment for herpes, outbreaks can be both recurring and sporadic. Some people spontaneously stop having breakouts after a while.

There are a few reasons why people may decide not to be treated. They may not have many outbreaks or they don't really bother them, or they may not have sex and are therefore not worried about having herpes at this time. Whatever your situation, getting treatment for herpes is up to you.

A person who has herpes is more likely to get the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) because the sores provide a route for the virus to enter the body. Therefore, always use condoms to prevent the spread of both herpes and HIV.