Beachdude1984

@jim15 To add to what Dancer said, according to the stats, 20% of H+ people will be asymptomatic, 60% of HSV+ people will experience symptoms so mild that they will not seek medical care and thus will likely never be diagnosed, and 20% of H+ will experience chronic episodes of moderate to severe symptoms that necessitate clinical treatment. Unfortunately, most of us on this site fall within the latter 20%. @golden I am still not convinced you have oral herpes. The likelihood of contracting oral HSV in the manner you described- from the food/cutlery/drinking glasses at a restaurant- are very slim to none. The chances that you AND your friend contracted oral HSV at the same time in this way are virtually impossible. Visual diagnosis is not sufficient. Many forms of non-viral mouth ulceration that resemble HSV are triggered by things such as stress, acidic and/or sugary foods, bacterial infections etc. I'm eager to learn of your test results, please keep us posted.

Acyclovir is the parent drug of valacyclovir, so if valacyclovir isn't working, then neither will oral acyclovir. You could try acyclovir topical cream, or Famvir, which is the other oral anti viral commonly prescribed for HSV. Many people also have reported good luck with L-lysine, which is a supplement sold OTC in any drug store. How were you diagnosed? 3 months is a very long time for 1 outbreak..

I'm not a woman, or even a parent for that matter.. But logic tells me that if 80% of people infected with herpes are unaware of it, then 80% of pregnant women with herpes are also unaware of it (statistically speaking this would be 4 of 25). And since these women are all having babies without any special monitoring or medication, and with infant herpes being exceptionally rare, there are probably more common, more serious worries for a pregnant woman to direct her attention.

Dancer addressed your concerns about genital herpes quite well. But I have to ask about your cold sore inside your mouth. Oral herpes , aka cold sores, rarely occur inside the mouth. Have you ever been diagnosed with oral herpes by a doctor? If not, I'd be willing to bet that you are getting canker sores, which are very often confused for cold sores, but are not viral and not contagious.

@vanessa, HHV1 and 2 are only about 50% genetically identical to HHV3 (chickenpox/shingles), therefore it would be impossible for any therapy designed to treat shingles to effectively "cure" HHV1 or 2. But, being that they are 50% identical, the new GSK subunit vaccine may offer some therapeutic potential against HHV1 and 2, but we have no idea how much, if any, because no tests have been performed yet.

I would think, and I may be ignorant in thinking so, that the lesbian/gay community would be the most accepting and least judge mental of all demographics. That small dating pool that you believe is working against you, may actually be working in your favor. I mean, if you meet some guy you like and he reciprocates your feelings, don't you think his thought process may be along the lines of, "Wow, "screwthis" is such a good dude, and it's hard enough to meet gay men anyways, I think I'll give him a chance in spite of his HSV." Just my 2 cents.

Why didn't you get a phone number (or two), bro?

Gotcha. HSV certainly causes many people to change themselves for the better, which isn't a bad thing! :)

Good post. Love the optimism and overall message. But I kinda recoil when someone refers to herpes as a "priceless gift." I understand your meaning, but let's be real- herpes is not a gift, herpes is a virus that no one wants. No more, no less. Happy new year to you.

What kind of blood test was it and what were the numerical values?

Yea I was born in 84. I surfed when I was younger but lost interest in it. I still go to the beach often to party, go to concerts, or fish. Yea if your having an OB, board shorts and surfing might be uncomfortable. Otherwise I wouldn't about some rubbing bringing on an OB, and certainly wouldn't keep it from doing something I loved. I see you stressing about this hard, but I promise it does get a lot easier. Everyone telling you this doesn't make it easier now, but try to take comfort in the fact that you will feel normal again. I've had H almost 10 years and I rarely get symptoms now, and when I do it's very mild. Try to be patient and bear it out, bro.

Blockage issue needs to be addressed by a MD... As far your wanker seeming smaller, probably just stress or cold weather.. Some days mine looks like a valiant champion and I want to show it off, other days looks more like a grub worm with a turtle neck on.. I wouldn't worry about that issue.. Night sweats are not a common side effect of anti virals I don't believe, but people have reported strange side effects.. That could also be stress.. Ask your doc when you go

There are services that will send an anonymous email or text message to inform someone that he/she needs to be tested for STDs. I've never used one so I can't give specific info, but I'm sure a google search will be sufficient. May be less trouble than setting up a fake FB account. Good luck.

