happyman_adventurous

Other promising studies in this thread from 2016 and 2017: https://herpeslife.com/herpes-forum/discussion/comment/42330/

This info is great thanks I'll take a look. Here's a link to the liquid bandage: - http://a.co/ezXItzO

Hi, does anyone know some effective topical microbicide? That is, some kind of soap / cream / spray that kills the virus and can be used when no outbreaks are present? I ask in order to have yet another tool to prevent infection when you are shedding asymptomatically. I would feel much more relaxed and secure when having sex if I use condom + medicine + topical stuff killing the virus. Many thanks my friends,

Amazing story brother, very encouraging. It always amazes me how for some people it means absolutely nothing that we have H. They go after us anyways. It looks like a super cool girl, congrats!

It is incredible how for some potential partners your herpes can be such a non-issue, non-existing thing. Very encouraging, thanks for sharing!

People are awesome, congrats! It's quite amazing when you see some people won't mind. Texting is very helpful.

Very neat disclosure, congrats!

I mean, is VERY DIFFERENT if: a) you have 1% of PROBABILITIES of passing it after a year of regular sex (in that case, you would need a century, or 100 years of regular sex -LOL-, to "make sure" a transmission was made with medication + condoms) ...or... b) you risk that for every 100 sexual acts, 1 of them passes the infection. In that later case, it would be much more dangerous, right? Something tells me is option "a", but wanted to make sure. That was my doubt essentially. But also wanted to ask about the cumulative part. Does the risk doubles in year #2?

I found a comment by @adrial that points to this audio, where Dr. Terri Warren says that you have to be 7 days taking the medicine before having sex to build up its anti-transmission benefits. Would this be correct? Anyways I can't play nor download the audio guys... https://herpesopportunity.com/terri-warren.html Is it only me?

Hi friends, We have this statistic that says that an H+ female has a 1% chance of passing the virus per year, if she uses both protection and medication. The statistic for guys is 2.5% chance per year, using (as well) both condoms and medication. I have several questions from here: 1) How many sexual acts per week are considered for this stat? Is it safe to establish that 2 sexual acts per week is the average to consider this statistic? 2) Is this 1% (or 2.5%) "decided" after that amount of sexual acts? I mean, after 104 intercourses (52 weeks, sex 2x per week), you "roll the dice" and you have 1% of possibilities to catch it...? 3) ...Or is it a fixed chance ("if you have 100 intercourses, 1 of them WILL infect your couple absolutely")? 4) If it is a probability (and not a security) after those many sexual acts, what if I reduce the frequency to 1 sexual act per week instead of 2 - would that reduce in half the risk? 5) Finally, is this risk cumulative? Or every year the counter goes "back to zero"? Many thanks,

Hi @namastepositive, I am so sorry all this is going on. Indeed, we feel very bad at first, because this is a life-long annoyance. But with time you learn it is a *very minor annoyance*, and your life won't change that much, and it won't change for bad - but for good, if you put some care and love in your new situation. It is true, we get hit by guilt, regret, and worry. However, many things can be done, medically, socially and emotionally, to recover ourselves, no matter if we are the accidental givers, or the receivers. And all those tools are easy to follow and pursuit. First of all, regarding guilt, you didn't know. You thought you were healthy. You had no intentions of giving it to him. How could you? It's not your fault. It was a hidden process for both of you. There's always a "what if", but this is like living in the past - now a new set of conditions are here, and we will have to intervene and make our life better, not more miserable - and this means that the typical "past fiction" and "what ifs" need to be relegated to the not-useful tool box. I am a boy, and caught it with a one night stand with a girl, and I do not hate her at all. I am now concerned in learning about the virus and controlling it. If I liked her as in "something is building up between us" way of liking someone, then after some weeks of soul searching I would retake contact with her without a doubt. As a boy I try to have the big picture in mind: now things are different, I have this condition, and I will be able to manage this virus. But this learning process takes a bit of time, even if you dedicate every day some time in research. If I don't like the girl enough, or if the relationship was in a tender point (an early point), then unfortunately it is more difficult that things resume for the good, and he retakes contact. Not impossible, but difficult. Regarding his outbreaks, if he is taking acyclovir with the right doses (example: 200mg 5 times a day, during 10 days, when having an outbreak) all should be progressively fine. He will feel normal very soon. Now he has to embark on a small travel to learn about the virus, and to live with it, and pay attention to how his body / inmune system behaves with the new "host". But do not worry, he will do it and he will be fine. If he takes seriously his health, he will be able to manage the virus 99% of his life, and keep it at bay 99% of the time, and forget about it enough as to live a plentiful life like everyone else. Only a new protocol needs to be followed to keep it at bay - but it is easy and effective. After the first 6 months / 1 year, the virus gets much more dominated by the inmune system. Getting healthy foods and some supplements helps a lot. Maybe the first months are the more annoying, but afterwards everything should get much easier. Something happened that you didn't want to, hence the guilt, but if you understand where you are at now, and adjust your life to this new place, little by little, you will recover your peace of mind 100%, and you will be as happy as ever, with this boy or another one, that will come into your life and will care for you and love you. This soul searching period is very stormy, but believe me, there's a sunny place on the other side and you will get to it I am sure.

