johnnysleeves@yahoo.com

Here's what it looks and feels like:

It starts out is tiny white bumps, about 20 or so on my upper lip.
it's usually the size of a pinky nail, maybe smaller. It's just
sliiiightly puffy. Then it gets rough, like a cat's tongue. It's not
really discolored and unless you're upclose, you don't notice it. It
doesn't itch or burn, but when i first started to get them, it was a
little throbby. I just don't want to give this to my girlfriend - on
her lip or, you know, down below.

When it first started, I got Valtrex and took 2grams in the morning,
then 2 grams at night and it went away. But it kept coming back after
about a week. So I'd keep doing the Valtrex 4gram per day routine to
make it go away.

Made an appointment at my dermotologist, but of course when the
appointment came around, the herpes was gone. So he had me take 1gram
per day for about a month to see if it will keep it at bay. It's not
as frequent as it was, but now and again it'll TRY to surface. Should
I be taking 2 grams a day? Is it bad to take Valtrex for an extended
period of time?

My belief is that I got it from a microphone (i sing in a band) and
twice a week I'm practicing with my mic (i since got a new, clean one)
and when I play shows, I'm at the mercy of whatever mic is on stage,
but i do stay well away from it)

If anyone can shed any light on what it may be, it would be helpful.

Is a dermatologist who I want to diagnos the problem?

Thanks so much in advance,

John

m2slo2cht@yahoo.com

From the description of your symptoms, it's hard to tell. Could be
herpes or might be something else. Seems to me your doc should have
tested for it. That'd be the only way to know for sure.


I'm not sure what the recommended dose for Valtrex is but people have
used it for suppression over a period of years with no problem. Maybe
someone else here can chime in with the recommended dosage.


If it's herpes, you didn't get it from a microphone. Or any other
inanimate object. The virus can't survive more than a second or two on
things like doorknobs, countertops, toilet seats, or microphones. It's
a pretty fragile little virus. Herpes transfers by "skin to skin
contact". In the case of an oral infection, that usually means
"smoochin'". Or possibly oral *** with someone positive with genital
type 1 ... although the risk of that second possibility is less than
the first (still a possibility though).


A Dermatilogist should be able to recognize it. So should a Urologist
or an Infectious Disease Specialist. Probably a few others too. But no
matter which one diagnoses it by sight, they should definitely run a
test on it for confirmation.

M2