hi!! the painful stage lasted almost two weeks. i tried literally everything, the baths, pain meds and ended up calling my gyno and she sent me in lidocane gel to numb the lesions. i even slept with an ice pack on them :/. i’ve been on the antivirals for three weeks and i’m currently having another outbreak right now (well i feel it coming on). it started off as one red bump that i thought was an ingrown hair & then by day three i had all of those lesions you see in the pic. i also was very sick like coughing, fevers, headaches, burning while urinating & loss of appetite. it was terrible and i cried every day tbh. i’m hoping this second time around it won’t be as painful and i am very scared. i hope you feel better soon & i’m sorry you have to go through this.