Hi friends, Theoretically we have to take the medication daily. In my case, it's 400mg in the morning and 400mg in the night (acyclovir). However I find this is too much. I would prefer not to put that many medication in my body, let alone doing it for life... I feel confident my outbreaks are quite under control because of nutrition and supplements, something that I pursuit religiously. So my question is: would it be OK to take the medication only when I'm going to have sex? For example, the day BEFORE and the "sex day" itself? That way I could cut a lot of unwanted pills in my body. Many thanks for your ideas and suggestions,

Hi friends, many thanks for the input! Butt skin would be thick enough then. Good to know! @adrial @Katidid @FunnyGirl Best regards. Adrial keep up the great work brother! Cheers,

Hi friends, This was probably discussed somewhere on the forum but I couldn't find it, so I post it here. A team on the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, with public funding, has been doing a research on monkeys and guinea pigs using a vaccine aimed at those who are uninfected, to provide them with pre-infection tools to better counter an eventual infection - to the point of making it negligible in terms of outbreaks and contagion. Note that this would be a "preventive" (prophylactic) vaccine, for a person who's not infected, to super-charge his/her inmune system. If that person was later on infected for whatever reason, a smarter inmune response would take care of the virus effectively. So it is not a "cure" (therapeutic) vaccine for those of us already infected - in our case, the virus is already very well hidden. The findings were published in Jannuary 2017. Aparently some good results showed up. Quoting: “If the vaccine behaves like this in people, it would limit lesions to appearing only about one day in 100, and the virus would be potentially contagious only about two in every 1,000 days,” Friedman said. In principle, he added, that would virtually shut down HSV2’s ability to spread in the population. - https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2017/january/new-genital-herpes-vaccine-candidate-provides-powerful-protection-in-preclinical-tests Between, on that article we have a very "nice" picture of our little "friend" hibernating in the fiber of a neuron - which is by the way the first time I ever see a picture of the virus. Here is a follow up - an interview with Dr. Friedman in late 2017. He says human trials could start in 18 months (mid 2019): - https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/10/11/herpes-vaccine-update-interview-penns-dr-harvey-friedman-11940

Thanks guys sounds very reasonable. Best regards,,

Excellent thanks @RegularGuy!

Hi friends, Being an H+ male, I try to minimize contagion risks when having sex. Besides medication (acyclovir in my case, which works very well), condoms, nutrition and supplements, I try to bring down the odds of passing it when asymptomatically shedding. I try to be non-paranoid, and that is why I'm building a "protocol" that I will follow every day / the day that I have sex. In that sense, I wonder if taking a shower before sex helps to get rid of some of the virus that can be present on there, if the virus was shedding asymptomatically (as most of you know, you *could* be contagious even if no sores are present). So, what do you think people? Can the water get rid of some concentration of the virus on the skin, if it was shedding without a full-on outbreak? Thanks for your thoughts!

