Herpes

[blueeclair]

I've been to the GP today and been diagnosed with genital herpes. I'm absolutely devasted and to be honest the future looks quite bleak from what I've read about it on the internet. The thing I'm not sure of is how I've contracted this. I've been with my boyfriend for a year and have been completely monogamous, he says he has too. From what I've read this is a sexually transmitted disease but while I've got quite horrible symptoms he has no symptoms whatsoever. My immediate assumption is that he's been cheating but he swears he hasn't. Is it possible that he has been faithful? Has anyone else had this situation?

[ingram]

You poor thing you must feel like hell. Has your boyfriend had a coldsore on his mouth because this a herpes virus as well and if you have oral sex when you have an outbreak on your mouth it can be passed on to the genitals.; this may be the case with you and your partner.

[MangoPete]

I went out with someone for 4 years who contracted Gential Herpes from an ex partner who was cheating on her.
I didn't get it ( I have been tested) and as long as we were careful and didn't have sex when it flared up there was no problem at all for me. I loved her though she was very scared becuase a guy dumpoed her previously when he found out..
One in four people have it in the USA have it and I would suggest almost as many here.
Do NOT Dispair. It is treatable you are not a lepar.
There are very good books you can get from Amazon etc.Diet especially can help and medicine. Not zovirax . In the states you can get tablets to reduce/stop the flare ups..
As you know someone can have herpes which remains dormant for years. he could have contacted it many years ago. it is only when the virus breakes the surface of the skin that it is contagious.and I am afraid this is when you have got it from. he may not have noticed. Just a msall break is enough and he may just have felt a bit sore and being a bloke thought nothing about it.
Also oral herpes can be spread to the gentials and also the eyeball.
Despite what you maybe feeling herpes in the eye is the most painful.
Do either of you have herpes simplex one or two elsewhere in the body. I have 5 sons and three are teenagers. I am worried about them getting herpes from oral sex .
I suggest you read up on it or better still find out where you nearest STD clinic is and you and your partner go and get checked up for other things too

it does not meant you can't have children , if you want them, it does not mean you cannot have genital sex. Just be careful and take precautions.
You are still the beautiful woman you were before this happenned and you can have a full and exciting sex life. You just have to be a little more careful, which in this day is a necessary thing anyway.
take care and have a big hug.
Peter

[blueeclair]

No neither of us has had a coldsore...

[blueeclair]

Thanks MangoPete, that helps. You've summed up all my fears in one post. We've got an appointment at the clinic but it's not for another month.

[Litchick]

There is a drug called Valtrex which is supposedly much better than the Zovirax....

[MangoPete]

You could also have got it from a friend. If you used a towel or flannel at their house or that they had used at your house to wipe thier mouth for example and then you used it to dry yourself..
You can get it on the side of the face up the nose in the back of the throat It can live for a while under the nails. that is how children spread it about their body.
This virus is transfered by contact. Cups personal towels flannels sponges, trying one anothers clothes etc .
But like I said , though you may feel dirty and violated, Herpes has a stigma which is unfair. It is not the end of your life. it is painful and can be embarrassing but it can be contolled and thousands of people do control it.
Do take care

[MangoPete]

The STD clinic should just be walk in. Phone them back and speak to a nurse about it.
A month is totally unacceptable
In the meantime here are three places for advice.
www.herpeshelp.com
www.yoshi2me.com
www.ihaveherpes.com

[blueeclair]

Thanks again MangoPete. I feel a bit better, those websites aren't as doom and gloom as the ones I looked at. x

[Englishbird]

My best friend and her boyfriend both have it, It's a pain but it's not the end of the world honest. I know it must be awful and a horrid thing and unfortunately some people are more susceptable than others.

As I thought, i've just found this

"Like the HSV-1 virus that causes cold sores, the HSV-2 virus of genital herpes can lie dormant in nearby nerves and be reactivated later in life. "

So it doesn't catagorically mean that he's been cheating. It doesn't catagorically mean he hasn't! but that's your call.

Hope you feel better soon.

[mycatis]

I know you are probably in pain just now but, I know someone who has herpes and they said that though yuo do / can get flair ups over the years it's never as bad as the first time. I know it's not much but hopefully a bit of comfort.
Please don't feel bad or dirty, these things happen, you are not the first and certainly won't be the last x x

[undercovers]

blueeclairi

[tony1941]

The drug you need (which your GP can certainly prescribe) is Aciclovir. It has various trade names (eg Valtrex). The usual dose is at least 200mg five times a day for five days. If you compare this with Zovirax which is a cream with the same active component but has only 5% aciclovir (ie a whole 2g tube contains only 2000 x .05 = 100mg) you can see why you need the prescription. Go back and ask for it. Good luck.

[Hamish]

The reason that tablets and creams have different concs of the active ingreedient is not directly to do with activity. The first thing your body tries to do with a pill is break down the active componenet, therefore you need a higher dose than direct appication. The same can be seen for seriods used for treating asthma.

[Mr Slappy]

One of the odd aspects of this illness is the amount of misinformation there is around it. Herpes CAN be contracted when the sufferer is not having an outbreak. Part of the cycle is a curious state called "shedding", during which the sufferer is extremely contagious. I have suffered with Herpes for seven years now and have unwittingly infected two partners because of this. The sad fact is, taking into account that the majority of suffers are unaware they have the virus because they do not display symptoms, having unprotected sex over any period of time with a sufferer will ensure that it is contracted.

That said, it certainly isn't the end of the world and in many ways can be seen as something of a blessing. I am always thankful that I didn't contract something worse.

Herpes can slow down or stop bed-hopping, and helps foster honesty and openess in relationships, which is always a good thing.

[jen157]

Sometimes there are no <a href="http://yourstdhelp.com/herpes.html">sym
ptoms
of herpes</a>. But that said it's pretty likely that he was cheating too.

[samantha360]

I would be a bit weary. He probably cheated and gave <a href="http://yourstdhelp.com/herpes.html">it<
/a>
to you.