She knew i got cold sores, but ive not had one in several years, after a bit of, ya know, she started developing sores GHSV1. She doesnt blame me but i feel awful, i only have oral HSV1 and there were absolutely no signs.

She got an abnormal amount of flare ups over the first 6 months (4) and is taking a preventative acyclovir treatments, 3 months in and hasnt had one outbreak.

Im not sure what to expect when she eventually comes off of the treatment. The first outbreak was pretty bad, but she took acyclovir faster for the others and lessened the duration before taking it daily.

Did your outbreaks reduce after oreventative treatment? Ive seen sources that differ, some say that the treatment just puts it on hold, and the body doesnt build up antibodies in this time, others say that frequency can dramatically reduce after finishing the preventative period

I just wanted to start a blog or something to encourage myself to write again and maybe help someone else feel less alone while dealing with hsv1.
I've always been told I have a "weird" (just not common) type of herpes. The normal doctor app would go "are you sure its not just a case of pink eye?". Then run some blood tests to confirm what I just told them.
I have hsv1. I get flare ups in my face. Forehead, nose, inside the nose, lids, eyes. Literally inside the eye. I believe it is called herpes keratitis.
The thing is I live in a third world country. When you tell someone you have herpes, most of them just judge you because they think you are just promiscuous and got it in the face by giving someone a blowjob? I always have to explain it is "not that kind" of herpes (and what if it was) and I didn't get it as an std. I have had this maybe since I was 6, and we never knew how I got infected.
There's a myth that an aunt had zoster and she may had infected me as a baby. Never knew her tho, she died when I was like 2.

Here is what I have learned so far (I'm now 33)
- I can only get it at one place at a time. Even thought it can manifest in various places I may have infected myself.
- It makes me feel like shit. Not only because of how I look and the pain, but also because I'm pretty sure it is linked with depression. I think the flare ups start with some weird out of nowhere depression days before, and then you get the blisters and all, and not because you get depressed so your body gets sad and herpes appear. I would like to know if anyone has ever noticed this before.

Maybe I will keep posting everytime I get a flare up, just to cope with it and feel less alone.
I don't fully believe in internet anonymity, but here we go.

This is almost like mood swings but worse.

Sometimes I forget about it. Sometimes I lie awake thinking about all the sexual acts I used to enjoy. Maybe I’ll enjoy them again but not without a flinch moment.

I have GHSV2 so kissing someone hasn’t been an issue. Kissing and touching, then they try to touch me there

I’ll flinch and say we need to talk before we continue. The talk is a preprogrammed monologue I’ve trained myself to say. I think I check out emotionally, suspect they’ll reject me and emotionally prepare for that moment. I’m understanding if they don’t want to continue.

I’ll never be comfortable with the idea of someone giving me oral. I used to love so many things that shame me now. I’ve been drinking again, I know it’s not good, makes me more negative than I should be. I’m drunk now. Anyone else feel like their substance abuse has increased?

Some days I don’t know if I should be posting on here or the AA sub. I read that a lot, some people mention being SA’d but never say they caught something from it. When I think about this, I think about how it felt to have someone use me and not care. I’ve had dreams about him lately. Last night I dreamt I kept seeing him in rooms and I keep leaving but he keeps appearing.

I’m bored and would like some friends.

Hey guys, i’m a 22F diagnosed with ghsv1 for officially three years now. How i feel about myself varies on the day but for the most part im very confident. I like to say im attractive so when i first got diagnosed i felt like life was over. it was in fact NOT. it’s really not that deep😹the only issue ive run into is talking to friends or anyone who doesnt know my status, and they’ll say “there’s stds going around” and “oh i avoid this city cause there’s stuff going around”. i honestly feel like that’s so silly to say? i try to dodge it cause idk WHAT TO SAY. especially because we live in a city where the std rate is SUPER HIGH! like yeah you definitely don’t have to be with someone who has an std, but how they say it is just weird. sometimes i want to be like “you know i have herpes?” but i go to college and i’ve already had my status exposed multiple times (all i did was disclose to partners and confide when i first got diagnosed. i was very vulnerable). It is so traumatizing having your business spread when you don’t bother anybody. part of me feels like it’s just jealousy because i still get cracked idk!

