The Outbreak Continues

Well here I am. At 8:40pm. Reading up on shingles. Which antiviral to take, and when. I’ve been religiously taking 1500mg of famcilovir 3x a day (500mg each time) daily for 3 days.

This afternoon, I started to get itchy. I mean burning itchy. That’s when I realized this is something else. After I came inside, I noticed my ear starting to form a lesion:

My entire head was on fire. Everything is burning in my mouth, face and sinuses at this point. As I soon as I saw this, I grabbed the tube of acyclovir cream, and started caking it all over the top of my head, face, and neck.

My back was also on fire, so Anies spot treated my back. That’s what this is. It’s HSV, but it’s spreading while on Famcilcovir. I started reading research papers on antiviral efficacy against shingles.

I guess the one to go with is Valtrex, or valacyclovir. Which it turns out, I just got refilled. About 10 minutes ago, I slammed 2g of it. Whatever I gotta do to slow this down at this point. 3 hours later my ear now looks like this:

So this proves this is HSV that’s just not erupting. But it’s reached what’s known as disseminated HSV. Meaning it’s spreading everywhere.

My number 1 priority come Monday is calling Hepworth’s office and get them to send that referral to that Neurologist that specializes in just this. As I read the research about antivirals, the bioavailability isn’t great. Which means I’ll need to go on the IV version of acyclovir for a few weeks.

Like I said, whatever it takes to shut down this fire, let’s do it. As I think back to this morning, it was already starting.

But this is what happens when you have no antivirals for a week because it’s “too soon to fill”. I’m so tired of insurance dictating how / when / where people get care. That’s the whole part of this problem. At this point since I now know what this is, I’m just going to have to pay cash to get shit filled. I can’t wait.

This sucks. This is the worst feeling in the world.