A Case of Genital Herpes, Fatigue, UTI

Jane was 32 when we started working together. We met in January and she started to get genital eruptions the pervious October.  She had recurring Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) in the two years before we met.

Background

Jane broke up with her boyfriend of 10 years, one year before we started working together. During this time, she was dating and was mildly promiscuous. The breakup was her choice, not easy, but necessary. She works in marketing, loves her work, but works very hard and is often stressed.

Herpes

Her initial sensations were itching and burning the day after having intercourse. Initially she thought it was a UTI.  She had severe burning during urination, but she then started to develop sores which were open on her vagina. The lesions were on the clitoris, the left labia and two close to the perineum. There was no strong odor coming from the va-gina when we spoke, but there was a strong odor with the initial outbreak. She was very emotional about having the herpes. She had anticipatory anxiety about meeting someone she really liked and would cry about it in the evening when home alone. She had no history of genital herpes (Homeopathy for Genital Herpes), but did recall in our meeting that she would get bumps on her lips that she never attributed to being herpetic.

Fatigue & Sleep

Since her breakup she had moved houses three times. She focused on succeeding at her competitive job all while trying to grieve her relationship. She was so tired that she wanted to go to bed at 7:30 pm. Some nights she went to bed at 8 pm and would wake up at 6:30am without feeling refreshed

Her energy was < 2:30 – 5pm

She was doing yoga every day, and would try to run a few days a week

Depending on the day, she was > for exercise and would feel more energized.

For the last 7 months, she had been waking consistently at 2am and would sometimes not fall back asleep until 4 or 5am

She sometimes perspires on the back of head and neck during sleep, but it is not consistent.

She grinds her teeth

UTI

In the last year since her break up she had 4-5 UTI’s.  She had never had them before. She was very careful in regards to having safe sex. The eruptions would come on before menses or they would come on two days after having intercourse

There was burning during urination with a lot of pressure in the abdomen

She would get a fever along with frequent urination. Sshe would generally take an antibiotic.

Vaginal Health and Menses

She generally had a lot of discharge, which was whitish, but not yellow.

It is very thick on her underwear. No strong odor. No pain during intercourse

No blood.  She would get pain and pressure in the lower abdomen before menses

She also had breast tenderness before menses. She has had two abortions in her lifetime.

Physicals

She sometimes would get head pain in the afternoon between 2-3 pm

Appetite was increased at 11am. She was very thirsty and sometimes felt like she couldn’t quench her thirst.  She prefers cool water.  She is warm with cold extremities. She gets often has hangnails. No ingrown toe nails

Generals

She can be in the sun for about 4-5 hours at a time

She loves coffee and will often have 2 cups a day

She has an aversion to milk

Music makes her cry a lot

She drinks wine 2-3 times a week and goes out one night a week to get drunk

She likes the heat and humidity

She has big cravings for chips, cheese and pickles

More Mind

The hardest thing in her life was breaking up with her boyfriend. She had a lot of shame around having the herpes. She had not told anyone, except for one friend.

She likes to go out and party, but then will feel guilty about going out as much.

A few times in the year before meeting and her breakup she used cocaine and MDMA a few times. She is fine with public speaking. She likes to be alone if upset. She is open and not shy, but currently wanting to spend a lot of time alone.

Remedy Selection

Sepia 200CH (water dosing) 5:5:1 for 8 days

Sepia is a great remedy for genital herpes and covers her totality of symptoms.

Follow up 1 (3 weeks after initial)

She says while taking the sepia she felt more emotional, which took her by surprise

She felt more impatient. She had a lot of dreams about her childhood, which made her a bit more anxious when she woke up.  She couldn’t explain why she felt troubled.

The base of her neck started to get itchy. She would get a red spot (She said this used to happen a lot in the past, so a return of an old symptom). She said she started to feel a yeast infection come on, but it didn’t manifest. The herpes on the left labia, were still a bit elevated, but was a lot more dry. She got an eruption on the lower left lip, but it did not manifest. The sores closer to the perineum she said felt smaller. She initially had burning pain during urination during the first few days of taking the remedy, but that subsided.  She said when she first started taking the remedy, her urine smelled a bit stronger and the discharge smelled acidic.

She said her concentration was better.

Sleep

She got a cold during the three weeks, which shifted her sleep.

She was now waking up at 3am.

Before the cold, she was feeling more refreshed in the mornings.

Energy

She says her energy is better in the afternoon by 75%

Head

Her headaches reduced by 60%

Mind

She was waking up in a bit of a panic which she was attributing to her dreams.

Menses

Her breasts were less swollen by 10-15% before menses

Generals

Her food cravings have subsided for the pickles and cheese. She is still craving chips and chicken.

She is noticing that her feet are cold and sweaty while sleeping. Her hands have not been as cold. She is sweating on her chest while sleeping.

Prescription

Continuation with Sepia 5:5:1 for 8 days

Nat.M 1M once a week for two weeks

Nat.M 1M in a 1/2 cup of water to use topically on the eruptions

I continued with Sepia as we got great movement immediately. Natrum Muriatricum also fit a large portion of her picture and the two remedies complement each other.

Follow up 2

She says that the largest eruptions on her va-gina now just looks like a skin tag

She says that Nat. M topical really helped a lot

Period

No swollen breasts.  A little bit of dull pain, but she says nothing serious. She says, “ I have been doing really well.” No itching in the vagina.  No itching in anus.

She continues on to say, “ I feel like night and day emotionally and that I am back to my true self”.

She doesn’t feel like drinking alcohol.  The bumps on the clitoris are gone

The ones close to the perineum are 90% gone. The eruptions on the labia bubbled up, but are smaller. They are flesh coloured.  No sensations of a UTI. She was not waking at 2:00 am.  She says she is eating really well. Her energy between 3-5 pm is “much better and much better in general.”

The feelings of shame are a lot less.  She also said she has started looking at her va-gina again with no fear.She felt that she couldn’t look for a long time.

Same Protocol Sepia 200ch 5:5:1

Nat. M 1M once a week for 2 weeks

Follow up 3

She said “after my period I was nervous that the sores would come back up, but they all went away” No itchiness in the rectal area. She says that she has had more stress with work, and was nervous they were going to come up but they didn’t.

She said she was the most stressed she had been all year.

No sensation of a UTI . She was not craving anything. We continued to monitor the situation every few months. She continued to progress very well beyond her chief complaints.