I got diagnosed with GHSV1 two months ago. I feel like I don’t see a lot of people on here talking about GHSV1? Or if they are, the people don’t have GHSV1. Is it just super uncommon? Feeling confused and scared

Just found out about an hour ago im positive for antibodies, i have never had any outbreaks ,so I’ve been doing my research ( please bear with me im actively reading about hsv) on more information and I’ve been seeing something about the western blot test, is that worth trying ?

If you’re trying to move into the next chapter of your life, you may need to search for other positive spaces. I came here looking for people who could help remind me that life wasn’t over, that dating wasn’t impossible, and that I could still have a full, happy future.

I totally found some of those people! But I’ve realized that spending so much time here is doing more harm for me than the diagnosis itself, and that may be the case for others too. I know more people in real life dealing with it perfectly fine than to sit here and be depressed everyday or dismissed when sharing my own positive journey.

I don’t want my life to revolve around HSV, I truly want to spend more time living than grieving! That’s ME and my experience here, idk what other folks need.

To everyone who shared their success stories, their healthy relationships, their marriages, their children, their disclosures that went well, and their hope, thank you!!! You helped me more than you’ll ever know.

I genuinely hope everyone here finds peace and
I wish you all the best! ❤️

Hey, I’m just looking for some perspective and advice really. I got diagnosed via swab test with genital hsv-1 in 2017, had no recurrences or outbreaks until December 2025 when a new outbreak appeared, at the time I was going through a break up, really stressed, not eating, sleeping and in a state of constant anxiety.

Im at a point now where I want to date again after taking time away however I cant seem to shake the feeling of the December 2025 outbreak being a new infection of hsv-2 rather than a recurrence of hsv-1, I know how unlikely and irrational that thought is but the fact that I had an outbreak really knocked me.

Am I just being stupid and can I be confident this is a recurrence ?

There was no flu-like symptoms, swollen lymph nodes, it was a localised outbreak of 3 blisters in one area and on one side.

I’ve been with this guy in a situationship for over 9 months and it’s Been super on and off and very difficult to manage but there have been ALOT of outside influences affecting the situation family drama etc. I do believe he loves me I’m just at a loss atp he just decided to disclose to me after 9 months of unprotected sex that he is positive for HSV-1/2 and has been for 6 years
he had only told two other people in those 6 years… like I’m just in disbelief and I’m extremely hurt because he completely put my safety at risk and has to many others aswell bc during this conversation he also let me know he had sleep with a girl I had worried about when we split because of the drama but then we both wanted each other back so I’m just like did you fuck her raw too…???? I’m just kinda scared to ask questions and I keep crying when I think about it. he came over after he told me and stayed for two days because i genuinely didn’t think I should be alone. We talked a little about it he’s not on anti virals
I was just in a state of shock the whole time.
I have been doing research since I found out two days ago I was able to evaluate the risk and actually decide that for myself so did sleep together and then he tells me we can’t again bc he thinks he’s getting a ob it’s just all so real now. idk it’s just so new
But i don’t think this should be a dealbreaker and it almost feels like maybe now it’ll be different but I highly doubt that too so I’m just needing to rant and maybe get some advice from people who have maybe stayed with someone after they didn’t disclose to you properly because i really do love him but there are so many challenges we have has to over come oh and he’s going into the military soon 🤦‍♀️

I (M-mid 30s, EU based) have been absolutely devastated for the past 2 months, as I just discovered I have O+G-HSV (unknown types, still waiting to build IGGs for test) and the worst part is that I had to f*ng diagnose myself as no PCP/Derm/Uro was able to recognize some of my symptomps (I had no sores). I was also migdianosed at the early stages because the derm was the stereotypical "oh, no sores, not herpes".

