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Protecting my boyfriend
I was diagnosed with HSV-2 about a month ago, I am taking 500 mg of Valtrex everyday and have not had another break out but have frequent itching and some tingling. Does this mean that I am shedding? My doctor told me that I can protect my boyfriend from contracting this from me by giving him one of my 500mg Valtrex pills every time we have sex. She said that a lot of married couples do this and never pass the virus. Is this true? We were together for many years and while on a break, I contracted this from another partner. Now that we are back together we would like to not have to use condoms. Is this possible? What if we used a condom, have me on suppressive and him taking a pill before or after every encounter. Would that be 100% effective? Also, if we do this we are concerned about oral sex, are we protected from getting it orally if we are both on the anti viral? Thank you for your help, I haven't been able to find answers to these questions anywhere.
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I didn't say your partner shouldn't take valtrex, only that there are no data showing it works in that way. Your doctor's reasoning is sound and it is not an unreasonable suggestion to further reduce the risk of transmission, but nobody has done that research.
By far the most important advice I gave above is that your partner get tested. If he already has HSV-2 (and there is at least a 25% chance that he does), then there is no risk of transmission whatsoever.
And I didn't say your partner cannot get oral HSV-2 by by performing oral sex on you when the virus is present. I said the risk is low and if it happens he won't get recurrent oral herpes.
Your doctor is wrong about passing the virus "all around"; after 30 years in this business, I have never seen that happen. Once a person infected at one body site, the virus cannot be transmitted to another part of the body (called "autoinoculation"). That sometimes occurs during a person's first herpes outbreak, but after a few weeks the immune system prevents it, and autoinoculation almost never occurs in people with recurrrent or long-established herpes.
As further questions about herpes arise, you would do well to speak with an expert. I suggest you visit the American Social Health Association website (www.ashastd.org) and get the phone number for the herpes telephone help line. It is an excellent service.
In the meantime, get your partner tested. That should be your highest priority if not yet done.
HHH, MD
By far the most important advice I gave above is that your partner get tested. If he already has HSV-2 (and there is at least a 25% chance that he does), then there is no risk of transmission whatsoever.
And I didn't say your partner cannot get oral HSV-2 by by performing oral sex on you when the virus is present. I said the risk is low and if it happens he won't get recurrent oral herpes.
Your doctor is wrong about passing the virus "all around"; after 30 years in this business, I have never seen that happen. Once a person infected at one body site, the virus cannot be transmitted to another part of the body (called "autoinoculation"). That sometimes occurs during a person's first herpes outbreak, but after a few weeks the immune system prevents it, and autoinoculation almost never occurs in people with recurrrent or long-established herpes.
As further questions about herpes arise, you would do well to speak with an expert. I suggest you visit the American Social Health Association website (www.ashastd.org) and get the phone number for the herpes telephone help line. It is an excellent service.
In the meantime, get your partner tested. That should be your highest priority if not yet done.
HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Pretty insightful comment. That sort of makes sense, in theory. However, not much is known about the natural course of oral HSV-2 infection. For example, although symptomatic oral herpes seems to be uncommon with HSV-2, little is known about how often such people might have asymptomatic shedding. So while I think the "soft" information available are a valid basis for reassurance in some couples, such as Moongoddess and her partner, unless/until more is known, I would not advise people to seek oral HSV-2 infection as a way of immunizing themselves against later genital infection.
HHH, MD
HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I'll try to help. Congratulations for taking reasonable precautions, and to your boyfriend for having the maturity to hang in with the relationship. Also, to start with anote of reassurance: the information you provide suggest you have a doctor who is pretty up to date on genital herpes. You describe accurate advice from her.
First, if not yet done, your boyfriend needs to be tested for HSV-2. Since about a quarter of the population has HSV-2 but doesn't know it, there is a fair chance he will find he is already infected. In that case, he cannot be reinfected by you and you and he would need to take no precautions at all against transmission.
