Male Herpes Symptoms

What are some of the early signs of herpes in males besides the obvious breakouts or rash in the genital area? My boyfriend has been feeling fine, but woke up with a cold like symptoms this morning. He was having a lot of sinus problems, runny nose and stuffy nose, slight sore throat and slight body aches. Didn't know if this could be signs of an outbreak or if it is more than likely just a cold.

Also, why are transmission rates of herpes more likely in a woman than in a man? What are the transmission rates from woman to man while the woman takes Valtrex? Is it more likely than not that we can have a normal sex life and he never catch HSV? Any female stories out there about transmission from female to male?

[gracefromHHP]

Cold symptoms are not a sign of herpes infection.  The "flulike" symptoms we talk about are completely different from the common cold.

We gals have more nooks and crannies in our genital mucosa than the boys do which is why we are more prone to infection - more surface area that can be infected.

The herpes handbook at www.westoverheights.com goes into all the other info for you.

grace

[slacker101]

I have a feeling he is getting cold sores mixed up with a cold.

[nickster349]

Why can people have HSV for so long and never know it? Is it more common than not for symptoms to be so slight that a male would not notice? If symptoms are so slight, does this mean the initial outbreak has not happened yet?? What are the female to male transmission odds without condoms while on Valtrex?

[nickster349]

Oh and also, here is the circumstance of why I am asking. I am a female on Valtrex and my partner is HSV free. We have decided together to move away from condoms pretty much being aware of the statistics that if I stay on Valtrex there is about a 2 percent chance he will get it. Am curious about the early symptoms and what we need to look for in case he would need to go get tested again at some point. Don't want to be running to the doctor everytime a little ache or cold comes up, so just trying to be proactive here and get a realistic idea of what to watch for. The idea that sometimes people never know or never have a major noticeable outbreak really confuses me, as mine was quite obvious.

[gracefromHHP]

My recommendation in  a monogamous couple is - unless he has obvious genital symptoms ( pain, lesions ) don't worry about it.  You'll drive yourself nuts otherwise and it's just not worth it for the low risk of transmission.  Really most times colds and flu, really are just colds and flu : )

grace