I have oral herpes and my gf has genital herpes

[patrick_livestrong]

Hi everyone, new here and have a question.

 

I've had oral herpes since middle school and I'm now 23. I use to get sores on my lips about 4-5 times a year now that I've been with my girlfriend (she has genital herpes, not sure which kind) I'm already up to at least 5 outbreaks this year. My question is this. If I give her oral will I get oral HSV-2? I'm pretty sure I have HSV-1 because of the amount of outbreaks I have, but I'm not sure whether she has HSV-1 or 2. She only had her first outbreak when she first got it and that was about 3-4 years ago. Also, what are the chances of me getting genital herpes if we don't use condoms?

 

Thanks a lot

Any insight is appreciated.

[Dani_622]

Hi

If you don't use a condom during sex the chances of you getting genital herpes are very high. Those are methods of transmission, through sex and oral sex. Sometimes even the condom is not enough to protect you during sex because herpes is transmitted through skin to skin contact. (The condom is only covering your penis only) but the rest of your genitals remain uncovered

[patrick_livestrong]

So would I get HSV2 orally which means I would have both HSV1 and 2 orally? Is that possible? Or would the virus travel through my body and into my genital area?

[Dani_622]

According to Adrial's (the founder of the H opportunity) video, HSV2 is only genital and very rarely found in the mouth. You should watch his video on YouTube

[WCSDancer2010]

@patrick_livestrong

 

Hello and welcome

 

The very first thing you need to do is to get her tested simply because if she has HSV1 genitally then your worries are lessened quite a lot. Yes, you could get HSV1 genitally from her but your odds are even lower than most people simply because you already have antibodies to it.

 

Regarding HSV2 oral - only 1-2% of all the cases of Oral Herpes comes from HSV2. The virus does not travel through your system - it resides in the nerve ganglion in the area that you got it in....

 

If she has HSV2, you would also need to be careful with oral sex because she could get it genitally from you ...

 

Best thing to do is to get you BOTH tested ... then you can figure out what, if anything you need to do to protect each other...

[New_Moon]

Hi @Dani_622, You not are correct in saying "if you don't use a condom the chances of you getting H is very high", have you read the handouts available on here? I would refrain from saying such things until you have your facts straight as you might panic people and simply send out the wrong message. I can tell that you mean well and I equally do so if this sounds harsh I apologise as I don't mean to be!

 

@WCSDancer, could you comment on this point please?

 

Thanks :)

[WCSDancer2010]

Chances of getting HSV2 genital Female to male are about 5%/yr assuming you don't have sex during an OB. So yes @New_Moon, that's a low number ... and using a condom only cuts that number by 50% ... it's not a 100% foolproof method to avoid getting HSV OR HPV....

 

That said, I would still suggest that people use condoms and/or suppressants (especially in the beginning of a new relationship) because even tho 5% isn't a "high" number, most of us are here because we didn't use those measures ;)

 

(((HUGS)))

[patrick_livestrong]

Thank you @WCSDancer2010

We will both get tested and then I'll come back with the results.

 

[New_Moon]

Thanks @WCSDancer, yes I'm included in that group! I've been on suppressive during my 9 month relationship however I did come off last week to see how I feel off them, think I might be suffering a few side effects. I have informed my partner so we will use condoms in the meantime until I decide whether to go back on suppressive again - might try a different one next time.

 

Thanks again :)