Living With Genital Hsv1

I have recently been diagnosed with genital HSV1 (had a culture done on a leason). I have a valtrex prescription in case I get another break out, but My Dr says I don't need to be on daily supressants. I find this really hard to fathom, and especially in light of trying to reenter the dating world. How can I tell a potential partner that I have herpes but I'm not on any medication for it?If the chance of a potential partner getting it from me is so low, then do I need to tell them at all? I'm just so confused. Sometimes I think it would be simpler for me if I just had HSV2.

[gracefromHHP]

hsv1 genitally doesn't shed very often and it also doesn't reoccur very often.  The average is the initial ob, one additional ob that year and then 1 ob every other year.  It's contagious less than a dozen days total out of the year so taking daily suppressive therapy doesn't give you a lot of bang for your buck which is why we don't routinely recommend them for hsv1 genitally.

So how do you talk to a partner about this? well you should be talking about all std's, testing, birth control use and condoms before being intimate with someone.  Just now when you talk about all of that, you need to add that you know you have hsv1 genitally.  Ask them what they know about hsv1 in general and ask them if they can recall a history of cold sores and if they've ever been tested for herpes before. As Terri already told you in your post on her forum last month, even the best herpes blood tests still miss 1 out of every 10 hsv1 infections but asking a partner to get tested to see what their status is is always a good idea. They could have hsv2 and not know it and if so, you'll need to protect yourself against it. If they also have hsv1, just avoiding sex anytime you  have anything going on genitally is usually all you need to do. Even if they don't have hsv1, just avoiding sex during obvious genital symptoms also goes a long, long way in protecting them.

grace

[JHCC]

"It's contagious less than a dozen days out the year..."
This is what I mean. If I'm not having an OB and I'm not on suppresants and condoms don't offer total protection, how will I know not to engage in sex? Seems like Russian Roulette. Thanks for your feedback anyway.

[gracefromHHP]

the odds that you'd have sex on one of those days out of the year is very low in general.  It's really not the deal breaker that you assume it is going to be.

[JHCC]

I've decided to go on daily supressives even though I have GHSV-1. I'm just so scarred of passing it on to my partner. If I take valtrex daily and us condoms during sex. What is the likelihood of me passing on ghsv1 to her?

[gracefromHHP]

we have absolutely no idea. we don't have studies for hsv1 genitally and suppressive therapy. because the risk of transmission is so low, it's not economically feasible to fund the long term studies that would be needed to do so.

[JHCC]

Thanks for all your time and feedback Grace. I have a question, and I realize there probably isn't scientific studies for this, but here goes.
A girl with oral HSV1 gives a man genital hsv1 from oral sex. They then have protected sex some time later. Can the man transfer the genital hsv1 to the girl's genitals,  even if the virus originated with her oral infection in the first place?  

[bobrope45]

As you said, there hasn't been a lot of studies about the subject. But it's believed that once you have developed antibodies against HSV1, specially to your own oral HSV1, you won't "get it back" genitally.

[gracefromHHP]

typically once you have it orally, you will not get it back genitally.  In the handful of posters on the boards over the years who have had well documented previous oral herpes infections and then later on got hsv1 genitally, they've all been from shaving the pubic hair prior to sex which creates microscopic  ( and not so microscopic sometimes ) breaks in the skin that allow the virus to more easily penetrate to infect someone and overwhelm their previous protection. I always recommend that unless you both have hsv1 genitally, avoid sex until genital ob's are healed in the partner who has it genitally just to err on the side of caution.

as for the situation you specifically asked about, it would have to be sex a day or two later, not just a few hours later ( or less ).

make sense?

[JHCC]

If a man and a woman, who both have genital HSV-1, have unprotected sex and one of them is having an outbreak can it trigger an outbreak in the other person?

[bobrope45]

No, that's not how herpes works. Outbreaks are triggered through different mechanisms.