BoldAsLove

Hi Crystal, I hope you're doing better by now! I just came by this forum and had seen your comment. I pretty much gave up on this site, I was very grateful for the responses I had gotten and had left some feedback for others as well, but there's not much interaction in my experience. If it helps, I was worried back then that it wouldn't go away, but after 2 rounds of valacyclovir it cleared up and (knock on wood) has not come back since. It is now 6 months later, that was back in December. I found out in March what type I have - HSV1 - where recurring outbreaks are less likely. I have my fingers crossed that it won't come back! Best of luck to you!

Hi @lali - I feel your pain. I’m full of questions as well, being very new to this, and I haven’t had a chance to speak to my doctor yet. I get plenty of views on my questions, and I was very grateful to see one answer come up this morning. I can’t tell you for sure, but my understanding is you’re at risk of transmission 12-24 hours before your lesions pop up, and you stay in that state until your lesions scab over. The likelihood is greater with intercourse, but possible with genital contact. It’s less likely to be transmitted from your hands since the virus does not stay alive for long outside of the body (if you went immediately from one genital to another, maybe). It also transmits much more easily from male to female than vice versa. All in all, in my very unprofessional opinion, I’d give that interaction a low to moderate risk of transmission. The best thing you can do is be honest with him about it, let him know to watch for any symptoms and encourage him to go to his doctor, explain he might have been exposed and come up with a strategy for testing. He may have his initial outbreak within 20 days of exposure, so even if it comes with no symptoms it may be the best time for a swab test.

Hi @MakingIT2017, He just had a swab test. I had a negative igg and a positive swab test, but I had a painful blister at the swab test. He only had one or two bumps for his, I don’t know if that’s enough for a positive result if he does have it. I have a feeling he contracted it recently, too so the igg would probably be negative for him. This is our second go-around, we dated for a little over a year until 12/2016 with no issues, then started again in late June or early July of this year, when all of this came up. So he ether just got it too, or it’s been very dormant for a while. If this test comes out negative, there’s no way I’ll convince him to get tested again. There’s actually very little chance I’ll even talk to him after this whole ordeal if he’s negative...

Hey everyone, me again. It’s been a rough few days. Now I spoke to the guy I’ve been seeing - he hasn’t gotten a call about his test results, so now he thinks he’s clean. They would have called him if the test was positive. He called for the results and was told that the doctor was out until after the holiday. All he needs to do is log in online and view the test for himself but he refuses. I have so much trouble believing he didn’t either give it to me or contract it from me. A few reasons why: 1. We’ve been having unprotected sex almost daily for the past 6 months. I had a couple of flings before him, but the last time I was with anyone else was in may. I started showing what I believe were symptoms around August, when I thought I was getting yeast infections. It started about a month into our relationship, when we had been having unprotected sex very frequently. 2. We had been having unprotected sex in between these “yeast infections” including times I was feeling a little itchy but thought it was nothing. If he didn’t have it before then, I would have been highly contagious at that point. 3. My full blown OB came a few weeks ago, with all signs of a primary outbreak - 102+ fever, headaches, very swollen glands - and my understanding is those happen soon after exposure (I’m guessing this started with the “yeast infections” and grew slowly over the past few months). If it’s been dormant in your system, your first OB is recurring, which wouldn’t include those symptoms. 4. My igg test came out off the charts low, <0.2 range for both. I couldn’t have had this longer than 6 months if that’s the case. 5. Upon inspection for his swab test they did find a bump. I have yet to speak to my doctor about my diagnosis, so I’m hoping to get some answers when I see him next week. But I’m so worried that my boyfriend may ignore this test completely. It may even be negative if his bump wasn’t a full blown OB, but he could still have it. Yes, he would probably leave me and that would suck, but I do hope he is clean for his sake. But what are the chances? Can someone please provide me with some insight? Thank you so much for all of your help. This has been such a tough time, as I’m sure you all know too well.

Hey guys - New to the H community, just a week in since my diagnosis. My first chance to talk to my doctor about this is coming up on Wednesday. I’m pretty sure this was my initial outbreak - high fever, migraines, very swollen glands, etc. I think it may have started a few months ago with what I thought were recurring yeast infections, until 2-3 weeks ago my “yeast infection” was more of a burning vulva with bumps and the flu on top of it. Igg was off the chart low for both types, but the swab test came back positive. My doctor prescribed me Valacyclovir 1000mg 2x a day for 7 days, just finished yesterday morning. At first, lots of pain (I think that was the medicine working), a little spreading, then everything cleared up and the pain was gone. A few remnants of bumps left, but they were dry and painless. A couple days ago, however, the discharge came back. Now mild itching. A couple of those spot remnants are starting to tinge. This all started before I stopped the meds. I just put in a refill request last night, and I’ll keep taking them until I see the doc on Wednesday. Is this a second outbreak in a row? Or the first one rearing it’s ugly head again? Is this normal? Agh. Just when I thought I could start to feel normal again.

