CoJo

Sorry for the late update! I disclosed and she accepted me. We haven't had sex yet, but she said she was thankful I told her. She stayed the night and it really was a special time in my life I don't think I'll ever forget. I realise how lucky I am not facing rejection on my first disclosure. I thank every who had posted about their experiences in the forums, and also you guys who commented with your advice and experience. Reading everything here gave me a lot of confidence and reassurance in myself. So thanks again, I'll keep you updated on the, no doubt, challenge of disclosing my first outbreak to her. As of late, I'm very happy :)

I am reading the success stories avidly, but just wondering if any straight guy, maybe around my age or WAS around my age in this predicament (19), has a success story or just general advice for me. :)

Hi all, I'm new here to this site. I was diagnosed with type 2 genital herpes in June, from a girl who had failed to disclose, and have broken up with said girl in September due to other issues (related to the theme of dishonesty). However, I've gotten over that and accepted my particular predicament, and have accepted the fact that disclosure is non-negotiable. No one should have had to go through what I did; a choice would have made catching herpes much less frightening, as catching it has brought me to understand an entire culture of misinformation surrounding it, and be much more accepting and loving of others who live with STDs. I was lucky to have very supportive friends and family carry me through the process, and I can only recommend coming out to those closest to you if you feel alone. It really is very easy to manage, although for me I've had about 3 breakouts (which is quite a lot apparently) but each less severe than the other, and the current one is not painful at all. It's simply just there. They're slowing down, and doctors are telling me that the suppressive therapy I will begin to undergo tomorrow will, if not get rid of them, slow them down tremendously. But now to my issue: I've recently met an amazing girl, one who I fall for more and more every day, and we seem to really be hitting it off. I don't have herpes of the mouth, so we've been making out a lot, and we text and talk all the time. What's been eating at me is I keep avoiding all the sexual tension and fun between us, in hopes of finding a better time to disclose my situation to her. I'm confident I won't be judged, but I'm not sure whether she'll want to be with me afterwards (I'm only 19 and so is she, so she has a lot to experience still already), which I know is pretty much the only common factor with these posts. I have what I'm going to say ready and memorized, and I'm going to tell her after we've gone out for dinner on Friday, so we're in a good state of mind, but not in the heat of the moment (which people can make silly decisions in; exhibit A: me). I guess this is all to gather some reaction from like-situational people here. I am a straight male, so needless to say I haven't had an overwhelming influence from other straight males in my situation so far, not to say they're weak for not attributing any. I've heard and received the testimony of many brave girls who have had to disclose and have been successful, are there any guys on here that could tell me stories of their success? If I came off as snarky or a little too confident here I apologize, I'm just thrilled to find somewhere where I can share my experiences and hear that of others :)