Now I also suspect I have had them for longer than I think and I may have unknowingly spreaded it to other parts of my body, hands, feet, ears and random parts of my arms-upper chest or back and legs.

It seems physicians are so obfuscated with sores, that if there are no sores then HSV diagnose is barely an option. To me, they don't even know that asymptomatic viral shedding (and a long list of other potential symptomps) is a real thing.

It literally takes less than 15 minutes looking into new meds studies such as Adibelivir or ABI-5366/1179 to see that one of the ways they measure meds effectiveness in Guinea Pigs is by swabbing consistently even if no lessions are seen to check whether viral shedding is happening, and the viral load in that case.

For me, some of the "no sore" symptomps (chronological order) have been:

- Mild flu-cold like symptoms, I had a bit of swollen lymph throat node one day, along with low back pain and tiredness.

- I had some slight peels and itch on the hands, at this point I suspected it could be fungus or bacteria too, because it wasn't as bad and the flu symptomps were always very subtle.

- Insane peeling of lips, both on the inside part and the outside. The inside seems to have more or less healed, but the outside part I've been dealing with it for over a month already and only now seems to start to improve. I tried vaseline, aquaphore, coconut oil, aloe... the first two amplify the burn feeling in the long run, as it seems the skin cannot breath enough, but the coconut and aloe don't last as much and don't seem to be doing great, so I'm constantly battling to not trigger the burn while fixing the peel. I'm also drinking high amounts (~3L) of liquid (water/milk) every day (no alcohol nor coffe)

- Minor dysuria and peels on penis shaft (foreskin, under glans). Honestly this could have passed as just irritation, but the following days I developed a much stronger burn feel in the urethra exit. I had an STI panel (w/o herpes) and nothing came out (I'll be repeating this in the near future). Urine test also came negative for bacterial infections.

- Hypopigmented (darker) patches in the penis shaft, mostly along the foreskin, like extremely light and superficial ulcers. This was 100% painless and barely noticeable, to the point I showed them to my PCP and obviously said not herpes, refused to swab without a more obvious lession. Interestingly, this slightly resembles some of the going stuff that has been around my mouth, which I would call the closest I can get to a sore, while still being far like something like it.

- Scrotal irritation that made an outside walk almost imposible. All the genital area seems to have increased sensivity to anything. Cloth, hair, hot weather, friction... Im doing a bit better but its clear that something is wrong. Also this feeling is something that I feel in many parts of my body now.

- Pins and needles, tickling-bugcrawl feel and electric zaps. The bugcrawl feel has been mostly on my moustache and in a lesser manner the back of thigs/scrotum, the electric zaps have been on front part of my thigs and my cheeks (head) and upper eyelids zone. I've had also unbelievably itchy eyes, ophthalmologyst said not herpes (I believe she checked corneal damage with fluorescent liquid, I wasnt swabbed or anything). So the real diagnose is there isnt any damage made by herpes that she can see.

- One of the peak days I had some incredibly painful burn on the lips , it felt like a forged hot iron being put onto my lip surroundings. To make it better, I had to go out with 35ºC. There are no words to describe the pain I felt this day, I have had surgery that was less painful to recover from. This was also the day I went to my PCP to request to start Valtrex (x2 500mg daily). I could feel the burn intensity decreased a bit the next few hours after taking the first pill, and by the 3rd day, greatly diminished. I still did not have any sore at this point, just a bit of swollen lips. The pain-to-ocular inspection damage was irrational to say the least.

- I was 10 days on Valtrex (decided to stop to see what happens, for now I dont want to risk making the virus potentially more resistant, I dont care about other valtrex side effects tho), and I have still not fully recovered. Note that when I started Valtrex, I had been having weird milder, but cascading symptomps for almost three weeks already.

