[When I have a herpes outbreak]

Thank you, Brenda >:D< These sound like great ideas. I will try to do something fun or positive when I am having an OB

[When I have a herpes outbreak]

I am on my fourth month of having herpes and I have had 3 "manifestations" (soft word for outbreak). Whenever I have a manifestation, I emotionally feel like it is the first one. I am great in between them, but each outbreak is a reminder that I am not the girl I once was. How do others cope with manifestations?

[I told him I have herpes and I feel..confused.]

Is he saying judgemental things to you?

[80% of people who have herpes don't know they have it?]

Thank you, both. Very helpful :c) I was at the discussion with Dr. Leone and wanted to ask him this question but I also wanted to give others a chance to ask questions as well. I think I had already asked him a few before I remembered this one.

[80% of people who have herpes don't know they have it?]

This stat makes me scratch my temple. If 80% of people don't know they have herpes, how do statisticians know that these 80% have it? Also, with such a high number of people not knowing they have it, it seems like the 16.5% stat would be growing exponentially. Is this number growing greater and greater by the year?

[God stopped protecting me]

Thank you all for your comments. I think that you are all so right. I forget some of these things sometimes. I have definitely gotten to a better place and have even gotten comfortable enough to tell a few friends. I am starting to get to the point where I want to scream it from the rooftops sometimes to just get it out there and try to start a revolution to remove the shame from having the virus. I would like to be more like Adrial, but being a future healthcare professional, I am afraid people might not want me to treat them if they know. I, like Learningasigo, have to learn things the hard way. I have so many "scares" before I got to this point and everytime I swore I would change my ways. Maybe that I why I felt like God finally gave up on me. I was not honoring my word to him.

[A compliment buried in a herpes insult?]

It is also important to realize that with those statistics some of the actors on the show, writers, etc probably have H. Heck! The Mindy chick might have it. They are really the ones who suffer in silence because they probably feel that speaking out would disclose their situation.

[So I had the herpes talk]

Thank you for giving me hope:o)

[I feel like I've been robbed of my youth somehow]

You all are awesome! Thank you!

[Can I still have sex with herpes?]

I have to admit that I am pretty paranoid considering my partner had no idea he had it and had never had/was not having a breakout when we had sex.

[God stopped protecting me]

I do know that it has forced me to slow down sexually and actually get to know someone first (or get to know them better than I was previously). I have been able to enjoy kissing without thinking about anything further, kind of like being a teenager again. Also, being that I am in my early 30s, it had made me prioritize what I want for my future. I can't run around having casual sex anymore. That makes me kind of sad that this freedom has been taken away from me, but at the same time, that freedom is what got me here. HSV-2 has made me more serious about looking for the right mate to spend my life with, something that I always wanted, but just settled for casual sex in the meantime. I no longer have non-committal sex partners as distractors from my main goal.

[H Buddies, unite!]

I am in the Raleigh, NC area and am looking for a female h buddy in the area who has has H for a while and can answer my many questions about dating, disclosing, sex, etc. I am also opened to male and female buddies from anywhere who would just like to talk. Thank you:o)

[God stopped protecting me]

There was a time where I was a very religious/Christian/spiritual type person. I would pray every night and go to church 2x per week almost. I slowly moved away from this and did not pray as much and became more sexually active with people who I did not have serious commitments with. I felt that as long as my partner wore a condom, everything would be ok. Or, if my partner had no signs of an outbreak, which I would have hoped they would tell me if they did, I could not catch anything. Well, I did catch HSV-2 from a partner that was wearing a condom and had never had an outbreak. He was completely unaware that he had HSV-2 until I had an outbreak a week after we had sex and called to tell him.

 

What is wearing on my mind is that I wonder if I had been a more faithful and praying person, would this not have happened? Did God lift his protection from me because I was not praying like I should have or going to church like I should? I have friends that sleep with a different guy every month (or more), but they pray and go to church and nothing has happened to them. I know that this may sound crazy, but it is how I feel. I feel that God stopped protecting me when I stopped being as faithful.