When people joke or cringe about herpes in front of you...

Posted , 9 users are following.

I've been on this forum for quite some time now and this is the first discussion I've ever started. I guess I'm curious as to your feelings when you find yourself in a situation where you're having conversation with a person or a group of people and herpes comes up and they say things like (ewwww stay away from that or you could end up with herpes) things like that. I've been in this situation a few times (today being one of them) Personally it has opened my mind to be more sensitive to certain subjects that come up. Anyone ever been "hurt" by this? What was your reaction?

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9 Replies

  • Posted

    Ive only had herpes for about 4 months now...and ive encountered this situation before, like oh "you dont wanna get herpes". Or something along those lines... it kills me on the inside because i know i do have it. i try and smile or even giggle in agreement about it, im afraid if they see my seriouse reaction itll hint to them that i have it...
  • Posted

    I was in that scenario a couple weeks ago oddly. Usually when that comes about I usually just tell people to be careful and how common it is. Funny thing though I have noticed with some guys (I am male as well) is that a lot of them would still have sex with a female if they have herpes, they would "risk it" Safe sex is one thing but playing around like that is just asking for trouble. I just try and laugh it off since they don't know I have it. I feel you though
    • Posted

      I can totally and completely agree with you on that one .. Men know that they have this disease and still go around having sex ..

      The person who infected me (and never alerted me) we just recently got back in contact and he said that he also contracted HPV warts in the process . Which lets me know that he is still going around spreading it to whoever and whatever ... And he was the main one saying he didn't like using condoms and I was dumb enough to go with it & got stuck with the consequences ..

      And they knowingly know that they have the disease and never once try and tell somebody ,

      I even asked him if he is letting folks know about his diagnosis .. He said he is taking it to the grave with him .

      It's crazy how careless men seem to be .

      But also how big herpes is seeming to get . It's people I went to school with that I'm hearing has herpes & I just don't know where it came from because when I was younger I never heard of it , now all of sudden everybody is getting it ...

    • Posted

      Some people are just unbelievable, the girl that I got it from still will not admit it. Whatever though. They'd rather take it to their grave than let others know and possibly hurt their reputation. I have let some females know, some are cool about it and helpful. While others are just like "Thats disgusting" Same here, idk if its get more and more common or if it just has to do with an age group (I'm a college kid so STD's are going to be common unfortunately) I have suspicions of some of my friends having it
  • Posted

    I have been around it quite a few times. My sister has made comments while I'm around or even seen on Facebook little posts about well at least they didn't give you herpes. It was supposed to be one of those funny jokes and don't remember how exactly it went. For me I just get really quiet. I will shrug it off and even laugh with them. Nobody knows I have it except my ex boyfriend, the guy I was seeing, my doctor and the guy who gave it to me. I don't plan on telling anyone else. Obviously unless I'm in a relationship or about to be. It can get very lonely. It has made me aware of the things I say throughout the day and I'm trying to correct it. I guess you don't pay attention to how words can hurt until you are the one that gets hurt by them. Which shouldn't be the case but I know I am guilty of it. I say things like retarded and gay all of the time. I don't mean it in a bad way but now I understand how someone would take offense to that. I would say the only thing to do in those situations is to go along with it unless you don't care if people know you have it then you would tell them not to say things like that and could educate them on the virus. For me I will try to ignore it and just laugh it off when I can.
  • Posted

    Depending upon the company I'm with, I'll say "you know, herpes is a lot more common than you think! One out of five people have it. " I work in the medical field so people expect me to have done some research or taken a course on STDs. Then I throw in there, "also condoms dont protect you from getting it".
  • Posted

    I often think the people who bring it up might have it themselves. They want to see people's reaction etc?
  • Posted

    You'd be amazed at how prevalent herpes really is. So try to remember that when someone makes jokes about it, that's no guarantee that they DON'T have it as well. It's much easier to laugh and pretend that they don't have it than to admit that they do.

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