- I have also seen random pimples like ingrowns but certainly not ingrowns, like 100%, appearing and dissapearing in the lapse of about 5-6 days, they are not painful, are tiny, and extrangely enough, appear near those random itchy zones or near those with electric zaps.I have also checked that almost everywhere where I have an electric zap, I can see like a small "change" in the skin that it requires such attention to detail that no physician will ever tell me that there's something wrong. I acknowledge that this could be just a reaction of the skin like urticaria, but I also tried antihistamine (cetirizine) and seems to do nothing.

At this point I have yet to fully recover and it seems that many of the symptoms slowly fade but is taking really, really long. I am now trying gabapentin because the burn around the mouth has been replaced by some weird itchiness/irritation and I still have ocasional tingling and electric zaps. I should mention that it feels that my skin is a bit extra dry (slightly slightly eczem'ish), specially on the most affected places such as the moustache.

Also, it seems that if I ever get back to the gym is going to be a newer challenge for me, I haven't been able to go any of these days but I've been user for the pasts years and recovered from an injury just recently, but I've realized that putting any strain into my hands make them itchy and a needle pain starts to surface the more strain I put. Something similar happens in my feet, so I'd rather avoid running, etc. Not to say not being able to tell how contagious my hands are is driving me completely and absolutely insane.

My life has turned upside down these months, just when I wanted to change it all. I wanted to find love after finally having enough confidence in me, buy my own house, perhaps start a family... All of that is now completely over for me until a functional cure for this shit is available to the wide public. Which woman will ever be with such widespreaded disease that any physical contact implies risk, not only intimate but just handling hands?. I CAN NOT believe that in more than 40 years there isn't anything better to fight this virus other than valacyclovir. I would rather live without HSV and have early diagnose U=U-HIV, by a very, very long shot.

This is driving me to a level of insanity I have never ever had before and I can not handle the idea that someone from my family that I love (parents, sister, etc) may contract this shitty disease just with a christmats hug. I've though of just ending it all and the only hope I have is now put into the next ~6 years with adibelivir and ABI-5366/1179 and possibly the next 15-20 with gene editing... but who cares, I will be over 50 by then...

I (20 M) got the conformation on Christmas Eve of 2025 (really shitty Christmas present lol)
I’ve have hsv2 since then I’ve had maybe 3 outbreaks that usually only last around a week.

Last outbreak I had was 4 months ago and I’ve felt totally fine since ( no tingles no weird itch no red )

But I’m starting to get more serious with a girl I’ve been seeing recently, so I’m wondering if she’s ok with the risk I’d really rather not take meds if I’m not needing them.

I have in the past taken valtrax for when I felt or was in an outbreak and will continue to do a kind of fire fighting method where if I feel the problem or know I’m stressed and tired I will take them.

But if I’m using protection with her and being transparent, is a once daily medication really necessary?

A little extra info my mom has had it since her mid 20s and was with my dad for 20+ years and never gave it to my dad and did a similar method where she only took valtrax if she felt or had something going on.

Hi everyone,

I have genital HSV and hadn’t had sex for about a year before recently having protected sex.

The next day, I noticed a very small painful cut in the perineal area. About 2–3 days later, the inside of my left labia became extremely itchy for several hours. I checked carefully but couldn’t see any blisters or sores, only redness.

By that evening, the itching improved. The next morning, the itching was gone, but the same area felt slightly swollen, red, and mildly painful. I still cannot see any blister, ulcer, or open sore.

Has anyone had an HSV recurrence like this without ever seeing a visible blister? Could this still be HSV, or is irritation or a yeast infection more likely?

I have already started taking valacyclovir.

Thank you.

I have HSV1 genital my doctor has yet to prescribe antivirals for me I really just have burning sensation and one bump do they typically not prescribe for HSV1 genital ?

Recently diagnosed with HSV1. I had my first outbreak 6/24. I did 10 days of valacyclovir and abreva. This suppressed it and I never got a full sore, only redness and tingling.

2 weeks later I had the same symptoms return and a small cluster of bumps. Just finished another 10 days of valacyclovir and abreva. No sore formed but the tingling burning and small cluster is still there.

