Aa
Confused
Ok so I have been looking around on this site for the past few hours and I am beyond confused. I have read hours of questions regarding herpes in particular on the Expert Forums, and the nurse on there has given the impression that it really doesn't matter what you do, you will get herpes (even if someone doesn't have an active herpes sore) even if they just kiss you. And then I look at posts in the Communities and I see a lot of people saying it is almost impossible to get it if there is no cold sore present. I must agree with the latter, because from what I've learned online people with an oral infection (hsv1) only shed the virus like ten days out of the year, max, and the time you kiss them or something is pretty unlikely to be THAT one time of the year they're shedding. I was also under the impression that if you contract herpes, you will develop sores within a couple weeks. I have never in my entire life heard of someone having genital herpes and never getting one sore ever, and certainly not "many years" after an exposure, but now I'm not so sure. I read this nurse say that you can have it and not have sores and then the sores pop up randomly like during pregnancy "years later..." So here are my questions...
1.) before I got married, I had been with a few other people. Does that mean that even though it has been several years since my last sexual encounter with a man who wasn't my husband, I still have to worry about a herpes lesion "popping up" when I get pregnant? Or at any time?
2.) I kiss people all the time. Not romantically, just social pecks on the mouth. But I've never kissed someone with a cold sore on their mouth. But even so I still have to worry about it?
3.) in regards to question 2, if I get hsv1 from kissing can I give it to my husband genitally through oral sex? And then he gives it to me genitally through sex? What?
4.) my mom says she knows like ten people who have herpes and every single one of them had a primary outbreak within a week. Is that true? Say six months after exposure and you don't have an outbreak, does that mean you don't have genital herpes?
5.) again from question 5, can you and your partner never have an outbreak of any kind, one bump or a cluster, and still have herpes?
Sorry this is a very long post but I am confused and quite scared all of the sudden. Oh and my last question, how likely is it really to get hsv1 from someone who doesn't have an active sore present on the mouth but has had one in the past?
Thank you
1.) before I got married, I had been with a few other people. Does that mean that even though it has been several years since my last sexual encounter with a man who wasn't my husband, I still have to worry about a herpes lesion "popping up" when I get pregnant? Or at any time?
2.) I kiss people all the time. Not romantically, just social pecks on the mouth. But I've never kissed someone with a cold sore on their mouth. But even so I still have to worry about it?
3.) in regards to question 2, if I get hsv1 from kissing can I give it to my husband genitally through oral sex? And then he gives it to me genitally through sex? What?
4.) my mom says she knows like ten people who have herpes and every single one of them had a primary outbreak within a week. Is that true? Say six months after exposure and you don't have an outbreak, does that mean you don't have genital herpes?
5.) again from question 5, can you and your partner never have an outbreak of any kind, one bump or a cluster, and still have herpes?
Sorry this is a very long post but I am confused and quite scared all of the sudden. Oh and my last question, how likely is it really to get hsv1 from someone who doesn't have an active sore present on the mouth but has had one in the past?
Thank you
I would like to know the answers to your questions as well, as I too have read conflicting information.
Can someone please answer this? I posted another question that got deleted for some reason and obviously I wasn't only referring to a "peck on the cheek" scenario, there were more questions than that. Please.
Bumping your post up for more answers because I would like to know these same question as well.
CORRECTION:
when I typed question 2 in my first post I meant I have never ROMANTICALLY kissed someone with a cold sore present, just a peck on the lips like from my grandparents throughout the years when they have had a cold sore. Ok thanks I'm done now lol
when I typed question 2 in my first post I meant I have never ROMANTICALLY kissed someone with a cold sore present, just a peck on the lips like from my grandparents throughout the years when they have had a cold sore. Ok thanks I'm done now lol
Oh AND one more thing...
What is the rate of asymptotic oral shedding of hsv1? Like say a person who had a cold sore seven years ago and has not had one since, how often would they shed the virus without an active cold sore on their mouth? With that amount of time being passed.
And like my grandparents for example get cold sores a lot (like every two months) on their lips and I have always kissed them on the mouth (because I was too young to even know it was a form of herpes) but I have never in my life had a cold sore. So does that mean that I don't have hsv1 or could I still have it? Honestly it wouldn't be that big a deal bc from my understanding if you have it orally then you have some protection against contracting it genitally, am I correct?
I don't know. I'm just scared of herpes all the sudden. I've never had any sores on my genitals but I am experiencing weird shooting pains in my vagina and upper thighs as well as very very slight flu like symptoms and I have read that that kind of correlates with herpes.
Ok thanks guys sorry for all the questions and thank you for your time.
What is the rate of asymptotic oral shedding of hsv1? Like say a person who had a cold sore seven years ago and has not had one since, how often would they shed the virus without an active cold sore on their mouth? With that amount of time being passed.
And like my grandparents for example get cold sores a lot (like every two months) on their lips and I have always kissed them on the mouth (because I was too young to even know it was a form of herpes) but I have never in my life had a cold sore. So does that mean that I don't have hsv1 or could I still have it? Honestly it wouldn't be that big a deal bc from my understanding if you have it orally then you have some protection against contracting it genitally, am I correct?
I don't know. I'm just scared of herpes all the sudden. I've never had any sores on my genitals but I am experiencing weird shooting pains in my vagina and upper thighs as well as very very slight flu like symptoms and I have read that that kind of correlates with herpes.
Ok thanks guys sorry for all the questions and thank you for your time.
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You are reading content posted in the Herpes Community
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