Quick update / venting session: my boyfriend took his swab test a week ago. He still won’t call or log in online for his results. Every time I ask him about it he ignores me or gets mad. We’ve had a lot of unprotected sex over the past 6 months (as well as our first go around basically all of 2016) so even in the chance that I had it first he probably has it too. While he didn’t have symptoms he did say they found one bump upon inspection for the swab test, I guess that’s an indication he probably has it. But there’s still a small possibility he doesn’t, and he refuses to find out. I just need answers! Leaving questions in the air for no reason makes me crazy. And to top it off, he wanted me to go down on him the other night. Not knowing yet whether I have hsv1 or 2 or whether he even has it! When I told him we couldn’t make contact until he got his test results, which are readily available, he got upset again. I don’t want to get mad at him for handling this his own way, but I feel like he needs to grow up and be more responsible about this. Will he be the kind of guy who can just go sleep around and not tell anyone the truth? On a positive note, my OB (I’m catching on to the lingo!) has been clearing up very nicely with the meds. This morning is my last dose (they gave me 1000mg 2x a day for 7 days). I still have some bumps but they are well on their way out, and the only pain left is in my swollen lymph nodes, which can make my whole hip/leg sore, but all in all it’s not bad. I’ve been limiting physical activity until those feel better since I don’t wanna agitate them. Can’t wait to get back in the gym, though!

@JenPhoenix40 - Wow, what a BFF! That’s terrible - whether you’re OK with those other people knowing or not, that’s your business to share not hers! I personally don’t think alcohol is a valid excuse for any type of behavior, but I can’t judge when I don’t know what it’s like to have a drinking problem. Funny story, I found all of this out at work. I didn’t manage to keep my wits about me AT ALL so now all of my coworkers know. Luckily we’re all women, and it’s only 7 of us. I know they will all be responsible with the knowledge so I’m OK with it, as much as I would have much rather had that breakdown on my own and kept this information to myself. I know it’s still early, but I’ve got the same attitude as you - it is what it is. Im not shouting from the rooftops by any means, but I don’t want to act like this is some dirty little secret. It will only make me feel like it really is dirty and embarrassing. I’ve had my time of promiscuity in my 20s. I’m not ashamed of it, I think everyone needs to follow their own path in order to grow. I thought I was being responsible by getting tested regularly. When I got older and stuck with monogamous partners, I always got tested in between. Never once been tested for herpes. If I had been exposed earlier in life, there’s nothing I could have done. But based on the factors that seems unlikely. Even more surprising that after all that, I got it now, being in a relationship. I still want to know for sure whether I had this or not before entering this recent relationship. I’m hoping my doctor can help me narrow it down when I see him. Not to place blame on anyone, just so I can know what happened. Once I get my answers all I can do is embrace this, accept it, be responsible with my body and grow and learn from the experience. Thanks for commenting! Feel free to reach out via PM :-)

Hi @HikingGirl, Thank you for reaching out! That sounds like a rough eight months. Clearly it takes time to process a shock like this and adapt. Right now I’m worried about my daily life, considering I have a horse who I’m supposed to ride regularly. Thinking about not being able to do that, my lifelong hobby, makes me nauseous. I’m just hoping my outbreaks keep to a minimum. I did have a culture test as well as an igg blood test and the results were posted online, perhaps not in full. The igg came back <0.2 for both. The herpes simplex culture only states herpes simplex virus isolated. No type indicated. I had determined the recent exposure based on the igg test as well as the fact that I had all symptoms of a primary outbreak, which comes within 20 days (fever, swollen lymph nodes, etc.) that you wouldn’t get with a recurring outbreak if that was only the first symptomatic outbreak. I need to ask my doctor, since I don’t want to assume. I do want to ask him all of this but I think i should just wait to see him face to face in a couple of weeks. That will be a pleasant meeting! If you’d ever want to tell me more about your journey I’d love to hear it, feel free to send a message!

Hey everyone, I’m glad I’ve found this forum, just got my diagnosis two days ago and I don’t know who to turn to. I’ve told my mom and my best friend, who are supportive but they don’t quite know what I’m going through. My boyfriend hasn’t gotten his results yet (I’m pretty sure I got it from him) but he would rather pretend this never happened. I know he needs to cope in his own way, so I’m not upset, just feeling alone and in need of someone who can relate to what I’m going through. Looking online I found the nearest support group is 2 hours away. I haven’t spoken to my doctor yet. The diagnosis came over the phone from his nurse. I don’t even know if it’s hsv 1 or 2 yet. My mind is reeling with questions, waiting for 2 weeks for my appointment with my doctor so I can ask him. Was it from my boyfriend? This seemed like a primary outbreak (came along with a high fever and flu like symptoms, plus the blood test came back negative for antibodies) and I haven’t been with anyone else since we got together 6 months ago. But is it possible id contracted this earlier in life? I thought I was getting yeast infections every couple of months starting a few weeks after we began sleeping together - was that the precursor to my first outbreak? I plan to discuss all of this, and more, when I see my doctor in 2 weeks. In the meantime I feel lost and confused and in need of someone to talk to. Not necessarily for answers, I just need someone who can relate. Does anyone out there feel like I do? Please chime in and share your story. Or if you have any words of comfort or peace of mind for me and those in my position, please comment. Sending strength and love to you all ❤️