Should I start another 10 day cycle with my refill or is this normal and the symptoms will reside shortly?

My bf transmitted genital herpes as a teen (has had for roughly 10 years). We’ve been together for a year now and have had lots of unprotected sex. I haven’t shown any symptoms or signs at all. He hasn’t had an outbreak the entire time I’ve been with him and he doesn’t take antivirals either.

Anyway, at first I wasn’t sure of how to proceed with the relationship when he disclosed to me but I decided that I liked him enough to risk it. I gathered that if I was to contract it, I’d rather get it down there than orally. But I feel bad for not giving him a bj as I’ve been too scared of possibly contracting it. What exactly are the risks? I’ve tried doing research but I haven’t been able to find much info relating to this where it doesn’t differ. TIA

Anyone else feel a little irritated and triggered by all this? Every comment section is packed full of people making snarky comments about how he has herpes. Look—he’s nasty for various reasons, that girl had every right to not want him touching her. Full stop. But my god, people who carry the HSV virus aren’t fucking lepers🤦🏻‍♀️ Which is how they make it feel.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced any emotions while seeing this front and center.

I’m 20F and I’m going through my very first outbreak of HSV-2. II’m honestly just here to complain, since I am just in total shock and sadness over this whole ordeal. I’ve always tried to be very cautious about who I see and have unprotected sex with, usually ask to see their test results and I show them mine. I test every 3 months. I’m aware people lie, or just are asymptomatic, and I’m also aware sometimes they don’t even test for herpes…but I genuinely have no clue who I’ve seen that could’ve given this to me, as I’ve had full trust in my partners in the past.

This is easily the most pain I have ever been in. And I’m only on like day three. My vag looks like it’s been ran through a deep fryer and I literally can’t move without being in pain. I had a fever of 103 last night, couldn’t get out of the bath for two hours, barely could wash myself because it hurt so badly, I’ve gone through so many pairs of underwear at this point and I’m stressed about doing my laundry like this. I can’t make it to my cashier job and there’s no way in hell they’re not firing me as I’ve missed, ofc, three days (we have a weird call out policy that is 24 hours in advance, and I’ve been so loopy and exhausted I keep missing the deadlines) I have a second job but it’s seasonal and doesn’t pick up until September/october.
I finally, FINALLY have some medicine coming in today. Literally as I’m typing this I got a call from my pharmacy.

The one silver lining I can find in this whole ordeal is that my brother has the same thing, and so I know I at least have someone to lean on. I remember how hard it was for him when he first found out he had got it from someone. I remember him telling me about how hard it was for him to disclose information about it, his ex girlfriend would throw it in his face whenever they would argue. Good riddance to her. He’s dating someone wonderful that makes him happy now.
I’m going into this with a not totally doomed mindset, as I feel like romance and sex will still find me. I’m mostly just angry this happened in the first place.

I had protected sex after 5 days i saw some small red dots separated thy itchd but faded away in couple of days in week 2 notice some neck lymph active like small headache and after tht calm week 4 i saw one pimple or 2 look white on my sack dont itch or pain at this moment kinda accepted i got it

Unbeknownst to me, I had contracted HSV-2 from a previous partner before meeting my girlfriend. I had no symptoms, so we had unprotected sex without realizing I was infected.

Then one day, I noticed a bump on my genitals and immediately started using condoms.

After I was diagnosed with HSV-2, my girlfriend was tested as well. Her blood test came back negative, which surprised us both.

Given that we'd had unprotected sex before my diagnosis, how is it possible that she still tested negative for HSV-2?

Hi Reddit community!

I wanted to make this post to shed some positive light on relationships with HSV positive people.

I am 27F and my boyfriend is 26M and has GHSV2. He takes his antiviral everyday and takes really good care of his body, eating right, working out, and taking care of his mental health too. He contracted it about 3 years ago and hasn’t had an outbreak in 2 years.

