Newbie123

Yep to the best of my knowledge my last test at the 12 week mark came back negative. How did yours go?

Thank you so much for the replies. I'll try not to worry too much. I've been reading around a lot but of course that puts you in a downwards spiral when you don't have anyone to talk to about it. I think my main worry is just the fact that doing something like this is really unlike me and my feeling guilt is manifesting into illogical worries maybe. But it's always good to talk to someone who knows more about this stuff than me so I can understand more. Thanks again!

I'm pretty certain that I had no breaks in the skin around my penis as the sex wasn't particularly rough and I inspected the area soon after and there was no sign of irritation or breaks. From my knowledge the only point of entry then would be mucous membranes which would be covered by the condom right? Am I worrying excessively? Sorry if I come across insensitive or anything like that I'm relatively new here and have no one to talk to about this...

Hi! I had a similar situation not too long ago where I was getting tested bi weekly right up until the 12 week mark. Personally, they didn't detect any of the virus in my blood on any of the tests. Although it is possible to be negative right up until the final week and turn positive after that, i think it's unlikely. Generally, 70% of people will show antibodies after 7/8 weeks if they have been infected, which quite frankly is a relatively high probability. That's from my reading of scientific journals, but unfortunately I can't cite my sources as I read em a while back. Hope this helps :)

Hope this is not tmi but I'm also circumcised and I know this reduces the risk of transmission of certain STDs

Hi everyone, I recently had protected sex with a sex worker. I asked her before and after whether she had any infections and both times she vehemently refused. She had a bit of hair down there so I couldn't see clearly but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. We had a shower both before and after the encounter. Should I be worried that she may have transmitted herpes or anything else for that matter to me? I'm in a country where sex work is legal and so sex workers often have regular check ups and I have not had any symptoms as of yet but it was pretty recent Thanks!

Hi guys, so an update on my situation.. I tested negative with a very low antibody count plus the lack of symptoms the doc told me not to worry. I'm going to get regularly tested just as a precaution from now on but this whole ordeal has taught me a lot that I thought some of which I should share: Other than a major lesson in statistical analysis (looking at journal articles and transmission rates etcetc) it's kind of taught me how to deal with life blindsiding you in a way you never thought would happen. The resilience shown by many H Oppers in this community gave me a renewed sense of revival if that makes sense? You guys are actually awesome... This forced me to do a looot of research on H, both scientific and otherwise. I'm a scientist by trade and education (still currently a student but working full time also) and it's allowed me to further my knowledge in a whole field of research I didn't even know about and hopefully one day I can help make a positive impact on those battling this virus one day. It's definitely a new field of interest for me and its important to make this known to potential young and budding scientists out there so we can really make a change. Finally, the stigma surrounding H is TOTALLY unjustified. Researching more about it and doing my reading and homework on it proved to me just how much the stigma messes things up. It really doesn't deserve the label it has and the work people like Adrial are doing is really important to make that known. I have a strong feeling profitability has something to do with the stigma and lack of funding/drive for research since treatment is much more profitable for big pharma compared to cures. But I don't know that may be my tinfoil hat talking... But yeah this community has taught me a lot and I will definitely be checking back from time to time. Sorry if this is a bit long and again apologies if anything that I'm saying may offend anyone etc but those were a few of my personal takeaways i wanted to share...

Hi guys, thanks so much for the responses. So I haven't had any symptoms as of yet (every itch has still got me paranoid though). I was just assuming that despite the outbreak, a one time exposure yields relatively low risk but that being said I think I'm just trying to convince myself more than anything lol... I live in the UK but right now I'm abroad. The UK don't offer the blood tests anymore I believe but I recently got one done where I am now. The doctor said the results should be 95% accurate given the time frame and will be with me by tomorrow. I'm just very very very nervous... I don't even know if I'd open the results until a while later. Thank you so much for the support guys I really appreciate it...

Is it usual for people to never know dyou think? I've read that it could happen but nothing as to how likely it is. It seems to me most people get a mild primary outbreak that they barely notice then forget about it with hsv2 as opposed to no primary outbreak at all

Any more opinions to this thread??

Hi guys, I was just wondering whether it's possible to have GHSV2 and never have any symptoms (not even a primary outbreak) at all. How likely is this? I was exposed to it about a month ago and the girl in question told me that if I don't have any symptoms within the first 20 days that I'm fine. Is this true? And if I don't have symptoms is it safe to say I don't have hsv2? (I believe I already have oral hsv1)

Hey guys, I'm a 20y/o male and I was potentially exposed to GHSV around 4 weeks ago but I don't have any symptoms at all. Is this normal? Should I have expected some sort of symptom in the incubation phase? Unfortunately where I live I have to pay to get a blood test done. Should I get one done or take the lack of symptoms as a good sign? I don't know how I'd react if my test came back positive and part of me doesn't want to know either I'm so confused and distraught! Help!!

Hey @xero223. I'd say trust the doctors and the experts and I think you'd be fine. If you've had oral cold sores (HSV1) before then it's unlikely that you would contract it genitally also. How were the test results?

Also I just found out that my region doesn't do hsv blood tests so I guess I'm pretty stuck lol!

Hey @Whatiswrongwithme I don't have personal experience of H (yet lol) but I have read countless scientific journals and articles trying to understand how H works. The fact he wore a condom and the placement of the sore means that things swing in your favour. Apparently H is already a pretty fragile virus and coming into direct contact with it won't necessarily mean that it will be transmitted although the probabilities are higher. Someone could correct me if I'm wrong but men are less likely to get it due to anatomical differences. This is down to the fact that the virus needs an entry point into your system and for guys this is usually the head of the penis, foreskin and the urethra (where a lot of glands are concentrated) which have a small area. So as @Strength123 said just monitor any signs of symptoms and if he doesn't get any then it's unlikely that you transmitted it. Hope this helps!

