Hi,
I am a 24 year old woman and I was recently diagnosed with GHSV-1. It came as quite a shock, I thought I was suffering from the mother of all UTIs but when the doc had a look she was able to identify it pretty much straight away (got culture tests done to confirm). I know for a fact I caught it from my boyfriend of 2 years as I had a full STI test including herpes done in January which came back clear - thought I was safe from anything.. My boyfriend gets cold sores from time to time (only 2 since we've been together) and I was always OBSESSIVELY careful not to touch his mouth while he had one. Of course I did not know, nor did he, about asymptomatic shedding (although if I had I don't think that would have made us abstain from oral sex so I suppose this was probably inevitable..) Anyway, as my first OB faded I felt ok, I hoped I'd be one of those people who never had another one and while I'm with my HSV-1+ partner could just get on with life. 2 weeks after my first OB subsided we tried having sex and it went great for about 5 minutes before I started to really hurt and had to stop. I felt a little prickly pain all the next day and was sure I was due another OB but it didn't develop into anything. Then 3 days ago we tried again and it went much better so I was very happy with that, but as the day went on I noticed a pain on the bottom of my butt cheek, a spot that was impossible for me to see. Finally I got a hold of a handheld mirror to have a look and lo and behold, an ulcer. Now my first OB never looked like blisters, they were just painful little red bumps in my genital/anal area which never grew pus or scabs. But this one looks like a popped blister, yellowy and about the size of a penny. I've had it for 3 days now. I'm getting quite upset about it - for one thing was it there when my bf and I had sex and did I put him at risk? And then there's the fact that we're going abroad next week for our anniversary, we've been planning the trip for ages and not having any sex was not part of the plan.. I rang my doctor to ask for a Valtrex prescription and they said to ring back tomorrow as they weren't sure whether they could prescribe it without me coming in and presenting symptoms (I can't afford to take time off work with my holiday next week) I'm worried that the 3 day window to take the Valtrex will go and I'll be stuck like this for my holiday, feeling gross and unsexy.
Anyway, that was longer than I intended it to be, just really needed to share.
I would just like to ask about other people's experiences with GHSV-1, I know everyone is different but am I being too optimistic hoping I won't get many more OBs? My boyfriend and I live in different cities and don't get to see each other enough as it is so having this extra obstacle is a real bummer.
Also, I know this gets asked all the time but I'd really like to know how likely I am to pass this onto him. It seems weird that I could pass it on at all since he gave it to me in the first place. He's gotten cold sores since he was a child (and has gone years without any at times) so does that mean his body has built up some pretty decent antibodies to it?
I'm trying my best to stay positive but I feel a bit like life keeps trying to kick me down. I struggled through glandular fever and all that comes with that for the best part of a year, then got a bad staph infection which caused chronic boils on my legs for a year and a half and I'd only just recovered from that for about 6 months before this came along. It feels like something keeps trying to attack me and my confidence and even though I managed to beat the other things this one will be with me forever :( Help and advice would be appreciated, if you've made it to the end of this essay.. Thanks!