Good News About the Bad News

Terri Warren

Informations

• Publié par: New Harbinger Publications
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 0001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781608825622
• Langue: English

Extrait

herpes, everything you need to know
Terri Warren
New Harbinger Publications, Inc. -->
Publisher’s Note
Care has been taken to confirm the accuracy of the information presented and to describe generally accepted practices. However, the authors, editors, and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or for any consequences from application of the information in this book and make no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the contents of the publication.
The authors, editors, and publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that any drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accordance with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any change in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new or infrequently employed drug.
Some drugs and medical devices presented in this publication may have Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance for limited use in restricted research settings. It is the responsibility of the health care provider to ascertain the FDA status of each drug or device planned for use in their clinical practice.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright © 2009 by Terri Warren
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
All Rights Reserved
Acquired by Melissa Kirk; Cover design by Amy Shoup
Edited by Nelda Street; Text design by Tracy Marie Carlson
Epub ISBN: 9781608825622
The Library of Congress has Cataloged the Print Edition as:
Warren, Terri.
The good news about the bad news : herpes, everything you need to know / Terri Warren.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-1-57224-618-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-57224-618-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Herpesvirus diseases--Popular works. I. Title.
QR201.H48W37 2009
616.9’112--dc22
2009007492
I dedicate this book to my dear friend Doug Hilton. Doug, you had better live to see this book published. Let’s share something from Ponzi to celebrate.
Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Top Ten Questions About Genital Herpes: Everything You Always Wanted to Know but Were Afraid to Ask
Chapter 2. The Herpes Family of Viruses: Getting to Know the Whole Clan
Chapter 3. Transmission: What You Wish You Had Known Sooner
Chapter 4. Diagnosis: Certainty Is the Starting Point
Chapter 5. Special Concerns for Women: Protecting Yourself and Your Baby
Chapter 6. Treatment and Vaccines: The Really Good News
Chapter 7. Telling Someone You Have Herpes
Chapter 8. Psychological Response to Genital Herpes: Getting Your Head on Straight
Chapter 9. HIV and HSV 2: Things Could Be More Complicated
Chapter 10. Other STIs: There Are More!
Chapter 11. Herpes Resources: Finding What You Need
Reference List
Foreword
I’m pleased to have the opportunity to introduce this book. While I was reviewing the manuscript for scientific accuracy and medical completeness, I was struck by Terri’s ability to accurately educate her readers about herpes infection while reassuring her audience they would have full and satisfying lives in spite of having herpes. I think this book will be very useful both to people who have herpes and to those who are concerned about herpes in partners or loved ones.
Terri has done an outstanding job of making the book readable for the layperson but thorough enough to be a valuable resource for professionals, whether they are medical clinicians or counselors. As a physician and herpes researcher, I find it difficult to put myself in the position of the layperson trying to understand this infection for the first time, but I’m confident that the book’s down-to-earth style and well-defined concepts will make it a very accessible resource that readers will pick up again and again. Terri has taken concepts that will certainly be confusing to many people (like asymptomatic shedding of the herpes virus) and explained them in ways that nonmedical and medical people alike can understand. I hope providers who counsel clients with herpes will take note of her approach to these complex topics and use this style in their everyday practice.
Armed with the knowledge gained from this compassionate book, readers with herpes will be reassured that they can cope with their condition, and herpes will take its appropriate role as one of those issues in life that is challenging but can be managed successfully.
—Kenneth H. Fife, MD, Ph.D. Professor of Medicine Indiana University School of Medicine
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people who have been with me as I wrote this book.
Hal, who good-naturedly read each chapter and gave valuable input as we flew around the United States day after day in a big silver tube, preaching the gospel of good herpes care to any clinician who would listen.
My daughters, for being patient when I sometimes didn’t have time for them while I did this instead. Now I have time again.
Ken Fife, for reviewing each chapter so carefully for accuracy, and for giving feedback in such a hearable way.
Jim Catano, who helped me with editing throughout the writing of the book.
My literary agent, Lilly Ghahremani, who helped me through difficult times with her kindness and consistency.
Zane Brown, who has guided my thoughts on the care of women with herpes and their babies for twenty-five years now.
Betsy O’Rourke, my colleague at WebMD, for reviewing chapters and giving thoughtful input on patient-related issues.
Lisa Gilbert, for reviewing chapters with an eye toward patient advocacy.
My best friend, Jane Hilton, for helping me get through writing this book while her own life was turned upside down.
Larry Corey, Anna Wald, Peter Leone, Larry Stanberry, Paul Griffiths, Rich Whitely, Steve Straus, Charlie Ebel, Steve Sacks, and many others who taught me about herpes over the years—bless you for sharing your wisdom with me.
The patients in my clinic and the herpes support group, both online and in person, who have taught me so much about what’s important to you, what you need, and how you can best be helped to live fully with herpes.
Introduction
Whew! Buying this book about herpes was a big step! Good for you! Some of you purchased it on the Internet, knowing it would be shipped to you without a hint as to the content. Others found it in a bookstore. If you bought it in person, maybe you were hesitant about asking the clerk for titles on this subject. Did you buy a few other books at the same time so that this one “blended in”? Was it like buying condoms or tampons at the grocery store—maybe you also buy potato chips and a celebrity-gossip magazine so that such personal items aren’t as obvious?
Welcome to the much-misunderstood world of genital herpes! It’s a subject most people don’t feel comfortable with, no matter where they live or who they are. Thanks to recurring TV commercials, I think we now feel a bit more comfortable talking about things like erectile dysfunction and urinary frequency—and yes, even genital herpes. The number of people who have herpes surprises most everyone. There are more people with genital herpes than with erectile dysfunction and urinary frequency combined . There are even more people with genital herpes than with either diabetes or high blood pressure! About one in every five adults in the United States has genital herpes (Xu et al. 2006). Amazingly, almost 90 percent of the people who have it don’t know they have it (Xu et al. 2006). So if you know you have herpes—and you or someone you care about probably does since you’re reading a book about it—you’re clearly the exception and not the rule.
Erectile dysfunction (ED), bladder problems, and herpes all involve that part of the body we tend to be nervous talking about—the mysterious area between waist and thigh. For most people, it’s quite a challenge to talk about genital problems. And that publicly held neurosis makes herpes a more difficult issue than just the medical condition itself. When you were first diagnosed, you may have wondered what the future would bring and worried about how the people around you would react. We can’t quickly change society’s negative notions about this problem. Hopefully, however, I can change your attitudes and your level of knowledge about it. That’s what this book is all about: to make you more informed about this virus, to help you feel more empowered about having herpes, to give you more control over passing the infection to sex partners, to describe treatment options, and most importantly, to help you learn to accept and respect yourself or other people who have herpes.
Since 1982, I’ve run a private sexually transmitted infection (STI) clinic in Portland, Oregon. As you might imagine, very little about people’s sex lives and their genitalia surprises me anymore. This applies particularly to genital herpes. In addition to seeing thousands of STI patients every year, our clinic has run more than 120 research studies—­most of them about oral or genital herpes—evaluating things like new treatments, new diagnostic tests, and new vaccines. Since 1999, I’ve also been the WebMD herpes resident expert, answering questions daily about herpes. (WebMD is the largest online source for medical information: www.WebMD.com .) These questions range from “How do I interpret these particular blood-test results?” to “Can my eight-year-old get herpes by digging through the laundry basket for his favorite T-shirt if my underwear is in there too?” Answering these questions every day keeps my finger on the pulse of the herpes world.
Last year I asked myself, “Where are these WebMD posters getting their information?” There was only