Stopping by to say hi!

[AE40]

Hey there everyone--I am new to the support group and I just wanted see what was up. I have had herpes for about 11 years now but I am now a single guy with herpes. I didn't underline that for invitations just a reason to my need for support and information.

I knew my ex had herpes before we got married but that didn't matter to me. I am not bitter or angry now that we are now longer together its just a part of life now. We actually had intercourse many times without protection without consequences until we did when she knew she was having an outbreak. Sadly she didn't tell me so that is my story.

It has been slightly odd for me though, because even as she would have outbreaks throughout the years I have not had an outbreak, or even symptoms, since that initial outbreak. Is this odd?

Well I look forward to the interaction with you all...

[alicecat]

6 months and counting

I was recently diagnosed and I have had it for 6 months. My only outbreak so far has been the initial one. I also feel like this is kind of weird from what I have been reading.

[AE40]

I know! I even find different information between what people sometimes say and the information throughout the website so be wary!

[Stupid01]

7 weeks and waiting...

Hah...you guys are very lucky. I had a horrible outbreak the first time. (I was diagnosed with it 7 weeks ago, when I had my first outbreak after contracting it 2-3 weeks before.) So far, I've had a 2nd outbreak. While it hasn't been nearly as bad as the first one, it still hurts, and it's totally depressing.

[misunderstood]

Well, it sounds like you guys have similar stories to mine....finally someone I can relate to! All the stuff I've read on the web makes me think that if one has herpes, they have OBs on a regular basis and their awful. I haven't been back to my doctor since the inital diagnosis last fall and I'm starting to wonder if I even really have herpes. I'm glad that it's not severe, I just feel kind of odd.

I posted to this thread as a newbie but I'll tell more of my story here. I am married but was unfaithful to my husband last summer. We are still together and things are going well now. He's an incredible man! Anyway, I believe I contracted GH from the guy I was involved with but he swears up and down that he's clean. That's probably a lie but I don't know. My first OB was horrible because of the muscle aches, fever, etc and to make things worse, I passed it on to my husband. He's had 3 or 4 OBs since then, nothing major and even though I have it too, he always uses a condom if we have sex when he has an outbreak because he's afraid he'll cause me to have an internal OB. The only OBs I've had have shown up on my butt. I tend to think of them as one OB because they were so close together. Is it possible to know if you are in an asympotmatic shedding stage?

[Caliope]

Assymptomatic shedding

Assymptomatic is without symptoms. Loosly interpreted it's clear that if you don't have symptoms how do you know when it's happening?

The virus resides in the nervous system and probably the best indicator is when you get that tingling take note - sometimes it results in an ob and sometimes not. It can also feel like little paper cuts or bee stings or just tender.

(physically write it down somewhere if you suspect something might trigger one)

Pay attention - are you near your period? Are you experiencing stress? Are you eating healthy or did you go treat yourself to some foods that contain triggers (arginine)? Stress can be happy stuff too such as are you excited about a uncoming event such as a vacation etc.

You may be able to predict what things lead to ob's and cut them off at the pass. I take extra lysine if I suspect something or I take an extra dose of antivirals and drink more water.

The more time you spend ob free it goes to reason that your immune system is doing its job and the amount of shedding without symptoms may be reduced. Get healthy and build your immune system so it can be at peak performance and keep the ob's away.

[HC-Support-Team]

Herpes outbreak recurrences

The typical frequency of an outbreak, statistically speaking, is once every three months (or four times per year)... however, herpes outbreaks vary greatly from person to person. For example, some women experience monthly outbreaks that coincide with their menstrual cycle whereby others may only experience one or two outbreaks over a number of years. It just depends. The immune system plays a large role, as well as the strand of the virus and the location.

You may like to read these articles for further advice:

Herpes Recurrences

Herpes and the Immune System

Hope this helps,

Shenda