Saturday, March 25, 2006

Now for a herpes vaccine...



Speaking of Herpes, Trib, I have a nasty situation on my face at the moment. Normally, I use a prescription topical, last time I was at the doc's I asked for a refill and she said, why don't you try the pill format instead of the topical, it's very safe and effective. I said, hey why not? She gave me a prescription for two doses, just to try it and I got them filled right away so I'd be ready to strike as soon as I felt even the tingle of a cold sore. I hate cold sores, they make me miserable, so I'd be prepared to do anything to get rid of one - or so I thought.
Thursday night, I get home from work, sittin' around, all of a sudden I feel a huge one coming on. I grab my pills, read the monograph, take them and wait for the magic. Friday morning I take the second dose, try to make myself presentable for work, despite the emerging facial situation, and head out.
At work, I get in a conversation with my boss about cold sores, and she says, you know, if you aren't planning on having kids, you should try the pill, Valtrex.
What? If you aren't planning on having kids?!? I'm not planning on having kids, but I'm not planning on not having kids either.
The boss says, Yeah, so and so gets them and wanted to take the Valtrex, but he was planning on having kids, so, he decided not to.
So what the heck is that all about? I have to ask the doc next time I go, and before I get another cold sore. In fact, I'm surpressing the urge to make an appointment right away just to go in there and say, what the fuck?!
In happier news though, the Valrex seems to have worked pretty well, it looked like it was going to be a bad week for my face, but it's actually going away pretty quickly, it's already starting to shrink - too bad I'll have children born blind and with no heads now.

9 comments:

Princess Pessimism said...

Make sure you find out why that pill is bad for people who want to have kids. If it makes you sterile, I would think that that was something your coworker should have mentioned.

I have never had a cold sore. *knock on wood*.....I'm extremely particular about sharing things that go on the lips

yrautca said...

Cant you grow a mustache to hide it?

Trib said...

"HE" was planning on having kids? WTF? They say that if you're pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant (in the immediate future) you shouldn't take Valtrex, but the only reason they say that is there haven't been large studies to determine how safe it is. Small studies say that it's safe. So if you get bad cold sores you can take it continually during pregnancy and still have babies with heads. Same with breastfeeding. So that's why your doctor didn't say anything about it: she knows more than your male coworker. And I'm glad to hear that it's clearing up. I don't get the sores, I think I might just be a carrier.

Trib said...

And if a drug makes people sterile, that would be considered a super-duper contraindication. Like major malpractice stuff.

Jennifer said...

Yrautca, I've been trying to grow my mustache in for years, but I've had no success.

Trib, thanks for being the voice of reason, I assumed my doctor would have told me if there was any chance of no-headed babies. On the other hand whenever she goes to prescribe me anything she says, any chance you might be pregnant? and I say, Please God No!
While I agree that it's important to do and not do all that stuff that you are supposed to do and not do when you are planning on having a kid. I also know someone whose mom took thalidomide during her pregnancy and this friend was born with full long regular-looking limbs, not a flipper baby at all. Obviously, these things increase your chances of whatever happening, but there are still people out there whose parents smoked and drank and didn't get their folic acid and took thalidomide who are OK too.
It makes me wonder though, since they don't really test drugs on pregnant women, what the heck are you supposed to do if you get sick when you are pregnant?

Trib said...

Glad to be of some help. They test on a few species of animals usually to try to determine if a drug causes birth defects, but ultimately it just comes down to trying it. Thalidomide didn't cause defects in mice, but whoops! (It was also not approved in the US) So they test stuff on monkeys now too. And yeah it's all probability and when you took it and luck. Thalidomide is used now in leprosy. And armadillos carry leprosy. And I am completely full of useless tangental thoughts. I did a physical last fall on a kid that had fetal alcohol syndrome and it was very obvious that he had serious mental deficiencies. It makes you want to have words with mom. Loud, angry words. One glass of wine does not give a kid full blown FAS. But alcohol is the leading cause of mental retardation in the world.

Miss Ash said...

I am also very lucky to have never had one of those retched things. However, i always thought they were transferred through kissing or sharing a cup or lipstick when someone had one.

But then I was told by a coworker i could look at a newspaper and touch my mouth and voila if an infected person had touched the paper as well i could get one...i need more info on how they are passed.

Anonymous said...

"where's my freakin' herpes stuff!?"

oh jenni, no matter what you do, you'll never be able to escape the message book. bwahahahahah!

yrautca said...

Ok I dont get cold sores but once in a while I will get a swollen upper lip. As you may have figured out I am anal about protection. But I will admit that I have kissed after she told me she didnt have any STDs. Its awkward when she leans in and you stop her and say, can I ask you a question?

Anyway, last time I went to a doctor, I asked him why I get a swollen lip every couple years. He said, it could be allergies etc. He also told me that majority of us are carriers of the basic kind of herpes (I dont know and cant recall how many kinds there are). I was surpirsed to know that. He said that you will not likely die if you are a carrier and he said you cant do anything about it because chances are the person you are kissing has 'em.

Of course since then I havent kissed ;)

btw, I hate the commericals for genital herpes medicine. The couple is always doing outdoorsy stuff as if to tell us that hey if you got herpes there is no need to have sex, go out in the sun and play.