Just been diagnosed with genital HSV1

[Xoxochanellove]

Hey everyone,

So bear with my long story but I just broke it off with a guy I was dating for two months and yes I had unprotected sex.

I began dating this new guy whom I only had sex with once and the next day I began to feel itching and burning in my vaginal perineum

Area. I went to the doctors and they told me I had HSV 1 in my genital area, most likely from a cold sore a guy had. I know my new boyfriend didn't infect me because he's never had a cold sore in his life and it literally happened the next day. The doctor believes it was my previous partner that infected me since it was about a month since I had come into contact with the virus.

I had a talk with my boyfriend and he is totally supportive of my condition and still wants to take care of me and be with me.

At first I was really angry with myself, and how I could have acted so stupid, but then I realized I was part of a majority.

Almost 80% of the population has either HSV 1 or 2. So I felt a lot better. My doctor has been awesome,

She prescribed me suppressive therapy for one year. I'll be taking Valacylovir for one year to prevent outbreaks.

I still do have a few questions unanswered:

 

-what is the likelihood of transmitting the virus to my boyfriend when I'm not having an outbreak?

- since I received the virus from a coldsore, I obviously kissed the guy too. Does this mean I will have outbreaks

On my face as well? Or just my genitals, since this is where I contracted the virus?

 

I love the support on this forum! I'm on day 6 of medicine and my painful sores

Are finally starting to heal! I can't wait for it to go away so I can be intimate with my boyfriend

For valentines day! ;)

 

 

[HerryTheHerp]

Welcome to the world of enlightenment. Most of us were pretty clueless about HSV1 genitally prior to getting it. Thank goodness for quality sex education, huh?

 

Well, good news. If you have genital HSV1 (I'm assuming they type tested it, right? If not make sure they do so you know for sure it's not HSV2) HSV1 genitally is much more tame. It quiets down and you'll probably never notice it again.

 

Transmission while you are on supressive therapy, avoiding sex during prodome or outbreaks, and using condoms consistently and correctly will reduce the risk to your beau to about 1-2%.

 

You will want to use dental dams if your boyfriend goes down on you. That will help prevent transmission to his mouth considerably.

 

You may get outbreaks in your mouth. That's possible. You will just have to wait and see. You can have HSV1 in both places if you kissed the guy and he went down on you as well. You can autoinoculate yourself (transfer from your genitals to your mouth) within the first few months after you are infected. After that, it's not possible. It can happen, but the odds are millions to one.

 

 

[victoriaxxx]

Hello and welcome to the forum !

 

Thank you for coming here and asking questions. We all need support at some points in our life. (:

 

If you are on supressive therapy I think it is actually 1-5% of transmition to your partner without a breakout... But also there are prodrome symptons. It is usually cause by viral shedding. You can pass it on during viral shedding.. I would suggest not having sex for a while even though valentines day is coming up, because it is usually easier to pass it on during the first year of having it. You can also take this time of not having sex to get to know your own body. You can usually tell when you are going to have an outbreak, or when you are having podrome symptons.

 

Yes, you can pass it to your mouth, but luckily HSV-1 will most likely not look like HSV-2. Just a few cold soars here and there. You can use like Abreva or something. That usually helps.

 

I hope I helped a bit. (:

[WCSDancer2010]

@Xoxochanellove

 

First, Welcome! So glad you found us. As Herry said, Welcome to the world of enlightenment!

 

So, gonna put the record straight first:

 

I know my new boyfriend didn't infect me because he's never had a cold sore in his life

 

80% of the people who have Herpes (oral or genital) DON'T KNOW THEY HAVE IT. And given that 80% of the population has it, it is entirely possible that your current BF has Oral HSV1 and doesn't know it. Not saying it's where you got it, just that he may well have it. So I suggest before you go much further that you get him to get a COMPLETE STD panel (most STD "tests" only include Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and HIV so you must ASK specifically for the others and don't let them tell you they only do it if you have symptoms.) Once he is tested you will know how much you have to do to protect him - if he has HSV1, you are in the clear to play away!!!

 

And Herry is right, you won't know about whether you have it orally or not unless you get an OB there. But, odds are, if you don't get one early on with the original OB's, you are in the clear. You have likely kissed plenty of guys with HSV1 (or even been exposed to it as a kid many times...60% of young adults have Oral HSV1 acquired in early childhood) ... you likely got it down below because its easy to get micro-tears during sex (or in your case your guy's stubble during oral) makes us women more likely to get it.

 

 

 

[WCSDancer2010]

BTW, wondering how you were diagnosed? If your Dr did a visual diagnosis you need to 1) change Dr's and 2) see if you can get the blisters swabbed asap.... there is no way the Dr can tell for sure that you have herpes from looking and definitely no way for them to know if it's HSV1 or 2.

[Xoxochanellove]

@WCSDancer2010

I was swabbed. The doctor did a swab of the blisters and it hurt like hell! The swabs

Came back positive for HSV-1. Thanks everyone for the support. It's made this

Diagnosis a hell of a lot easier to go through.

[nic4897]

You know, xoxochanellove, I hope you read through this forum and will read mine too, a veteran of seven years this May, that everyone has "stuff". It's funny in my recent successful (btw:)) disclosure, I was the normal nervous to tell someone I cared for that I have HSV2, and wondering if he would treat me differently after I told in honesty and care. I was completely surprised after disclosing because he disclosed things about his past only because he felt comfortable because I was so vulnerable with him. The confession wasn't health related at all actually but both brought us closer. Herpes is a funny disease. It helps us to filter out all the ones who aren't right. It gets us used to being strong emotionally and honestly finds the right, loving partner. No, it's not a gift, it's a lesson in understanding who should be in our life and who should not. We are the gift because we are so good that we're just that honest. :) Reach out anytime on your new journey. Welcome, love. Welcome.

[Xoxochanellove]

@nic4897

That's such an awesome way of looking at it! Sometimes I still feel depressed about it but I am so

thankful to have such a sweet boyfriend that cares for me no matter what.

My first outbreak is almost healed! I feel great again!

 

[nic4897]

@Xoxochanellove I feel the same with every healed outbreak (two times a year now.) xoxoxo

[Xoxochanellove]

Gosh I hope I can keep it down to that! Are you HSV 1 or 2? @nic4897

 

[nic4897]

@Xoxochanellove I'm type II.

[victoriaxxx]

You should be able to keep it down to a minimum outbreak. Especially since you are type 1.. Type 1 tends to have less outbreaks on your genitals than type 2 does.

 

I have type 2. I have only had to OB's so far.

[thisisgoingtobeokay (previ]

I'm type one. Diagnosed officially Oct 31, 2013. Been outbreak free since October 30, 2013. I've only had my initial outbreak and no more. I'm on daily valtrex. It's pretty quiet from my perspective. Although every itch, tingle, nerve jolt sends me Into a panic and I go searching my junk for a bump. My regimen: daily multivitamin, water water water, lysine when I haven't had enough in my diet, daily 500mg valtrex, rest, no late nights or catch up the next night, klonopin to reduce stress (take as I need it), watch my caffeine intake, count to ten when I start getting pissed or stressed. It's kept my herpes at bay, so I stick to it. Welcome, and good luck.