February 07, 2018

076: Buying herpes over the counter remedies with Alexandra Harbushka

7 minutes

Herpes, cold sores and outbreaks Life With Herpes Welcome to today’s episode on Life With Herpes, I am always thrilled and humbled that you are here joining me and the other members of the Life With Herpes community. Thank you for being here. If you have not joined our Life With Hepes Community I am going to invite you to do so. Trust me….you will be so happy you joined. Today, I talk about how I am frustrated at how the marketing and PR has played a role in the herpes stigma. Recently I have been talking about oral herpes as I had my second herpes outbreak in 14 years. You can go back a couple of episodes and tune in if you want to hear the entire story. But anyway, I had an outbreak on my mouth. It was painful, embarrassing, and just uncomfortable. I went to the local drug store to buy some supplies like Abreva and some cotton swabs to help treat my outbreak. Upon going to the drugstore I was pissed off. I was speechless when I went to the “herpes” section and I couldn't even find the word herpes. Not to even mention there was nothing for genital herpes. Heaven forbid there is a remedy for genital herpes. Every other word was used to describe herpes like; outbreak, fever blister and cold sore but nobody would call it what it is. Is this not astonishing to you? This just plays into the entire stigma. This is why herpes is so “disgusting” to society. This is why when we are diagnosed we are devastated, lost, heartbroken and crushed. Let me know what you think. Do you see the same thing happening at your drug store? Or am I just super sensitive and fired up about this subject. “As a society we soften the blow when it is oral herpes.” - Alexandra Harbushka Keep in touch with Alexandra Harbushka www.lifewithherpes.com www.instagram.com/alexandraharbushka www.facebook.com/lifewithherpespodcast www.pinterest.com/lifewithherpes Join the community If you are ready to join a community of people who are living with herpes also then you will want to join our slack group. It is FREE and it is a great way to find the support and comfort that you are looking for. Head on over to www.lifewithherpes.com and join our community. You will receive a slack invitation as soon as you sign up. See you in there. Ways you can support the Life With Herpes show And if you enjoyed listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it for you, please give the Life With Herpes show a review. It is a way to pay it forward to fellow friends who are living with herpes. You can Subscribe, Rate and Review the show through your iTunes app or on the desktop. Seriously, it helps out a lot more than it is a hassle for you. You see, iTunes has an algorithm that organically promotes the show, so the more ratings and reviews the Life With Herpes Show receives then the higher it gets ranked. This is your way of paying it forward and helping someone find the show who really needs it. Oh, and you can totally use a fake name, so don’t worry about a friend finding you in the iTunes review. Talking about herpes needs to be spread as far and wide as possible. You are totally a part of this movement so THANK YOU! Subscribe, Rate and Review More Episode Resources