Hi, I'm brand new and totally clueless and need infomation please.

[Stephanie]

Hey all,

I thought it best to clarify right from the start that I am clueless and the more information that I have tried to get on the internet has made me more so. I feel almost silly since there are so many amazing people dealing so well with difficult issues on here and I'm not even certain that I have much of an issue at all and I feel even more silly being so worried about it as much as I am in light of all that.

My paranoid concern is that I was recently home and shared lipstick and a cigarette with my ex-sister- in law that had a cold sore at the time. A few days later, my mother told me that she had been having an affair with someone with Herpes type 2, and frankly I'm freaking out a little bit. I've been in a monogamous relationship for almost 19 years and have never in my life had so much as a cold sore. The information seems so scattered that I can find. It seems from my confused reading that you can get HSV2, even though it is the genital form, but that can manifest in a cold sore in terms of passing it on and can be passed on in a shared lipstick etc, but there seems to be a lot of scattered and confusing information about that. Which unfortunately leaves me pretty scattered and confused as well. What are the facts? Should I be seriously concerned or even a little concerned even? It is very confusing to me and I certainly don't want to be a paranoid nut about it, but I can't help but be worried. Just as an FYI too, my Ex sister in law would never possibly take a test to find out if she was infected. She doesn't deal with health issues that way. Never has and never will unfortunately. Again, I would appreciate any information and assistance that you could give me on this.

[WaxedWrong]

your friend- as you said had a cold sore at the time= she already has herpes. coldsores are herpes, which type, only a test could tell.

-- you should be very concerned-- if she was having a active outbreak at the time of sharing anything- and especially if you are using/sharing the items right after she used them. so concerned that you should get tested, especially if you are experiecing any symptoms.

hsv2, is not just genital, you can have it oraly as well. same goes for type 1. now a days with all the oral sex, things have been changing, and type 2 isnt just genital, and type 1 isnt just oral.

[Stephanie]

I was afraid of that. I don't have any symptoms that I am at all aware of. From what I understand, I would need to wait for two weeks up to three months to take a test for that to be effective because of antibodies needing time to show up or something along those lines? Is that correct?

[WaxedWrong]

yup, thats correct you need time for the antibodies to set up shop. you can always get tested in intervals, like one now- one at the end of the month- and so on. if your able to get the western blot test go for that, it can show if you have it or not the first time.