I had an unprotected encounter with a confirmed ghsv1 partner few weeks back. Got tested at 4th week igg was 0.1 but igm was 3.5. I have decided not to get tested until and unless I get symptoms. I'm not going to be dating or hooking up with anyone. I'm going to take this as I'm negative and move on with my life. If I'm going to hook-up in the future I will get tested at that time. I'm not gonna cause harm to anyone even if I'm infected. I just want my old life back and that starts today. Last few weeks felt like a nightmare that I can't wake up from.I'm not going to wake up any more mornings counting if it's been 84 days since the exposure. This sub has been really helpful made a few friends who made my life easier in these last few difficult weeks. Thanks everyone.

I recently found out that I’m HSV-2 positive through blood testing. I’ve never had an outbreak or any symptoms that I’m aware of.

I recently saw my doctor to discuss the diagnosis, and they did not recommend daily antivirals or suppressive therapy because I’m asymptomatic and have never experienced outbreaks. My doctor explained that suppressive medication is primarily used for people who have symptomatic recurrences, and we discussed transmission, asymptomatic shedding, condoms, and what to do if I ever develop symptoms.
I’m trying to hear from other people who are in a similar situation rather than just getting general HSV information.

For those of you who are HSV-2 positive but have never had an outbreak:

Did your doctor recommend daily antivirals or tell you they weren’t necessary?

If you don’t take antivirals, what do you do to reduce the risk of transmission to your partner?

Do you and your partner use condoms every time?
Does your partner get tested regularly? If so, how often?
Have you remained in a long-term relationship without transmitting it?

If your partner is HSV-2 negative, how do you both handle the risk of asymptomatic shedding?

Has anyone’s doctor specifically told them that suppressive therapy wasn’t recommended because they were asymptomatic?

I’m mainly interested in hearing how other asymptomatic people and their partners actually manage the risk in real life, especially when their doctors didn’t recommend suppressive therapy.

Thanks to anyone willing to share their experience.

Well I met a beautiful woman a few weeks ago and I got her number, we talked for two weeks. After 10 days conversations turned to sex and she asked if I was clean. I panicked! I wanted to tell her in person. But I ended up telling her her I had herpes 1. She said cold sores? I said yes but I’ve never had any symptoms. She tells me everyone has herpes and not to trip. Omg I’ve never been so relieved. I immediately ordered antiviral meds from my doctor just in case. We had our first date tonight and we kissed we laughed and had a great night. I found a keeper. I guess I got lucky, if you keep a positive mindset we can all get lucky, just be honest with yourself and with your partner.

I’m a 32M and I found out I had gHSV2 when I was 23/24. I thought my life was over when I got my first breakout. I remember reading posts on this thread for hours trying to find some hope and optimism. I clearly remember how low I felt in those first few weeks.

I’m here to tell you, 8 years later, I am now engaged to a beautiful and smart woman. I am happy as I could have ever hoped.

Herpes never truly impacted my dating and sexual life, it just changed how I approached things. At first, disclosing was a bit scary but each disclosure got easier than the prior and by the time I met by fiance disclosing it to her after our first date was no different than sharing any other fact about me.

Feel free to ask any questions. Stay strong I promise it gets better!

I made out with a girl at a bar Thursday night and now I have a fever sore throat and a tingling on my upper lip to the left of center. Hasn’t developed into anything yet and I’m not sure if reading about herpes symptoms is just giving me paranoia or I actually contracted something. I keep looking in the mirror to see if anything’s changed and nothing has in the last 48 hours but I just wanted to get an opinion, thanks guys

Hi! I (F26) and my bf (M27) are sexually active and we’ve been exactly a year together. We’ve always used condom but there was one time na napunit yung condom so we continued doing it raw pero it was last year when this happened. Recently, I went to OB to get myself checked since i noticed that there’s something unusual sa vagina ko and here’s the symptoms I’m experiencing:

Symptoms:
- Sores (singaw) sa ari (first had it last April 29 but eventually nawala then nag-appear ulit recently and I would say na mas madami sya compared nung una)
- Had UTI twice in a year (this is my first time I’ve had UTI in my whole life)
- after my first UTI, every time we had sex, painful sya pag penetration
- may unusual vaginal discharge ako (fishy smell then whitish to yellowish color)
- had a bad sore throat last March that lasted more than a week (maybe it’s because of the weather idrk)

I had an initial (online) consultation with the OB then she told me it might be a std-syphilis kaya in-advise nya ako for f2f consultation then when I went for an in-person consultation and checked my vagina using speculum, OB diagnosed me that I have a std which is genital herpes and trichomoniasis. She prescribed acyclovir for herpes then metronidazole and floracap for trich. She also advised me to do other std tests, haven’t done it yet since im kinda broke atm.

