Genital Herpes & Constipation?

Me

Omg YES ! I had a hunch because I never get constipated but sometimes I don’t drink enough water but lately I’ve been on top of it and was eating lots of greens so had fiber and all of a sudden at the end of a particularly viscous break out that lasted a month , omg the worse one I had ever gotten I had constipation .i thought to myself this has to be those damn parasites . So I looked it up here and I can’t believe it . I say yes for sure it’s the virus . Its time to do a cleanse ! I am determined to clean up my body and hopefully get rid of this thing !  But yes I believe this virus is a viscous little thing I am determined to beat it ! 

Hello, I´m a 38yo male from Germany and I´m new here. Suffering from IBS / constipation since 10 years, having increasing Herpes (same virusses as GH, but the inflammation takes place on my back, right on the spine, just above the tailbone) since 15 years. I was assuming a connection since 2016, and my doctors rejected this as fiction. One year ago I suddenly found out about the work of Yale University and contacted their lead scientist - guess what? Answered me on the same day! She told me, I wouldn´t believe how many people with the same connection got in touch with her, and that they would work hard to find anything, that could relieve the symptoms or maybe even work as a cure. How some of you already said, there´s some probability, that the colon tissue is already damaged beyond repair, but on the other hand - couldn´t it be, that the bloated colon just presses against some spinal nerves, causing these additional problems?

I´m into backpain for half a year now, and it´s on the exact spot, were the occasional inflammations appear. And on the opposite side of my body, some inches under the skin of my belly, there´s one specific point in my guts, that feels like the center of my gut problems. Both sensations feel somehow connected - most times I don´t have one without the other.

Unfortunately, I haven´t found someone yet - a virologist / gastroenterologist / neurologist etc. that could come up with an idea where and how to start. So far, this has been laughed off by most doctors, and seems to scare them off, in case this could be true...

So it´s good to hear, that there actually are doctors, that take this explanation into consideration, and I´m gonna stay on course.

For those of you, who are interested, here´s what me and Ms. Iwasaki from Yale exchanged a year ago:

Dear Ms. Iwasaki,

my name is Jan ****, I´m a 37yr old male from Germany. I recently found your article on herpes and resulting digestional problems and was actually thrilled by it. It completetly represents my symptoms and problems.

Since 2010 I have strong digestional problems and was eventually diagnosed with Irritated Bowel Syndrome. That actually means, that many doctors won´t give you any practical help after that. It´s devastating.

My life quality has decreased in unspeakable ways. My colon feels constantly clogged and in pain, bowel movents are absolutely insufficient to feel at least a little relieved.

A coloscopy was performed in 2012, but no biopsy / tissue sample was taken.

In recent years I started to develop a diagnosed herpes simplex on my back more and more often, exactly on the spine, approx. 5cm above the coccyx. Thinking about that, I remembered, that this must have been going on rather rarely over the last 15 years or so, probably starting with a glandular fever. Now I have it twice a year. I don´t think that I´ve ever had a genital herpes, though.

What you write in that article fits perfectly into the pattern of my problems. If you actually say, that virusses that are within the spine can actually move into the digestive track and cause a lot of harm there, this could be more than a potential explanation! Especially, since I feel, that the center of discomfort in my bowel (whether obstipated or not) sits right across the location of the herpes.

(My questions and her answers see below)

Again, you have my fullest respect for your work, and if you can´t answer these questions, I understand that. Still I would highly appreciate to get in contact with you or one of your colleagues about this.

Best wishes, hoping to hear from you

Jan ****

Germany

HER ANSWER:

Dear Jan,

Thank you for your inquiry. First, I want to tell you how sorry I am that you are undergoing such discomfort due to herpes infection. Second, I am delighted that you found our study of use to your condition. Please find below my responses to your questions.

Q: How great would you say the chances are, that this can actually happen to humans, provided the spine is actually directly and rather heavily infected?

A: I think the chances of this happening in humans is high.

Q: Is there by now any way your findings can be transferred onto humans and a treatment for them?

A: I wish there was. We are working on therapeutic vaccines but are far from clinical trial.

Q: Would a coloscopy with a biopsy be able to find theses corresponding virusses in the colon tissue?

A: The biopsy has to be made from the wall of the intestine, not the inner surface. This make is impossible to do. The virus replicates in the enteric neurons that live in between the intestinal muscle layer that surrounds the outer wall.

Q: In your findinds on mice, was it detectable in their colon tissue? If yes, was it wide spread or only locally?

A: Absolutely! The highest dose of virus was found in the colon (more than the genital). We do not know whether the virus spread within the colon, but I suspect this was likely, as the highest virus replication was found in the colon.