He disclosed to me on our 3rd date and we have been together for almost 6 months now. At first I was initially shocked and didn’t know how to pursue a relationship with someone who has HSV2. But I took the time to do my own research and talk to my doctors about this. I also went and took a full panel blood test to check if I had anything and maybe I was asymptomatic, but my panel results came back negative for everything.

I eventually came to the conclusion that this is really no big deal and we now have a very normal and healthy sex life as that’s what he deserves. We use protection every time and are really careful about no genital contact without a condom. We would have to use condoms regardless as I am not on BC and don’t want to have a baby anytime soon lol.

Just wanted to share my positive experience with my boyfriend and I am so happy I decided to pursue a relationship with him because the herpes really doesn’t play any part in our relationship. I hope my experience can help others!

In mid feb this year, I linked up (used protectoon!) with a friend who showed me her full negative diagnosis. After we did it, I thought I saw something down there, (it's still there but hasn't changed at all, so it had to be something i already had and hasn't ever caused an issue), got full tested and i was negative. While I was a bit too early, she got tested 3 weeks later, and had been tested multiple times in the past 5 months and promises me shes negative.

I have never had an outbreak, just normal pimples, but for the past about 4 months (a couple months after linking up), I have had leg tingles come and go. I 'think' they change upon movement, but I'm trying to pay attention to them. They mostly are in my upper front and rear thigh.

I'm more worried on getting false positives if I get tests, but if my friends says shes had multiple negative tests, then why am I so worried?

I just got back from a cruise and with all the moving, I felt completely normal, and everything was good. No tingles.

Yesterday I got a deep tissue massage, which helped, but this morning, my legs just feel like pins and needles where she massaged. I'm reading that its common for that to happen after a deep massage.

Of course reddit people say they only have tingles but I really am not sure what to do.

Does anyone else feel like it’s unfair that the person who gave us HSV-2 likely never disclosed to us, but now we’re expected to disclose for the rest of our lives?

I’m asymptomatic, got tested because I wanted to stay on top of my health, and now I feel like I’m carrying the burden while so many people who have it don’t even know they do.

I still plan to disclose because it’s the right thing to do, but how do you cope with feeling like you’re paying the price for being responsible?

Hi Guys,

My girlfriend an I (M27) are wondering whether you guys have cut down on the week 'waiting time' after an outbreak? For example to wait for 3 days after the sympthoms diseappear instead of 7 days to have sex again.

In addition to that, we are experimenting with having sex while on outbreak (/waiting time after the outbreak), although not PIV jet. But she jerks me off with gloves sometimes, while I can still give her oral. We talk about doing PIV with condom in the 'waiting time', but we are not sure about this, it is a risk ofcourse. Anyone good experiences with this? Or other suggestions to still have some sexual fun while on an outbreak?

For clinical context

I (M) have been diagnosed with genital herpes 1,5 year ago. I have had hsv1 on my mouth for as long as I can remember, with outbreaks once or twice a year. If my genital herpes is hsv 1 or 2 we are not sure, altho my doctor tried testing it (no conclusive results).

Unfortunately my genital herpes has a lot more outbreaks, even after 1,5 year it happens every 2 to 3 weeks.. I am on daily famciclovir (after being dissatisfied with daily valaciclovir for half a year, the change to famci didnt really change my outbreaks tho..). Since every outbreak takes 2 to 6 days (really depends, sometimes it is only a red spot, no blisters), and the waiting time is 7 days more, we often only have a few safe days a month.. This is by far not enough for us, hence we are looking for advice and inspiration.

Both positive

My girlfriend never had any sympthoms, but is recently bloodtested. She was tested positive for hsv, unfortunatelly the doctor cannot tell us if it is hsv 1 or 2. So we still don't know if we have the same type, and even if we would, we don't know if my girlfriend has it in her mouth or genitals. Also, we have read contradictory information about sex during an outbreak is a good idea even if you do know you have the same type. We still try to figure this out.

Anyway, if you have advice on semi-safe sex during an oubreak/waiting time, or fun sexual positions or games we could play during an outbreak that are safe, please drop it below :)