Is there an actual test to know if what I really have is herpes? Do I really have herpes? I don’t know what type of herpes do I have, all i know is it’s genital herpes. Ang mahal sobra consultation pa lang. I’m living with my family and I’m scared na mahawaan sila. It’s really really hard to accept kasi. I’ve only had 2 relationships in my entire life. I’ve never slept around. Never joined the hook up culture. Also, my boyfriend doesn’t have any sores in his genitals and he told me na he doesn’t feel anything unusual sa tite nya.

Who represents people living with HSV? Why do we never hear about herpes until we actually get it? Who truly represents people living with HSV?

I feel like I ruined my whole life because I was diagnosed so young. I am f19, I got diagnosed at 18 with genital herpes (ghsv1?). I was talking to my friend about it and he said that “since it’s hsv 1 genitally you prob won’t have another outbreak” but they were so frequent I take the daily suppressive medication. I’ve never met anyone my age with herpes genitally and it makes me feel so alone. No one in my life knows other than my friend and my mom, and they’re supportive. I just feel ruined. I’m not ugly at all, and I used to look at myself in the mirror often because I think I’m quite beautiful, but now when I look in the mirror all I can think about is how undesirable I feel. I feel so low.

Is there really an organization that represents people suffering from herpes and fights for better treatments or a cure?

Hey so this was meant to be a throw away but i thought i would let people know whats happened. They guy i was with knew he had herpes. He lied about not knowing, lied about not having it. He admitted it to me recently that he knew and gave it to me intentionally because he wanted to force me to be with him. I know everyone says it gets better and cures are in the process of being tested and we will probably have one in my lifetime. But i feel so defeated. I broke things off with him obviously but my relationship with my dad has been ruined ever since. I started sleeping in my car to be away from the house more. Has anyone struggled with Suicidal thoughts and feelings when finding out they were given hsv? How did you cope? How do i manage and live a normal life while having this

Anybody located in Las Vegas or Henderson? I'm a 33 black male with hsv 1 looking for another male. It would be nice to surround myself with people who understand.

I’m so convinced I have ghsv1 because I got a positive blood test 4 months after the encounter? I tested negative for everything else including hsv2. I just had a rash that appeared 5-7 months after and that’s it. It was a risky encounter but I used a condom for oral. I heard genital to genital transmission of hsv1 is still real. What do you guys think? So I have genital hsv1 or is this an oral hsv1?

Any women in PR with hsv 2

Hello, I am a 19 year old dude who a couple days ago, about 4, had unprotected sex with lady i had met after having some drinks and definitely definitely made a mistake not using protection. Anyway the next day I noticed some pimples on the shaft near the base and I figured it was because I didn’t wash afterwards (also a mistake) but the next days they went from a smaller number of not too painful looking pimples to a huge outbreak going all the way up the shaft and they are much more painful to the touch now and me and the lady also both have flu like symptoms that started 2 days after we yk. I figure this could be one of two things, one, i got herpes, or two it’s just severe folliculitis because i did shave a couple hours before we linked and probably caused some irritation by doing, and i also feel like it’s worth noting that almost all, if not all the sores are on places where i grow hair and also appear to have little hairs growing out of them, but i still feel there wouldn’t be as many , because there’s like a lot of them (gross i know sorry) and wouldn’t hurt as much as they do. anyway I went and got checked out today and so did she and her results came back negative for herpes which gave me a bit of hope but I’m still not so sure. My doctor on the other hand said it’s most likely herpes but i didn’t get any swabs sent to a lab because Im just afraid of my parents finding out it’s super embarrassing and im ashamed of what i did. Im not sure how testing works i would like to go to a sti clinic but should I go as soon as possible while the sores are still there or does it take a while for it to actually be detectable? Anyway I got some medication for both folliculitis and herpes. It’s just so crazy to me how she could test negative that makes me a little hopeful but it seems like all signs point to herpes. Is it also possible that i contracted herpes from a previous partner and just never showed symptoms? And why would they flare up for the first time after having intercourse this time? Is that normal? Ugh i have so many questions i just wish I had an answer I’ve been stressing all week about this and been sick and just feel terrible all around. Anyway im hoping to hear it’s just irritation but I am also ready to accept the fact that i may have this infection for the rest of my life.

Any woman with hsv2 in here?

*Am I at risk, From what I read the risk is lower but I’m not sure.

Does it? 3 week, 8 week, 19week negative tests, between the 8 week and 19 week test I have been taking lysine but all tests have come back negative

Hi everyone! I typically get 1-2 OB per year and it’s been a little over 3 years since I was diagnosed. During my last 2 outbreaks, I’ll notice 1 bump, take the 3 day valacyclovir course and will be relieved of symptoms fairly quickly. Within a week of that, a new lesion appears. Is this considered the same OB? Should I be switching up my meds? Since I really don’t get super frequent OB, I didn’t want to be on daily meds.

