NeverDanced

@seeker... dude, the fact that you're already thinking about dating is a BIG win!

Welcome Marille!

Thanks for the replies all! :-) I would love for this to be a case study... anyone looking to fund one? :-) :-P

... but I can't stop myself from asking it. Skin to skin contact... so even with a condom, there is a chance you can transmit the virus to your neg partner, when you're NOT having an outbreak. OK, here comes the stupid question: (I can't warn you any more that it's stupid) If the underwear is kept on, and you take your penis out of the "fly" ...and THEN put on a condom and have sex, that would make everything even safer right? It MUST! ...this is the part where I admit I Googled this before asking opinions here. Regards, ND

8 days since I got the news. I'm here with my two best friends Jack and Daniel. Naturally, there is a GORGEOUS ginger sitting next to me ( think Emma Stone) playing Keno ( I live in Vegas). She's trying to make small talk... and I'm going to probably have to lie eventually and say I'm married. (It's easier than saying I'm very single, you're beautiful... but I just found out I'm all cruded up so I'm going home to jerk off wearing a haz-mat suit.) She's definitely not a working girl. I've been here long enough to peg those gals 1 mile away. *sigh*... I lost 115lbs over the last 2 years. This was supposed to be year of "normalcy". God sure has a way of kicking you in the nuts sometimes. Sleep well POS & NEG friends, ND

My goodness. I wish I had some advice for you... but I have nothing. This is the exact situation I fear. I'm newly diagnosed and single. Good luck man.

OK that's a much better analogy. I'm pretty happy this morning. I just checked out a co-worker's butt. I think she totally busted me doing it too but at this point who cares. It's a good sign!

I appreciate all the comments! :-) I can possibly see my opinion on this evolving as time passes, but to @WCSDancer2010 ...the car analogy... ya that one is REALLY bad. :-P I think it would make more sense to say, "Car A (Herpes car) WILL eventually crash for sure... and if you don't wear your seat belt you'll have to deal with some life long side effects." "Car B (non-Herps) will never crash if you both drive together (and not ride in any other cars) and no experience dulling seat belt required! :-)" Something like that. I guess, based on where my mind is right now, I feel it's more our responsibility to contain the spread of this disease. It's my fault this happened. It should be my responsibility to keep it contained. Not that I'm looking to date AT ALL any time soon. Future experiences will help me pick the road I decide to travel down. With my luck, the girl of my dreams will start talking to me next week at the supermarket... HA! Regards, ND

I hope this post doesn't offend anyone... but the need to understand the logic behind this scenario is important to me. A gal posted a question about "good" dating sites for H POS men, and someone replied saying that she's limiting her options by taking NEG men out of the equation. But... isn't that the logical, and responsible, thing to do? Now, I'm only 5 days into the news of my diagnosis, but I have to say the 30th or so thing that popped into my head was, "I hope I meet a nice, cute girl in the POS community one day". The first thing was thank God I don't have HIV or HEP (My panel contained 8 tests). You can definitely argue that the responsible thing to do is "have the talk" with someone before sex happens, but I think having them date you, invest time, money (assuming you do/don't go Dutch), and possibly develop a connection with you, knowing full well that you have a transmittable disease, is an unfair thing to do in my eyes. I would certainly feel like I was building a girl up... just to drop her on her head. Also, wouldn't you be putting that person in a very awkward situation? If they say yes... they're exposing themselves to the possibility of an incurable disease. If they say no... they might feel they're being mean. Regards, ND

Appreciate the reply. Your posts always crack me up. Glad to see you slightly flirt with gals on here too... it gives me hope that one day I will want sex again. Right now when it's mentioned, I make a face like I'm watching Gary Busey eat strawberries.

Hello friends, As some of you may have read earlier, I've never had an OB and was getting tested along with my g/f so we can ditch condoms. I got the verbal news last week, but finally saw the paperwork today. My level is 5.30 with the word "high" in bold letters next to it. (I felt that was kind of rubbing it in, but OK) Anyway, since I've never had an OB, I'm trying to figure out when I was exposed to it. Is it safe to say, since my level is so high, that I've had this for a while? Or does one have no bearing on the other? Thanks in advance, ND

Willow, Yes. We both did the 8 test panel. Her's all came back NEG.

Scared4this, That is exactly the situation, yes. I got the 8 test panel done so the girl and I can make things "official" and lose the condoms. If it weren't for that... I'd have no idea I'm POS. I've been trying to think back to when I possibly contracted it... and it has to be at LEAST 2 years ago. There has never been a symptom. I received test results by phone. There was no mention of "low positive" and I haven't gotten a hard copy of my results yet (the place is dragging their feet). Thank you for the information. I will definitely look into that further.

This part of the article was the one I found most appealing. If treatment comes down to 1 shot every 6 months or so. But those with Herpes Simplex Virus-2 are somewhat lacking in options for treatment – they can use antivirals like GlaxoSmithKline’s Valtrex, but serious options really dry up there. Though Valtrex, which can now be taken as a generic, shows an 80 percent decrease in viral shedding, it has to be taken several times a day. The benefit of one of the next vaccines being developed by Agenus, Genocea and others is that it could be given only a handful of times, with boosters offered at six-month or year-long increments – changing the game, potentially, for the treatment of such a widespread disease.

I have to say, I REALLY appreciate all of you continuing to share your thoughts with me. Today is a little bit better than yesterday. I don't plan on having everything figured any time soon, so I'm going to just continue to breathe, work, and sing. Yes, I'm definitely going to sing. Regards, ND