Q: Would you say, if any of this is the case, can the virus spread by itself onto other regions of the colon?

A: Again, we do not know for sure, but I suspect it. We found the virus in the bottom half of the colon.

Q: Do you think, there is / would be a way to get rid of these virusses and keep the colon from getting infected again? (Sounds too simple, but like putting a barrier between spine and colon)

A: Because the spine to colon nerve connection is important, severing this link would have a detrimental consequence. A more viable thing to do would be to block the spread using antibody. How exactly we can vaccinate people to generate such antibody is still in experimental stages. This is precisely what we are testing in animal models to see if a new vaccine strategy might work.

Q: Would it be sufficient, given that there has been no irreversible harm done to the colon, that anti-herpes drugs like for example Aciclovir could help?

A: Well, I am not sure if I would say that there is no irreversible harm done to the colon. Herpes virus infects enteric neurons and kills them. Once killed, it is very difficult to replace these neurons. Even if replaced, the virus from the spine will infect them again. Having said this, stopping this vicious cycle of infection is key. Acyclovir should help to do this.

Jan, you would not believe how many emails I am getting from patients just like you. There are so many people in the world who are suffering from the complication of herpes that involve chronic constipation. My lab members are working hard to find a treatment. Thank you for your interest in our work, and I wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Akiko Iwasaki

 

Hi Triton,

I have experience this consitpation problem. The first outbreak at 16 march 18. I had went a few times to toliet release bowel . Today , lucky I finally relief 2 times.

What is your home receipt to relief it.

How is your condition now?

Hi all,

I've read this thread a few times, trying to make sense of the progression of my own symptoms and cope with this issue.

My story is like this: I had unprotected sex with someone in Oct 2016. A few days after, I started to feel like pins and needles, pretty much all throughout my whole body, but absolutely nothing visible on the skin (I later realized those were nervous sensations). Then constipation and other stomach issues like gas or diarrhea followed. I had a feeling I got infected with an STD and in November 2016 I got tested for all of them. Came back positive (in a relatively small amount) only for HSV type 1. I only had a little tingling on my tongue from time to time and no other typical HSV symptoms, so when I went to my doctor with these issues, he said I probably had the HSV virus already and didn't know it and these issues wouldn't be related. I was in a very long-term monogamous relationship prior to this new partner and I am quite convinced I didn't have HSV before. Anyways, we ran blood tests, I went to a gastroenterology doctor, ran some more tests with him, everything came back fine and by the end of the year, after doctor visits and all those tests, all those symptoms simply went away. While I was going through those few months, trying to figure out what's happening, I only took over the counter probiotics, some gas and constipation pills, which helped a little to alleviate those symptoms (but not much).

Fast forward to December 2017, when the constipation came back. At that time, it reminded me of the episode from the year, so I started to search the Internet and figure out if there is a correlation between the HSV and constipation. And sure enough, I found there is a lot of proof to that, although it looks like mostly between the HSV type 2, and not the type 1.

Anyways, since last December, these issues never really went away. I went to my doctor in January and showed him some of the evidence I found here and those studies that showed HSV and constipation are connected. So he did prescribe me the antiviral. I took that for a few weeks (a large dose of 2 or 3 mg/day) and that helped a lot. I felt almost back to normal again a couple months ago, but only for a short time, as the constipation, gas, bloating and occasional tingles returned and they are still with me to these days - 6 months after they started for the second time. I am now on the daily suppressant doze of the antiviral for a few weeks and don't really see much improvement. It's a constant bother, I can't eat well, I can't function right and it's becoming more and more worrisome.

I also tested again for HSV 1 and 2 and this time both came back positive and the level for type 1 was much higher than a year before, while the type 2 was very small (barely over the inconclusive level).

So while I am pretty sure I got this this virus in Oct 2016 and did not have it before (in a dormant state) I am still trying to understand why the initial OB was about 3 months long and went away with no medication, while this second outbreak started 6 months ago and is still not going away even with the help of the medication?

I am a white male, almost 48, extremely healthy otherwise, with very healthy eating habits, doing a lot of exercise and staying fit. Had never had any health issues before, all my annual check-ups look good, I don't live a very stressful life (except for these issues!).

Does anyone relate to this kind of experience?

As some people have pointed out, valaciclovir frequently causes constipation.

Separating the herpes symptoms and valaciclovir side effects may be difficult so keep that in mind. 

Try  taking a good  probiotic,  also Miralax you can adjust it as you go, its just a stool softener .

Hi.

I stumbled on this post after a search on herpes and constipation. I read about the mouse experiment first.

