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Living with hsv1

Hello everyone!

I have lived with hsv1 for 3+ years now. I got it late i life (I was 30) by kissing someone who had a cold sore at the time. Since I have always been paranoid, I knew it was herpes virus and got my doc to prescribe me valtrex so my body could suppress it sooner.
Even though I've heard cold sores are very common it was devastating for me to know I had the virus and that it would stay with me the rest of my life.

Anyways.. My question is that do 80% of people really have it? Do I need to tell my partner if I have had no occurrence in the past 3 years? I haven't given it to any of the partners I had afterwards and a lot of times someone would grab my drink and take a sip before I could stop them. I don't want to go through "look I have herpes.." conversation if someone decides to drink from my cup without asking.

I told my ex about it and he was accepting but then if I had a zit on my face it would bother him and then he caught this rash which made him more suspicious/paranoid even though what he had was just a rash and nothing more.

If I do tell my partner, how do I do it? I'd really prefer skipping dating altogether than this hell of disclosures. I hate it :(



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Avatar universal
Hi Grace,

You are right I should tell. I am trying to find a right time and way to say it. Since I have only told about 3 people so far, i prefer that I know and trust the person before I tell them.

Or should I just bring up the subject way before and say btw, I have HSV1?
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
Depends on your age as to how many folks have hsv1.  If you are in your 40's then 60% of folks have it. if you are in your 80's, it's closer to 80%.  It's incredibly common though and not many of us make it thru life without it.

do you need to talk about your hsv1 oral infection with partners? Well you should. You know you have it. it sheds periodically even without any obvious cold sores present too. You should be discussing herpes in general with partners before sex and oral sex because you want to know their status - both for their own hsv1 status as well as you want to know if they have hsv2 or not.  wouldn't you appreciate it if before someone performed oral sex on you they let you know that they had herpes?

You aren't going to transmit your oral herpes from sharing food and drink with adults. small children and infants this is a small risk but not adults.    Terrific info on oral herpes at www.ashastd.org under the herpes info section.

grace

Helpful - 0
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