HSV-2 only: Who else, and how often do you have outbreaks?

Sorry to hear you joined the club. It's never easy at first, and we all have our down days, but you have to remember that you're still the same person as before and can still enjoy life. Relationships will no doubt be trickier to navigate, but at least there are preventative measures you can take.

The good thing is that recurrences tend to be milder and quicker to heal, and should diminish somewhat after the first few months to a year. If you take daily suppressive meds, which also serve to reduce sexual transmission, you may rarely have any!

For me, the best way to cope has been not to worry about relationships and sex for now. Just focusing on me, my job, holiday plans, going out with friends and having fun like I used to do. The more you get back to doing things like before, the more normal you will feel and realise that while it isn't great to have this, it's not the end of the world.

Might be a bit tough at first, I realise, but once you're healed up, are recurrence-free and your body adjusts, you will be in a better frame of mind. Also, take heart in the fact that you are most certainly not alone, as there are many of us on here with GH, including Type 2, and we are all trying to make the best out of the bum deal we were served!

Tre it will get better I know how low your probably feeling I've been there myself and it's not a good place to be. I'm somewhat older than you but not to much I thought my life was finished and couldn't see any point in going on but I was wrong. At the time of my diagnosis I was getting reoccurrence after reoccurrence ended up homeless and refused access to my kids which led to me feeling even worse and fueling the herpes. I managed to persuade the Dr to put me on daily suppression in December and since then I've had 1 tiny what I think to be a herpes. My wife talks to me like I'm a human again she even let's me see the kids In fact feels like to much at times 😉

Don't get me wrong I still have my down days but nowhere near as bad as they were. I don't know what direction my future will go but it doesn't scare me anymore I guess I'm starting to come to terms with it just like you will in time.

Strangely I even found a new friend that I can only thank the herpes for.

Thanks felis and i have started my suppression meds and i hope they work so far i have only had to outbreaks the first one and another small one about a month later but other than that no major problems. I still wake up thinking damn this is the end but im working on getting there and realizing that ill be ok

Hello Tre, how are you, are you feeling better now? I would like to understand more about outbreaks for guys, so if u don't mind kindly share more with me? What are the symptoms u have experienced? Was it more itchy, or was it more painful? Or was it bearable? Was it near shaft, or head, or more not so sensitive places?

To all reading this, would u all have any experiences or know how to prevent the sores from becoming ulcers or blisters? Or naturally these form right from onset? Or is it more like lack of care and dragging the condition which resulted in them? Thank you so much everyone.

You are not alone, and there is certainly nothing to love about this unpleasant virus! Your leg issue could well be related, but is likely a temporary problem since it's your first outbreak. I had a lower back and odd leg twitches after mine, but they went away after a week or so.

The vast majority of people who present with an obvious/classic first outbreak do so following new infection. Could it be that your bf has it and you only acquired it now? It is certainly possible to avoid infection for months, since outbreaks and shedding do not occur all the time, but sporadically, so it's kinda like playing Russian roulette.

* lower back ache

That's the worst part, not knowing how I got it. I've only had the one outbreak, we've been together for over a year with no infidelity. I was on really strong antibiotics for a toothache, which led to a lot of vaginal dryness. We continued to have sex , including oral, then that became painful so we stopped. A week later we both started having symptoms. I went to the doctor and she said I had a yeast infection, my first one ever, some tearing from the dry sex and two spots that looked atypical of herpes but she tested them anyway. I was in shock when it came back positive. My boyfriend went to his doctor the next day and they did a blood test which was negative, but now we're finding out that it may not show up for 3 months in his blood. But how did this happen? We both were tested before we slept together and neither one of us had anything or symptoms of anything until the same time two weeks ago. My doctor thinks that we got it from oral sex, even though neither if us had a cold sore, I am a carrier. It's all been so hard and the not knowing makes it harder. And the waiting for his next blood test is hard, although he had every symptom so it's hard to think he doesn't have it.

Was your swab typed? If so, what are you positive for, Type 1 or Type 2? If you are a carrier, presumably of oral Type 1, you should be largely protected from acquiring Type 1 genitally, although exceptions occasionally exist.

Swabbed, type 2

Then you are most unlikely to get that from oral sex. HSV-2 is nearly always genital. Conversely, cold sores are nearly always HSV-1. Two different viruses. One of you had it first. What type of blood test did your bf have done, IgG or IgM?

My doctor, and my research, says you can get either in any location. I get blood work and STD tests every year and I've never been positive for anything. He went to Planned Parenthood, I'm not sure what type of test they did. After they said he was negative it raised a lot of issues with us and the infidelity questions kept coming. After a lot of phone calls to my doctor and his doctor they finally said that it could possibly not show up in his blood for three months. Which means that he didn't have it before I would assume. There's nothing I can do about it, I obviously have it, but it would be nice to know how it happened or when it happened. But those answers I will probably never get. It's awful to think that I've had it for who-knows-how-long and that I could have given it to him.

Yes, you can get both types in both locations, but Type 2 is uncommon orally, since HSV-2 has a very strong preference for the genitals. Hence, when someone tests positive for Type 2 by blood without a history of any symptoms anywhere, it is generally assumed the infection is genital. Less clear for HSV-1, which can more easily infect non-preferred sites, but given the above, cold sores can be assumed to be Type 1 in most cases (genital herpes is where it is more murky).

You should find out what type of tests you had done previously as well as your bf. If the tests were for HSV IgM antibodies, this is not considered a reliable test. IgG is the much more reliable one, but it does have a 3-month window period. I would hope that PP should know to test for IgG and not IgM, but you never know. Many doctors still order the IgM test in the mistaken belief that it is useful for diagnosing herpes.

Anyway, just trying to help shed some light on your mysterious situation.

Have you still not had any additional outbreaks?

I have since had a couple of mild issues that were presumably recurrences, then I got a bad cold a few weeks ago, and that triggered my first full-on recurrence. Just a single lesion, but big and the nastiest one I've had yet. I am still not taking any meds, I should add.

It'd be nice if it affected everyone the same way, at least there would be more answers than questions.

Unfortunately, herpes seems to be one of the most random STDs. Everything can vary with it -- symptoms, appearance, outbreak severity, frequency, shedding rates, triggers, prodrome, etc. Agree that it makes it very frustrating at times. People deal much better with things when they know what to expect versus an entire range of possibilities!