Hi guys, thanks a lot for your responses. It feels so great to talk to people who know more about it. I'll have to wait a while to get tested for both hsv1 and 2 because I'd need to give my body time to build up antibodies. But to be honest I'm just scared. I don't know if I want to know if that makes sense. I guess ignorance is bliss. But it seems irresponsible of me not to get tested. It's a double edged sword and I don't know what side to stand on. I do t know how ready I am. Sorry Im ranting right now and going off on a tangent forgive me. I've never been in a situation like this before and there are so many factors to consider as @Whatiswrongwithme pointed out. I'm also from a community where talking about sexuality and sexual health openly isn't really done so that's had an extra weight on my shoulders. It is encouraging to hear cases of people having unprotected sex during an outbreak and not transmitting it gives me some reassurance. I've heard of loads of cases where married couples have had unprotected sex for years and never transmitted. H seems to not abide by any hard and fast rules though which is daunting. 2% is already quite low in the grand scheme of things and I believe that two percent was found in a study of 100 patients over the course of one year with regular sex (correct me if I'm wrong). I don't know how much higher than that it could be especially considering it was a single exposure (there haven't been any studies done on this so I've heard some wild estimations going up to 75% probability which I personally think may be an overestimating or a very worst case scenario (or I could be naive again)). Plus given that she was on antivirals and the other factors I mentioned, for an unprotected encounter during an outbreak it isn't the worst case so as you said I may have gotten lucky (or maybe I'm being overly optimistic lol). I'd just like to add for @Amando and anyone else reading this post something that the girl I'm now seeing said to me and hopefully may help some people out like it has done for me. She said that ofc she does worry about it but it's something that can be managed and the likelihood reduced. She said that people don't have feelings for each other based on their health and that this has nothing to do with how much she likes me and it never could and that you're worth just as much as before. This reassured me and hopefully it'll do the same for anyone reading this. And I know how it feels to lose someone but that special someone would accept you "warts and all". Idk maybe I'm trying to reassure myself with this but hopefully it'd have the same effect for you... I'll try and keep you guys updated on any changes (if I show any outbreaks etc but it may be unlikely given the time frame). I'd still like to know people's opinions on this!

Hi guys, I'm a 20 y/o male abd very new here (first post and it's gunna be a long one sorry!) and having stumbled across this community and read a few (a lot!) of posts I decided to join and ask my own question, since you guys seem to be quite informative and helpful. Before I start I just want to apologise in case anything I say comes across as insensitive, uninformed or naive, still learning the rules of the road! So to try and cut a long story short, around 4 weeks ago I had unprotected vaginal sex with someone I later found out was suffering a herpes outbreak. After speaking about it a bit she said I probably don't have it since none of the guys she had been with in the past 4 years had got it and I haven't had any symptoms. She'd also had unprotected sex during and outbreak before. This leads me to think that she may have HSV1 which isn't as transmittable genitally right? (we've since stopped speaking so I can't ask which type she has but I know I have HSV1 orally which should provide some immunity to GHSV1 right?) She also said the outbreak wasn't in/on her vagina or very close but above it and was the size of a tiny mosquito bite with no fluid and that she was nearing the end of her OB. She was also on antivirals at the time. I also do a lot of sport and I'm generally pretty healthy so she told me not to worry since my immune system would be pretty strong but I don't know if that has anything to do with transmission. Also contact time was very minimal (only lasted around 30 seconds to a minute before I felt uneasy about things) and I didn't have any abrasions or cuts down there. Not sure if that changes anything Like I said I haven't suffered from any symptoms so far thankfully but I did think I felt some general itching. I've since chalked it up to paranoia as it would be very sporadic (I'd only notice it when I was focusing on it) and not localised at all. Numerous doctors have told me that herpes symptoms consist of localised itching (not general) and whenever there's itching you will notice lesions soon after even if they were small i.e it's very rare to get itching with no lesions. I didn't notice any and got the clinic to check and they reported nothing out of the ordinary either. I know that symptoms likely occur during the incubation period with 90% of people that do suffer from symptomatic hsv showing symptoms within the first 2-20 days but I could be someone who's asymptomatic. I also read from a few journals that the rate of transmission via unprotected sex is around 1 transmission in 1000 encounters. Numerous doctors have also stated that the most infectious STIs have a maximum 20% risk of transmission and that H is not one of them. I also came across this interesting thread where a doctor said that the risk of infection with a lesion present is 1 in 1000 encounters: https://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Transmission-during-outbreak-probability-and-other-questions/show/1944245 Now this does seem rather optimistic but he is a highly accredited professor, director and doctor and an expert in STIs with numerous publications so surely his estimate must hold some weight? Even if it was optimistic it couldn't be too far off? Or am I being naive? There have been other doctors that stand by the low infectivity of H also. So what I'm trying to get at is, weighing all of this up what do you think of the situation? Has anyone been in a situation like this and how did it turn out? I know predicting things like this is like predicting the weather as there are so many variables but I've just been quite paronoid and nervous as I've never been in a situation like this so any advice would help. Again apologies if I come across insensitive or naive etc. I don't mean any distress I cause :( P. S What adds to my nervousness is the fact that I'm starting a new relationship with someone that means the world to me. I've mentioned to her that Ive been exposed to the virus and she's reassured me a lot saying that she doesn't think of it as a big deal and would be happier if I stopped worrying than if I find out that I'm not infected. Personally I don't think it's a big deal for me if I have it and it's just the social stigma thats the worst thing about it but the possibility of passing it on to someone I care about so much kills me...