I was diagnosed by a blood antibody test.  After taking Valtrex & acyclovir, I developed rashes in different areas of my body, unexplained dark spots, pain all over, tingling, itching, & hallucination one night. It wasn’t an immediate response. My pcp referred me to a RA doc & Dermatoligist. She didn’t have an explanation and didn’t think it was related. The rheumatoid doctor said that my joints were fine & my auto-immune test came back fine. My dermatologist took a biopsy of the active rash & the test results said I was having a drug reaction. She told me to stop taking the med and vitamins I was on & to start back taking them one by one to see which one was causing it. Everything cleared up after I stopped taking that med and vitamins. I’m only taking vitamin D, iron, zinc, an ACV pill, and a women’s one a day pill with no issues. During a recent outbreak, my pcp told me to take 1,000mg of Valtrex twice a day for 10 days since I was having outbreaks so frequently. I told her I was hesitant about taking it again after the results I got from my dermatologist. I took one and started seeing the random ulcer like sores again on other parts of my body that weren’t around my mouth, thighs, or genital area, so I didn’t take anymore because that’s how the symptoms started gradually last time. She recently recommended to take birth control so that I’ll only have 4 periods a year since I seem to get outbreaks around my period. She also prescribed acyclovir ointment that I haven’t started. I don’t know how effective these two will be. I agree that I need something stronger for the immune response but the side effects from those meds were unbearable. She mentioned that all other drugs are in the same class. Thank you in advance for any recommendations and your time!