oral sex question

[dabb24]

my boyfriend loves giving oral sex, and it scares me having hsv 2. what are the chances of me spreading HSV-2 while receiving oral sex, while on daily valtrex and no outbreak?

[gracefromHHP]

valtrex doesn't stay in your body for a long time. it's out of your body in hours for the  most part. skipping a day here and there isn't an issue when you forget.

if he only performs oral sex on you, his only risk would be hsv2 orally. It won't travel through his body to his genital area.

No specific times that you might be shedding more than others, except for when you have an obvious lesion of course. Infections or trauma in the genital area in general can trigger shedding so we always recommend that you avoid sex anytime you have anything going on genitally to err on the side of caution.

taking daily suppressive therapy, using condoms properly and avoiding sex anytime you have anything going on genitally means on average, your male partner has a 1% risk of contracting hsv2 from you each year. very low odds in general :)

[dabb24]

also if i forget to take my valtrex one day does that increase chances of transmission or does it stay in your system a whilee?

[dabb24]

so if he "goes down on me" while I am on valtrex daily the risks are low? and he would be only at risk of catching hsv 2 oral right? or could he catch it genitally from that too? i wasn't aware that valtrex helped cut down shedding, ( amazing news) also are there times where shedding may be worse? like days that i should not be active like before my period or anything?

[gracefromHHP]

your provider gave you erroneous information :(

you can transmit hsv2 to the oral area but the risk of such is rather low in general. if you are on daily suppressive therapy, it reduces not only the number of recurrences you have in general but also reduces viral shedding by 80-90%. Less viral shedding, less risk of a partner coming into contact with hsv2 regardless of the sex act.

when folks do contract hsv2 orally, on average it doesn't reoccur again in your lifetime and also hardly sheds at all.

grace

[casagrande]

I (male) just tested pos for HSV2 and my doctor told me oral (on my end at least) is a no go just because it is kind of taking an unnecessary risk on my girlfriend's part, somewhat in the same boat as you I guess, I think the percentages are low for transmitting it when without an outbreak but then again I'm sure the percentages are integers and not decimals know what I mean?  even if you think about it selfishly instead of altruistically, what if he gets HSV2 orally and then you'll have to worry about not being able to kiss etc.etc.=not worth it...

also I don't know if Valtrex decreases the chance of transmission overall OR just decreases the chance of outbreak and therefore transmission...kind of a big difference when you think about it.