can someone help me make sense out of all this?

[anie]

i was (finally?) diagnosed positive for herpes last week. i've been having these bumps and whatnot for the past three years, been tested and to four different doctors (one said i had hair roots, the other i tested neg because a nurse friend gave me ointment, the third came in with A BOOK and recommended JOCK ITCH cream - did i ever feel feminine - and the last finally confirmed what i'd thought from all my research on webmd.com). nevertheless, since i was told i'm positive i've been researching more and joined this message board (a blessing, may i add).

now this is where i need the clarification/help: my ob's were in the genitals, and the way i understand it i need to be typed to figure out how to deal with this. the doctor i went to today is with my family doctor (a nurse practitioner - - the one who came in with the book) and she said that it doesn't matter what type i have; the fact that the ob was in the genitals means that it's genital herpes, however she still gave me a form to get blood work done. i told her that my boyfriend is going to see her for the same type of test on monday because we don't know if he has it or not, and she said, "what do you care about him for?" when i asked about suppression therapy or SOMETHING to further reduce the risk of giving it to him, she asked, "do you want to be popping pills for the rest of your life and damage your liver?" god knows i won't damage it from drinking (i can't digest alcohol)! perhaps my question is do i really need to be typed?! the way i understand it is that i do, and i called the national herpes hotline (wonderful people) and they said the same thing, but then this lady comes along and debunks both of them![/color]

[Eurofied_Robyn]

HI,

I'm sorry you got such unhelpful information from this nurse. My doctor was rather clueless about herpes as well.

I'm not a doctor, but I think it is helpful to be typed. With type one genital herpes, the oral strain, you will have less recurrent outbreaks than the type two strain. I've seen research that estimates type 1 outbreaks once a year or even once every other year. Type 2, on the other hand, may outbreak 3-4 times per year. Although everyone will react differently.

I have ghsv1 and am waiting to see how my outbreaks go before I start any medication. It may not be worth taking pills every day if I only get ob's once every other year, and I a have a partner that has it as well.

Keep in mind that there is a chance to pass the virus even if you aren't having an ob. I have heard conflicting #'s, but I think it is around 1-6% of the days you will be virally shedding. So if you have a partner that doesn't have it, you might choose to start suppressive therapy to protect him. Anyway, hope this helps.

[anie]

eurofied, thank you so much for your response! i thought i was on the right road!

my family suggests changing doctors, which i might actually do. i read up about shedding and whatnot and asked my boyfriend to get a blood test done; his appointment is monday. i asked him to continue to wait until i know how to best approach this in order to protect him before we continue being sexually active, and he's been absolutely wonderful about everything!

[hopefullgirl]

I cant belive a doctor would tell u this I mean they are supposed to help and yes your man need meds to if u aare going to have sex with him.meds help with the reduction of the sres and the pain u both need them to serpass the pain. and yes to my knowlege u will be on them for the rest of your life if I'm worng someone please correct me.

[anie]

thank you for your response, hopefullgirl! to my knowledge, you're not wrong about being on suppressive therapy for life, however that's not what concerns me. perhaps i need to post in the pregnancy topic, as i'm curious how long you stay on suppressive therapy once you get pregnant (i presume it's safe to do so, correct me if i'm wrong)?

the woman is absolutely ridiculus! my bf and i got the blood test results back... as expected i'm positive for hsv 2 and he's positive for hsv 1. so once she has the results back in her hand, this lady then decides to educate me! she hands me stuff from webmd.com that i've already read AND she offers suppressive therapy! quite a turn-around. however, the obgyn didn't offer suppressive therapy... is it common to have a "wait and see" approach the first year to see how many ob's each person has before putting them on some form of therapy?