I hope this can help people that are having a hard time coming to terms with herpes.

[Anonymous88]

I first got diagnosed with hsv2 in February this year and it really hit me hard emotionally and even though I only had one small lump come up the pain from it was horrendous for my first outbreak, due to the stress of it I kept getting outbreaks one after the other so eventually got prescribed suppressive therapy where I take one acyclovir in the morning and one at night.

Since doing this I have NEVER experienced and outbreak since and because of this its now not a big deal as it is not getting in the way of my day to day life. The only thing that is different is to be upfront and honest with anyone new I am dating before sexual intercourse and obviously the daily medication which is no different from me taking a daily contraceptive pill.

I just wanted to share this as I too was devastated but I wanted to let others know that it does get better if you can control it. I do get soo nervous and can't look a guy in the eye when I do disclose but I feel better that least I can be open and honest and not down the line feel I am hiding a dark secret. I tend to disclose on the second date as for me I would much rather get it out the way then get too attached to someone and them not accept the fact I do carry the virus.

It hasn't effected my sex life in any way and have learnt that I was just unlucky and that's the risk when having sex as the only way to avoid this is to never have sex at all in your life time. At the beginning I found it then hard to love myself and felt my body was infected as a whole but not anymore and with that takes time and I also found opening up to close friends or family about it really does help.

I read an article on google uk once and that really did help change my prespective over it. The lady wrote in the article that for every person who has had a cold sore in their life time do they put cling film over their lips each time they kiss someone (especially reading all this shedding of the virus when there is no visable outbreak) which is ridiculous and I guarentee everyone you ask would say No.. So reading that then made me think so why is it any different for someone with genital herpes to have articles telling them that they MUST use a condom at all times (even though you can still get the virus) is absolutely I think a load of crap.

If you know the signs to look out for if you feel an outbreak is coming on then obviously your not going to then have sexual intercourse

And also if you disclose to the person before you have sexual intercourse then they know the risks and you have done your part by being open and honest

Medication such as acylovir reduces the amount of outbreaks and its severity

I have NEVER had anyone disclose to me that they suffer from cold sores or once did in their life so why should someone with hsv2 be made to think that we are basically a walking risk for anyone that comes near us. 

Trust me when reading this that it really isn't the end of the world and you can have a healthy sex life like everyone else and that 70% of the uk has it and unfortunately nobody educates you regarding herpes in sex education as I never knew anything about this virus until I was diagnosed and guys I have disclosed to know very little or nothing at all till you explain it so it is crazy to me this day and age with it especially being so common why people still arn't being made aware of it.

Take care and thanks for taking the time to read it.

Really hope I can shed some light and change peoples views on it 🙂

[Ishmael]

Thanks for sharing!

[Anonymous88]

Just to follow on from this post I have had my first outbreak since being on suppressive therapy since August. It hasn't been painful at all like previous ones just irratating more than anything as it is just itchy like a bite which is what I thought it was at first as it doesn't look like a blister just a tiny lump and is at the top. Re assured by this that least on daily meds it has stopped it being painful and I did have very rough sex last week and have been out drinking two weekends in a row so to be honest it's probably my body telling me to slow down.