genital herpes dormant for 8+ years??

[Unhappyforever]

hi, I'm very upset and confused. Can genital herpes be dormant for more than 8 years? I've been with my partner that long and I recently had what would be considered an initial outbreak (after 21 days, fever, body aches, horrilble headache, bumps on labia, and a small circular group of blisters on my upper thigh). Is it possible I've had it that long or he has and I'm just now having the classic outbreak symptoms?? I'm so upset and depressed. If I was to leave him it sounds like no one else can even touch me for fear of getting it. I'm scared to even use the same bath towel twice! Please help!  

[gracefromHHP]

clinicaltrials.gov is the best place . Terri warren just posted about 3 new treatment studies this week here on medhelp. If you are on a computer, if you scroll down to the bottom of the posts , there is a section that says "expert activity" . sometimes it shows up on the right side of the screen too.

[Unhappyforever]

Thank you so much. It is hard to understand the information online and my drs have not been helpful(obviously).  I would be willing to take part of any studies fora cure and have been scouring the Internet. Is there one website that is better than others for finding studies? Also, I read the handbook and it was helpful. Thank you again.

[gracefromHHP]

if your partner tests negative for hsv2, then you know you've had this since before you met him and just never knew it. if you both test + on the type specific herpes igg blood tests, no way to know who had it first and gave it to whom or even if you both came into the relationship and never knew it.  

could you have had this for years and just now had your first obvious recurrence this past spring? yes you could've. It's far more common than most folks suspect.

I'd certainly write a letter of complaint to the the clinic manager about your experiences with this!!  Just because something is difficult to counsel someone about, doesn't mean it's ok to just not be truthful or give erroneous information.

[Unhappyforever]

Grace, Thank you so much for getting back to me.he has not been tested. His father recently passed away so he is still grieving and I think that might be why he hasn't gone to get tested. I asked my general practioner to test me in nov and I got a voicemail saying I was positive but not to worry because they didn't know which one I was positive for. I didn't call them back, which I should have. Then I had some pain and what looked like blisters on my labia in April, with body aches, fever, and horrilble headache and went to my gyno. She said it looked like herpes, they did a culture but it came back negative.  I asked for a blood test and they tested me for both and came back positive for both!! For genital herpes it was IGG 7.23. When I went back in to talk to my gyno about these results she also had my results from nov which did have a specfic result for genital herpes and it was IGG 5.33 or something.  I asked her why they would have left me a message saying they didn't know which one I was positive for and not to worry about my results and she said it is too difficult to counsel people with herpes so that is probably why. WHAt!?! That is awful and she also told me dr. won't test you for herpes even if you ask (if you have no physical dsigns) for this same reason-- and I asked HER for a full STD test before my current relationship and I assumed she tested fir herpes but she didn't ! I feel betrayed by the two drs I see the most and I'm absolutely devastated on top of it.  I have not read the hand book yet but I will. I was hoping that you would know from your experience if this could have been dormant for 8 years? Obviously I had it in nov but didn't have the classic 'initial' outbreak until April? I'm so confused, any help would be much appreciated.  

[gracefromHHP]

has he been tested to know his status?

what testing did you have done?

have you read the free herpes handbook we recommend in our read before posting post on the forum?

grace