heat

I totally get what you are saying HCTS! I haven't had to disclose yet as I haven't had the fortunate opportunity to have any sexual encounters since my diagnosis, but I too have wondered if I need to lay it all out on the table if I have H1. I think I might do so just to educate my future partner(s) and reduce the stigma around having it - since so many of us do. What do you mean though, by "HSV1 doesn't prefer the area"? As far as I understand it is still contagious genital to genital IF one has lesions.

Hi! I've been diagnosed with H1 and would love to be a support to anyone who has questions about having H1, my experiences etc. male or female. By the way, I live in Canada :)

Hello! I wanted to share my recent learning about H1 because it is very hard to find clear, accurate information about it even on this site! Sorry, but I have searched and even in the info handouts/downloads, it doesn't give a clear distinction between H1 and H2. I wish I had known what being diagnosed with H1 meant when I was diagnosed 4 months ago! Please post this and please know that I got this information from a trusted, expert health care provider, not from some random internet site. Scroll down for the FACTS that I have learned. Keep reading to get my full story. So, back in April of this year I was diagnosed with HSV-1. I freaked out, like many of you, and thought that my sex life was over. I thought I was highly contagious because I kept reading about herpes being contagious even when you don't have symptoms - ie. when you are "shedding", that I was going to get multiple outbreaks, that I was a freak and dirty etc... I was also mystified how I hadn't passed it to my boyfriend because we'd had unprotected sex before I had my outbreak and before I had any lesions. I live in a part of Canada where the health care is bad at best, where there are no STI clinics where you can go and get solid information, and where you have to wait for days to even get a simple blood test. So when I was back home in a more civilized province recently I went to an STI clinic and had a good, long conversation with AN EXPERT: A nurse practitioner who specializes in sexually transmitted infections. Here is what she told me about having HSV-1 ie. Herpes 1: - 3/4 of Canadians have H1, so having it means I am a NORMAL CANADIAN (and probably just a normal human in 2013!) - most of these people who have H1 don't even know they have it because they've never had an outbreak and most doctors don't test for H1 unless specifically asked to test for it because it is SO COMMON. - if your parents kissed you as a child and they tended to get cold sores, they probably passed H1 to you then. - if you have H1 you can ONLY pass it to a partner if you have a LESION (or blister, pimple, whatever you want to call those annoying things - which is all they really are - annoying little things!). H1 is unlike H2, which can pass through shedding and when you are asymptomatic. H1 cannot. - if I have H1 and you have H1, I cannot give you MORE H1 - ie. we are equal and cannot make each other's herpes worse. - H1 often has an initial outbreak and then MAY NEVER OCCUR AGAIN. It could, of course, but it is not like H2 which will likely have outbreaks many times in a lifespan. - There should be no stigma around ANY KIND of Herpes - H1 or H2 in 2013!! people need to wake up and get real! A boyfriend/girlfriend's reaction to your disclosure will tell you WAY more about them than your having herpes will tell them about you!!!! - Know the difference between H1 and H2, educate yourself and your partner, be safe, get tested and don't freak out :) You are normal! I hope this helps someone out there and I wish someone had posted the difference between H1 and H2 for me to read several months ago.

As far as I understand from talking with an informed healthcare practitioner, HSV2 is only passed genital to genital, not genital to mouth, or mouth to genital as the mouth one is HSV1 - but as Adrial pointed out, HSV2 can be oral but it's super rare. HSV1, if you have it genitally, cannot be passed to the mouth of your partner. I think it's a good idea for everyone to ask their partner if they get cold sores or feel like they are getting one and then if they have one to definitely avoid them going down on you or if you have one don't go down on them. But if neither of you has one on your mouth, oral should be okay from what I understand!

Very good point about having herpes before you had herpes. But just because you now know you have them (and many people do and don't know it!) doesn't make you less sexy now! Also, you say you haven't had any symptoms: many many people have herpes and never had symptoms because they have H1(same as cold sore herpes) and it is in 3/4 of the population! If your parents kissed you as a child (and I hope they did) and if they had cold sores, you probably have H1 in your blood! It's very very common and we have to stop treating it like it's a huge disease with horrible effects on our lives. We are in control of how we let it affect our lives, and WE create the stigma around having it if we view it as unsexy and horrible. But it's not - whether it be H1 or H2. All the best to you!

I would like to add that if you have H1, you will only pass herpes on to him if you have an outbreak with LESIONS. H2 can be passed when shedding as well, so when you are a-symptomatic as well as when you have the itching/burning and lesions. I learned this from a very knowledgeable health care practitioner who I talked to here in Canada. ALSO, if he has H1, which MANY people do and don't even know it and some only rarely get outbreaks, then you cannot give him MORE H1 - ie. you are equal and therefore you wouldn't spread it to him. It depends on what type of herpes you've been diagnosed with from what I understand. Hope this helps!