Terry Warren says several times in her forum that the buttocks skin is to thick for the virus the get in from the outside. However, we do know that for some people outbreaks can erupt there. Would that mean that some outbreaks can appear on areas not initially exposed to the virus? Cheers,

Hi friends, In my quest to optimize the non-transmission of the virus to my girlfriend I have been wondering about pubic hair. My infection is on the base of the penis where hair grows (in fact, I fatally shaved the day I caught it - and the presence of micro-lesions / abrasion caused by the razor could have contributed to the infection). What are the odds of a slightly increased protection with some pubic hair on there? We are assuming I'm asymptomatic, taking medication, and wearing a condom. Do you think it would help, even a little bit? Many thanks,

Hi @mstanya1234, as you say, it is not your fault what happened. How could you know? Many times it's beyond our control, and then it hits us. Condoms do not protect us 100%. Sometimes is oral to genital and there's no condom on the equation. But you will have the tools, medical and emotional, to keep it at bay with a high success ratio, and you will feel perfectly fine in general terms, believe me. For the people who took risks and knew beforehand the other person had it, the prospect of having the virus wasn't a big deal in the bigger picture - and indeed, "after some soul searching", it isn't a big deal, once you learn how to handle it. Instead of fighting with the past, I let it flow away. Now we are in control of our situation, and we can manage it with all the tools and information we have. Take the common cold virus, the Rhinovirus. It is a virus as well, and when we caught it we feel miserable, our looks are quite terrible, right? Congestion, fever, mucus, cough, we are contagious, etc. But the people who love us do not love us less because of it. We may have been a bit irresponsible and expose ourselves to cold wind, or any other risk factor that we can imagine. We learn from it. But the symptoms disappear and life is wonderful again. This is not very different, we have some new important precautions to take, we have to learn to disclose if we are going to meet people, but in any case we are going to be yet BETTER parents (extra love for ourselves and our kids), and BETTER partners and lovers because of it (again extra love going on). Our love doesn't fade away, and our people's love doesn't fade away EITHER. If having regrets and holding onto the past is an issue, I recommend Eckhart Tolle's masterpiece The Power of Now, there's a book and an audiobook (it lasts like 7 hours, and you can find it on Youtube).

Hi friends, I'm a 36 y/o male, herpes positive. After reading some desperate threads, I wanted to post this for the new people that have this stressful mix of feelings because of the virus. Please believe me, all is going to be OK. The stages of acceptance are stressful, but when you are on the other side you RETAKE CONTROL and become stronger and deeper. Nothing beats you. Life is just as wonderful as ever, you feel stronger than ever, your identity is REINFORCED instead of diluted, because loving yourself and taking care of this condition makes you DEFEAT any stress that initially the social stigma brings. You are most focused, more loving, more caring, and gain lots of insights on life - for instance, how to grow in front of the adversity, or how to more solidly love yourself, or how destiny can be changed BY YOU when odds were initially against you. You will find one or more partners, and the real people that would have been adequated for you WITHOUT this condition, will react positively to you telling them and will accept you. You will be able to have one night stands if you like that path (which is truly legit and fantastic and one of the joys of life), provided you disclose and take your medication and wear a condom. Many people that are promiscuous will be OK with it, they are promiscous, tell them, for example in an online dating site. Texted is easier. You can explain the details too so they have time to decide. Tell them clearly that is their decision and responsability to accept it, and there's always a minimal risk. If they decline, it's understandable, but next them. If you are into parties and meeting people "on site" then it's a very different scenario, disclosing is a bit more difficult, but can be done to the right person. If they refuse or react like an idiot, well, it will be probably by fear and ignorance, it's their right to be wrong. Plus you'll have the chance to: a) monitor closely the state of your inmune system: now you have a "radar" (the virus itself) that tells you when your defenses are low. When it's time to get some inmune booster, some Nature, some Meditation, or a green tea charged with honey, lemon and coconut oil. b) you will be FORCED to follow a healthy diet - more so than an H-negative person, because you will have to conduct an impecable diet to avoid outbreaks. c) you will get an awesome insight in natural supplements. In this "Herpes Quest" we become true savants about zinc, aloe vera, ginger, the super-powers of garlic, or the multiple uses of l-lysine d) you will have an excuse to start Meditation. Who would have tought about it? e) you will have an excuse to do sport, if you were not already into it. f) after the first year, outbreaks will be almost GONE (they say so, I'm in my first year). So now please stand up and accept the deep love for yourself that you innately have and do not reject it because of this virus. You are as powerful as always have been, only a new list of details will have to be taken into account on your life. A new protocol that if you follow properly, will do nothing other than good to you. Best regards,