Important to note that Dancers stats regarding transmission are per year (or every 100 times having intercourse).

HSV 1 and 2 are two different distinct, albeit very similar, viruses. Unlikely that you contracted it via oral sex, as a very small (like 1-2%) percentage of oral herpes cases are HSV 2. She could have either transmitted it to you, or you may have had it from a previous sexual encounter. HSV can lie dormant for years with no symptoms. You have to broach this topic with her. She needs to be tested, and if she is negative you should strongly consider taking precautions to protect her (meds and/or condoms). Good luck.

@AVLS88 I'm very, very curious how it is possible you contracted genital HSV without any prior sexual contact.. I've never heard of such a case,

Your bf needs to be tested ASAP. If he is negative, then you should strongly consider taking precautions to protect him (condoms and/or meds). If he is positive for same type HSV, then no need for safeguards (as far as HSV is concerned).

People obsess over the when and who of herpes transmission, and nothing positive ever comes of it.. You can drive yourself mad trying to figure it out. I suggest you and your bf move on instead of playing the blame game. Good luck to you.

A high value is indicative of an established infection. You have probably had the virus for at least 6 months. Your past partners could be lieing, but more likely he just doesn't know. Herpes testing is not routine and about 80% of those with the virus are unaware of it.

Interestingly and almost paradoxically, acyclovir-resistant strains of HSV-2 are characteristically less virulent than non-resistant strains.

@ white daisies http://depts.washington.edu/hivaids/derm/case2/discussion.html "The first goal is to establish the diagnosis of HSV. If acyclovir resistance is suspected, testing for HSV should include a viral culture of the sample, since resistance testing will require isolation of virus. Laboratory testing for acyclovir resistance includes a variety of phenotypic assays, such as the plaque-reduction assay, dye-uptake assays, and viral DNA-inhibition assays[5]. Among these assays, the plaque reduction assay is the most frequently used and resistance is characteristically defined as an IC50 greater than 2 ug/ml[5], with non-resistant isolates typically having an IC50 of approximately 0.1 ug/ml[3,12]. Within a single lesion, heterogeneous virus populations may exist composed of susceptible and resistant strains." You may have to contact UW to find out where to actually go if you are interested in acyclovir resistance testing.

@john No there are no updates from the FDA standpoint. In all likelihood the hold will not lifted. There is a rumor that the developing company, in a last ditch effort to get the drug approved, will apply for orphan drug status to treat people with acyclovir-resistant strains of HSV. Unfortunately this means the drug will not be available to most of us, unless you can convince a doctor to prescribe the medication off label. And even then, insurance will not cover off label meds, so it will be ridiculously expensive. On the bright side, a similar drug, ASP 2151, with the same mechanism of action (helicase inhibitor) as pritelivir, is in stage 3 trials in Japan. Even if approved in Japan, if/when it is approved here is anyone's guess. The chickenpox vaccine we know give our children was approved in Japan 17 years prior to being approved here.

Going off memory here, but I believe HSV rates are higher in Mexico/Latin America/South America than in the US. It's surely not as publicized there because there is no stigma. I'll have to find the link to the "world herpes map" that shows HSV rates worldwide.

@getbetter Genocea's vaccine is meant to be therapeutic, not preventative, and the preliminary data is not encouraging (42% reduction in outbreaks at 6 months post-injection, return to baseline 12 months post-injection). This would make Gen 003 less efficacious than Valtrex. Genocea is running another trial with altered dosing and adjuvant, and this data will be available next year. They will also be recording shedding rates during this trial. Sanofi-Pasteur, Agenus, and Admedus are all working on prophylactic (preventative) vaccines. Personally I would much rather a preventative vaccine be found. This will do infinitely more to reduce stigma and mitigate risk than any therapeutic vaccine ever could.

Glad it worked out. Nice to finally see a male to female successful disclosure story.