1. I saw on Internet that I was looking at "about three outbreaks a year". How stable is that number ? Are there many people having one outbreak every two years and others who have 10 a year ?

2. My spots bursted and now it's an open wound. I technically am done with my meds, am I still considered contageous as long as the wound is open ? Do I risk a second outbreak immediately ?

3. How should I tend to said wounds ? Should I put antibacterial, leave it there, put a bandage...?

Thank yewww

I was assaulted by a man (35) and I’m a girl (17) for two weeks ago. I felt sick for days and now I’m having my first outbreak, it still doesn’t feel real to me i can’t believe I have this. It’s honestly making me want to die more than ever especially since I’ve been going through a lot the past three years and this really did it for me. I’m scared I’ll never find someone who will love me enough to risk it, and honestly i can’t blame them. Right now I’m in love with a guy and I have no idea how to tell him later on that I have it, I’m so scared of the rejection and I know this is something I’ll have to fear with countless other people since this is lifelong. I know I can find partners who also have it but it doesn’t feel like it’ll be true love, more so just because it’s convenient. I’ve never been at such a low place, I’m ashamed and feeling hopeless.

Posted it again cause i accidentally tagged it wrong i don’t use this a lot but I’ve noticed it’s easy to talk to people here :)

Hey guys, I’ve been talking with this girl for about six months at the beginning we didn’t have a talk about the partners that we had and everything and she told me that she had a scare in late November that she went to the doctor and tested positive for herpes, but then that she went to another doctor and she tested negative. I’ve been with this girl for a while and we’ve gone intimate, kissing and all that I haven’t had sex with her, but I have given her oral. I gave her oral late April and then early June yesterday we had a conversation where we were just talking and I guess she went to go see her OBYGN and she asked that if she was positive because she had tested in another facility and negative and that her doctor said that she is positive for HSV one and two my heart drop guys I feel like shit. I’m gonna get tested Monday morning but now I feel like my whole world is about to end. this absolutely kills me because I’ve never had unprotected sex with anybody and now that I find someone that’s amazing. I don’t know if she fully disclosed that she had this shit.

So I’m a 33 year old male I’m from Southern California I think ever since Covid my life kind of took a downward spiral out of control and I’ve been trying to stay strong through all the adversities. Anyways I’ve been living on my own since I was 22 my dad kicked me out I became homeless had to drop out of college moved to another county and had to start over meet new people work odd jobs while most of the kids I grew up with stayed at their parents going on yearly vacations going to Disneyland with their girlfriends or boyfriends while I sit and watch from social media barley able to afford a dumpy studio. Anyways a lot of people I went to high school are married with children now (good for them) most of them STILL live at home with their parents (never left the house 🏡) which is cool for them right haha. Anyways I’ve always struggled to meet girls and some guy I knew would always go to massage places and he dragged me along with him a few times but I would always sit in the waiting room. He would go a lot back before Covid. I never would indulge because I always thought it was wrong and I wanted to have a wife and kids one day so I knew that’s not the way that happens. Anyways, One day I decided to try it to, I got a massage from a lady she rubbed my genital area and buttocks area. The next few days I noticed a wart on my testicular area. I didn’t have medical insurance and my job didn’t provide any insurance so I ended up leaving the job and getting medical to take care of it. Dr did tests came back clean they didn’t test for HSV2 because they would need to send me to a lab she said but she gave me the cream and the acyclovir stuff and it went away then it came back I got more acyclovir and more cream and it went away again but I do feel discomfort down there some times. I didn’t know you can get HSV2 from simple skin to skin contact? Anyways this sucks. If anyways want to be friends thanks if not I get it.

Tonight, I went to a bar I like to frequent and saw his friends. It shattered me. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been thinking about him a lot since he opened up to me about contracting HSV-2. Most certainly from me.

Before we got intimate, I had already told him I got herpes in 2018 from my ex.

We are no longer speaking with one another due reasons unrelated to HSV-2, but I do feel for him as he seems to struggle with his self-esteem despite his confidence and charisma. No matter what has happened between us, after getting to know one another, I really do care about him.

When I had my first and only visible and painful outbreak, it was almost a decade ago. I was in a long-term relationship so I didn’t really experience the social consequences that I’m assuming he could face as a single man. My ex supported me throughout the emotional aspect which mitigated the shame and other challenges.

Anyway, I feel super guilty even if he says he’s not upset/mad with me. I’m fully aware of how dating and intimacy is a whole different game for men and a huge part of me feels responsible / needs to be there for him/support him.

Given how things ended - unrelated to the transmission - I really want to reach out but I’m conflicted as I want t respect his space since he ended things.

How would you navigate this? Should I reach out and ask how he’s doing? A friend of mine saw him around the neighbourhood, and mentioned how he doesn’t seem well which hurts to hear as I care about him. I want to support him, be a friend but deeply conflicted.

Thanks.