I remembered that i first had constipation problems at 17 yo (30 years ago) which was the same time I started to get blisters in my spine. Over the years i have had many tests and seen many specialists and always no issues show up. I had pretty much given up and managed with laxatives.

But about 7 or 8 weeks ago I started taking Lithium Orotate 5 mg 2 x per day for Bipolar II and I have achieved bm 6/7 days for the last several weeks. I read after I started taking it that it has a suppressing effect on the herpes virus which i took as a bonus (it stabilised my moods). But a few days ago I read it also has a positive effect on IBS. I now suspect this is due to the suppressing of the herpes virus. I don't think its a coincidence as I've never been this regular since 17 yo.

I really hope it continues.

Hello to all who were unlucky and ended up in this discussion. I wrote me first comment over one year ago when I was terrified what ghsv 1 caused to my body. As I explained in my comment, my symptoms were mostly internal, only during primary OB I got few bumps. Then my major symptoms were nerve pain in my lower back, hip, UTI like symptoms and yes, quite severe constipation. Now it's 1.5y after my primary OB. First months were the worst (meningitis, viremia, urinary tract issues, bowels issues, horrible nerve pain, fatigue,...), after one year most symptoms resolved and after 1.5y my bowel function seems totally fine - as it used to be! I'm really grateful my body healed. I haven't had any visible OB after my initial outbreak, so I assume, the virus got dormant and my body's got a chance to repair the neurons in my digestive system. I don't use any probiotics anymore and everything works fine. I'm worried that constipation and other issues can come back with eventual OB in future, but I try not to think about that as much. I wish doctors and hsv experts finally accept this is not just skin condition. Good luck to all!

Monique

Thank you for the update! I think it's very important that we update in order to know the different ways our body handles the virus over time. It's been about 1.5 yrs since my initial outbreak too. I had most if your symptoms. I've had 3 OB since. None if them came with warning, lasted long or aggravated the constipation, which lingers today. I am considerably better, having a bowel movement every day but I need help with fiber and laxatives on occasion. In the beginning I had to take laxatives. I also think that the neuron damage appears reversible, at least in some, if the body can keep the virus dormant. Thanks for the information and very glad to hear you are back to feeling like your former self!

Hi everyone,

I'm here to report with my case. Male, 37, from Hungary. I got HSV2 6-7 months ago. My initial OB symptoms were huge pain in urinary tract while peeing for 10 days, then when it went away, severe constipation came to its place, which was undoubtedly a big deal, because it was different than the usual constipation: the stool is not hard, it's just the body which doesn't open up. I couldn't give out anything for 2-3 days, not even gas I think, and it started to hurt. I wasn't able to sleep or do any work. I was daunted like never before, even thought about suicide like someone else said above in this forum.

So I took action: prune jam in the morning, Guttalax drops in the evening, Greek yoghurt, Béres drops for the immune system and rigourously getting out of bed in the same time every morning and drink warm tea. This gradually brought back bowel movement in the mornings over a one month period maybe. Not to a 100%, but to a level when it was not a concern.

Since then I've had 2 returning OBs with a 2-3 month interval between them. Little blisters here and there, but none of these OBs brought back the constipation, so I was not really concerned.

And now, just maybe a month after the last one, I'm in my next OB. At least I guess so because though I have no blisters, I do have the constipation, in its full extent. So back to the beginning... I'll update about how it goes this time...

To all of you who commented and are following this thread - my sincerest apologies for not replying back. I will do my absolute best to get back to those of you who reply.

It's been two years since this episode began and my bowel movements have returned to normal for the most part(about 80-85% from where they were). The frustrating part is not a whole lot of it was due to any one doctor or "pill". What did work was:

• Drinking plenty of water
• Smooth Move Tea. This helped by far the most for me. I would take it before sleep. Sometimes ripping the tea bag and drinking some of the herbs(produced a bigger bowel movement); albeit try to limit this and/or last case.
• Triphala was recommended but I did not use it enough. I still suggest trying it.
• Regular sleep patterns(6-7 hours). First thing I did when I'd wake up is go to the bathroom. Nothing at first, but over the course of a WEEKS, my body began to respond slowly.
• Eat healthy. I cannot stress this enough. Junk food and food that is tough to process should be avoided.
• Take acyclovir as needed. I am using it sparingly and it has not worsened my bowel movements.

At the end of the day, our bodies are all different. For those of you still experiencing symptoms, or just getting them, do NOT panic. Try new things. But most importantly, stay positive. From what I've seen, this will take time.

Like I said, I am more than happy to answer any questions. Wish you all the best.