I also heard of Liquid Bandage as a possible preventive measure. Theoretically it creates a protective film that is waterproof, and its effects last for some days. It wouldn't work for girls if the infection is in the inside I guess, or in any mucose tissue (guy's gland), but it could work well when the infection is on the external skin (ie. penis shaft). The usage would be spreading it over a healthy looking skin, where the infection normally occurs (but not during an outbreak! which is risky anyways and could complicate things), in addition to all the usual measures: condom, suppressive therapy (acyclovir/valacyclovir/etc), and your natural supplements (l-lysine, garlic, zinc, apple cider vinegar orally, diluted oregano oil, etc). Here are a couple of links: - http://www.newskinproducts.com/liquid-bandages/liquid-bandage/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_bandage What do you think guys?

Hi friends, It sounds a bit crazy, and maybe it is, but I was seriously thinking about this last night. What if I take some electrical tape (you know, the black one), and cover the base of my penis, where my infection is? I'm not talking about covering sores (much less open sores), but using the tape on the infected site when the infection is apparently dormant, and the skin looks OK. I would do it with the girl I trust, so it would create some funny moments (word of caution for the one-night standers: this could be too much to handle for your partner after a disclosure, so it's less suitable on that context - but who knows nowadays, LOL). The goal is making sure the asymptomatic shedding doesn't put in danger my partner, as well as being more confident to move more deeply and relaxed, without the fear of making contact with her on that area, etc, etc. What do you think guys, could this make a difference?

Thanks guys for the answers. @Trying2Accept it's true, it's a bit risky to use oils and condoms together, because the oil can break down the condom's latex... Also I guess the general slippery (if enough oil is used) can make the condom to slide off and get you in trouble, which isn't suitable either, so I guess that using the oil topically in the skin "would" be a strategy to follow (only maybe) for the non-condom occasions where the couple is ok with not using it... @RegularGuy many thanks for those points, I needed to read something skeptical about it to keep realistic in my expectations. It would be amazing if some study about coconut oil was made against HSV2 open sores for example, just to keep track of the effects of the oil on the virus... Topically, or even orally. I'm sure there has to be someone who thought about it before, so I'm going to investigate. @Iwillbeok I have read so many cool things about coconut oil that I'm sure it helps (maybe its effects are not inmediate, but it's still an ally). For example, it helps recovering much faster from the common flu, and it diminishes greatly the symptoms... and it keeps a strong inmune system if taken regularly, so it definitively has to help. I take two tablespoons everyday. Thanks for your insight guys hugely appreciate it!

Hi friends, I was wondering lately about coconut oil, which has so many powerful properties, one of them being an effective anti-viral. As many kind people here in the forum has posted before, coconut oil helps in the healing process when an OB occurs. But what about its preventive powers? Let's say I have herpes on the base of my penis, and I have no visible outbreak (but I may be shedding anyways microscopically). If I put a layer of coconut oil - like if it was lub - in the base of the penis, would this increase the protection for my herpres-free girlfriend? Would it kill some virus / dumb them / be a physical oily barrier? And then the other way around: let's say my female partner has it, and I don't. Would a layer of coconut oil in my penis increase my defenses against the virus that she carries? My idea was doing some coconut oil in the base of the penis and around, *in addition* to a condom (as condoms do not cover 100% that part, which is where my infection is), but the question is interesting as well when no condom is used. What do you think my beautiful people? Cheers, Happy A.