HSV 1 positive , What now ?

[Whattodo2]

So gotten result igg hsv1 positive (44.8) and hsv2 negative this week, been browsing a lot and searching a lot about HSV 1 , symptoms, things to avoid, outbreak, cold sores, you name it. It’s kinda driving me nuts, been checking my body every constant for rashes and symptoms. My questions :-

1. Most forum and discussion about hsv2 but not hsv1 but hsv1 seems to be more danger and transmitable as some site suggest. Whenever I see rashes it drive me crazy questioning if it’s outbreak , I have no symptoms or never notice any outbreak ever since. How could I know the differences ? Googling the pictures doesn’t really help for references.

2. Do I need to take the antiviral , now that I know I’m infected to stop the spreading to the one I loves. I can’t forever avoid touching them right ? I been worried sick of infecting anyone by touching anyone or kissing my love ones.

3. Can I still live a normal life like how I used to before knowing I’m infected ?

My local community doctor didn’t give me any advice beside ask me to google and suggest if I want to do another test after 6months , would that make any differences ? I tested positive hsv1 igg (44.8) , what are the odds it will come back negative since it’s clear cut. Even I would beg for that slight hope of false positive.

[guilt1905]

Sorry to hear about this! HSV 1 is actually more common than HSV 2. HSV 1 outbreaks around the upper body and HSV 2 outbreaks around your penile/vaginal.

Where did you do your test btw? I can't tell your gender based on your post, was it oral or penile/vaginal? As long as there is no outbreaks/symptoms then it's generally safe that you wouldn't transmit the virus to them.

As for how to live with herpes, maintain a healthy lifestyle and strong immune system. My advice is to start with getting vitamin C daily.

I would also recommend for a retest after 6 months later. Or actually retest now from a different doctor if you do not have much confidence with your current doctor.

[Whattodo2]

Thank you so much for responding, I’m male, the test result didn’t tell if it’s oral/penile it just state igg result and due to no obvious symptoms. The fact that not much info was able to search on the web frustrated me abit mostly just telling that it can transmit and it scared me to even touch anyone or share food with anyone avoiding to infecting them. I can’t even differentiate between outbreak or just a normal rash. Really appreciated the respond and thank you so much just to be able to talk to someone.