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Gender: F
Age: 31
Married: Y
State: South Carolina
Experience...
I want to share w/ you all my experience. I found out I had it when I was 19 years old. It was a day that shook my world that I will never forget. I cried and felt more alone than ever before. This was just NOT happening to me. I had been having sex with my boyfriend at the time for just over a month (who`s now my husband). He had never experienced any symptoms himself, though he did have mouth cold sores. I immediately told him and I was so afraid that he`d leave me. Well he was shocked but never once mentioned leaving me. We got married 5 years later. I had not had any active reoccurances until 7 years after the initial outbreak. Since then, I`ve had one approx every 2 yrs. I take vitamins, work out, drink tea, and eat healthy. When I do have reoccurances, they are pretty unpleasant but they do eventually go away (and I take Valtrex when symptoms come). Unavoidably, I get anxious and depressed each time I see a reoccurance coming but this thing does not define me. My husband loves me and we have a whole life ahead. This is just a bump in the road. Hope you all can remain strong and be who you are without letting this thing hold you back. Take care of YOU. [48636]
Gender: F
Age: 46
Married: N
State: CA
Country: USA
Experience...
After reading some of these posts, I wanted to share my own experience with H. I`ve had it for about 20 years, and I have about 4-7 outbreaks a year, but have also gone 3 straight years without any activiity. I find that stress is my main trigger. I know how all of you feel when you are first told that you have it, I was shocked and hurt and angry too. But you can`t let it ruin your life. Yes it`s with you forever, (or until the cure comes) and yes you have to have the awful "Talk" with each new potential partner, but that`s it. It`s not "dirty" or "shameful" or at all a reason to fall into self-loathing. It`s just something that you have and you have to manage it. I don`t take any medications anymore (I did first 2 years) and I still don`t have to deal with it very often. The hardest part is definitely having to tell someone you really care about, worrying he`ll freak out and you`ll lose him. That has only happend a couple of times to me, and while it broke my heart both times, I just have to accept that they weren`t able to deal and we weren`t meant to be. I have never blamed myself, or thought I was undesirable. It was THEIR inbility to deal, not mine. I have had 3 long term relationships since having it and none of them have gotten infected by me. I actually have a hard time believing that we can pass it on without an active sore present because I have always been very careful and avoided sex if I even felt it coming on, and I`ve not passed it on. I`m guessing that because they can`t really prove that it`s only transmitted while active, they can`t say so. But since I haven`t spread it to anyone in 20 years, am not taking meds, and haven`t used condoms while long term, I would say it`s likely we don`t spread it without it being active. Now, that doesn`t mean someone who has never had an outbreak but is positive for the virus can`t pass it on, that could be different. Anyway, I just want everyone to stop being so depressed about something that is totally manageable. You CAN live a happy, normal life. You CAN have a meaningful, loving relationship. You CAN have children. You just have to choose to believe that you can and then do it. It`s not as bad as everyone says....I promise. [48635]
Gender: F
Age: 50
State: Georgia
Experience...
I have not been diagnosed by a doctor. An ex partner told me he tested positive as a carrier for HSV 2. I was so worried about it then. Then two months later I got a sore the first one was not bad the second one was awful so I went to a clinic and told the PA my story she perscribed some meds for me. I feel awful. i am scared to tell anyone and Have not dated anyone for 9 years. I so want to be in a relationship But who is going to want me now. I feel my life is over. I can not bring myself to tell anyone. I guess this is what I have. I breakout in the Same place everytime. and sometime its very painful. I have told doctors i think I have it but no one will test me. I dont even know if its 1 or 2 I just know its one of them. I am just sick over it knowing I will never be in a relationship for the rest of my life. [48631]
Gender: F
Age: 26
Married: Y
Experience...
I was cheater on by my ex husband and he contracted herpes . I didn`t know that I had it too until I was in a new relationship. It`s not really a big deal...take a pill and don`t have sex when I have an outbreak. Don`t stress out too much! There are worse things :). [48627]
Gender: F
Married: N
Country: USA
Experience...
I dated a very sexually active guy for nearly 2 years..and he had cheated on me. I got tested right away in 2009. My blood test results for a HSV1&HSV2 Combo IGG came back positive! But not HSV1 IGG/IGM or HSV2 IGM/IGG. (IGG = long time infection. IGM = recent contraction. If very recently contracted, IGM may be a false negative because virus has not enough time to produce IGM or IGG)
The doctors recommended I come back in 6 months to get tested again to see if indeed I had a HSV virus, it would transition to an IGG.
My results stayed the same.
Side Note: I had Shingles, Herpes Zoster, when I was an infant. Therefore, after doing some research, I accounted the HSV1&HSV2 Combo to be a false positive from my inactive Herpes Zoster.
I didn`t think anything else of it because I never had a cold sore or a genital outbreak. I breathed easy.
Two years have passed and in early 2011, I had a genital outbreak! I was with a new partner at the time, and assumed he must have given me HSV2! I went to the doctors to get a culture and blood test. The culture came back positive to HSV2 but not in the blood test. Not even for HSV2 IGM, which if my new partner gave it to me, it should be positive. But the HSV2 IGG was negative too. So I didn`t have any antibodies either.
Nearly 8 months later I got tested again. The blood test came back positive for HSV1 IGG...not for HSV2 IGG...
I feel the laboratory who performed my initial culture must have misread the HSV-type.
It is inconclusive because I got tested in 2009 and 2010. And neither HSV1 or HSV2 were positive. And finally in late 2011, HSV1 IGG is positive. It took over 2 years to be detected in my blood?? And how could I have a positive HSV2 culture and a negative HSV2 IGM/IGG blood test...??
Regardless, having HSV is not the end of the world. Managing outbreaks is the only thing to worry about...you are not going to die. It is unfortunate that HSV is a virus, and not a bacterial disease that could be treated with anitbiotics. However, it is not AIDS or Hepititis. Fortunately, taking medication and managing stress can greatly reduce outbreaks and we can live a normal, productive, and inspiring life.
I am not going to let this contraction ruin my life; the people who really matter, will not let it ruin your relationships either. If America`s preventive medicine intiatives were better, people would better understand how HSV works and how common it really is. The media has warpped STD ideas and how people react to them. Maybe one day it will change. God bless everyone, I hope this was beneficial. [48624]
Gender: F
Age: 47
Married: N
State: new york
Country: us
Experience...
having to tell someone you have had exposure to this isn`t fun. most guys run..
my husband cheated on me and gave me this. not fair.
your supposed to turst the man you love and marry..
it has destroyed my self esteem.. am getting counselling is taking a long time [48623]
Gender: F
Age: 41
Married: N
State: MA
Country: USA
Experience...
I was diagnosed and have been living with the disease since 2006. Its not been easy. First OB was terrible, it started wit a burning on my genital, and severe itching. I thought it was an yeast infection gone wrong. I got one sore and after a visit to the gyne they said it looked like H. After testing in lab it was confirmed that it was HSV2. I don`t know how long I`ve had it as that was my first recollection of symptoms.My partner at the time was understanding and accepting, but said he didn`t have it. We broke up a few months after, but not cuz of H. I am in a relationship and have been with the same partner for the past 5 yrs. My telling him was really hard, and painful as I didn`t want to lose him but I couldn`t withold the information from him. We waited to be intimate until we were both comfortable with the idea, we always use condoms. But my BF feels cheated that he can`t perform oral sex on me and that our lovemaking is restricted cuz of H. We want to have a baby the old fashioned way, but I am afraid of transmitting he`s afraid of catching H. So we r trying to work on our issues together, but its been really hard. I`m happy I hav someone to love, but I wish everyday I didn`t have this. I would advise the use of protection all the time, cuz when u meet THE person u want to spend the rest of ur life with, its heartbreaking to have this to deal with. [48622]
Gender: F
Age: 57
Married: Y
State: nj
Country: usa
Experience...
I was just diagnosed with type 2 herpes this week. I went to the doctor when my husband, of 30 years, noticed a small sore on my labia. The doctor told me it was acquired many years ago, since my test results showed antibodies. I`m obviously shocked it took so long to appear. My husband had a tiny, what we thought was a pimple, 5 years ago, now we need to reevaluate this. My husband will be tested this week. We are pretty sure he will be positive. This diagnosis is upsetting but it will not change our physical relationship much. We will be more aware of any outbreaks and probably not have sex at that time. However since it took 30 years to have one outbreak i`m hoping i won`t see another for another 30. [48621]
Gender: F
Age: 46
Married: Y
State: new york
Country: usa
Experience...
I got herpes from my husband.we r still together. I love him dearly. I take meds but my husband does not. He is in prison.when i get an outbreak i ich alot in my private area.also i stay tired alot. [48620]
Gender: F
Age: 18
Married: N
Experience...
Contracted Herpes through genital to genital contact and a condom WAS used [48619]
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