Assuming he has a negative HSV-2 antibody test, and until the test result is known: Valtrex reduces both symptomatic recurrences and subclinical shedding of the virus, but does not entirely eliminate either one. Therefore it reduces but does not eliminate the chance of transmission. Most people on therapy cannot reliably detect periods of asymptomatic shedding, and I can't tell if your tingling or itching mean anything. If they are more or less continuous, probably not; but if you have such symptoms consistently for 2-5 days in a row, then nothing at all until another 2-5 day episode, that would suggest a herpes outbreak.
It is true that many couples go for years without herpes transmission occurring. You are pursuing all three available strategies: avoid sex when there is an outbreak (I know, it's sometimes hard to tell--let's just say you need to avoid sex when you KNOW you are having an outbreak); use condoms; and take antiviral therapy. Whether additional protection results by your partner taking Valtrex each time you have sex isn't known; this approach has never been studied. My guess is that it helps, but nothing more can be said. Anyway, if you use all those methods, the odds are your boyfriend will never catch HSV-2 from you. Even if you dropped the condoms--either because you don't like them, or perhaps want to conceive someday--the chance of transmission would be very low.
You and your boyfriend should decide together how important it is to prevent transmission. If he gets infected, the odds are it will be mild (he may not even know it); and effective therapy is available to control symptoms. The main fear about herpes concerns the potential for transmission to partners. If your relationship is likely to continue permanently, the last issue may not be important; but if he is likely to be dating again in the future, it may be a big deal. Obviously, this can be a difficult issue for couples to address--but those are the facts.
Finally, don't worry about oral transmission. Even if your partner happened to acquire oral HSV-2 through cunnilingus, nothing would come of it. HSV-2 almost never causes recurrent oral outbreaks. He might have symptoms with an initial infection, but the chance of a chronic, ongoing infection would be very low.
I hope this helps. Good luck-- HHH, MD
First, if not yet done, your boyfriend needs to be tested for HSV-2. Since about a quarter of the population has HSV-2 but doesn't know it, there is a fair chance he will find he is already infected. In that case, he cannot be reinfected by you and you and he would need to take no precautions at all against transmission.
Assuming he has a negative HSV-2 antibody test, and until the test result is known: Valtrex reduces both symptomatic recurrences and subclinical shedding of the virus, but does not entirely eliminate either one. Therefore it reduces but does not eliminate the chance of transmission. Most people on therapy cannot reliably detect periods of asymptomatic shedding, and I can't tell if your tingling or itching mean anything. If they are more or less continuous, probably not; but if you have such symptoms consistently for 2-5 days in a row, then nothing at all until another 2-5 day episode, that would suggest a herpes outbreak.
It is true that many couples go for years without herpes transmission occurring. You are pursuing all three available strategies: avoid sex when there is an outbreak (I know, it's sometimes hard to tell--let's just say you need to avoid sex when you KNOW you are having an outbreak); use condoms; and take antiviral therapy. Whether additional protection results by your partner taking Valtrex each time you have sex isn't known; this approach has never been studied. My guess is that it helps, but nothing more can be said. Anyway, if you use all those methods, the odds are your boyfriend will never catch HSV-2 from you. Even if you dropped the condoms--either because you don't like them, or perhaps want to conceive someday--the chance of transmission would be very low.
You and your boyfriend should decide together how important it is to prevent transmission. If he gets infected, the odds are it will be mild (he may not even know it); and effective therapy is available to control symptoms. The main fear about herpes concerns the potential for transmission to partners. If your relationship is likely to continue permanently, the last issue may not be important; but if he is likely to be dating again in the future, it may be a big deal. Obviously, this can be a difficult issue for couples to address--but those are the facts.
Finally, don't worry about oral transmission. Even if your partner happened to acquire oral HSV-2 through cunnilingus, nothing would come of it. HSV-2 almost never causes recurrent oral outbreaks. He might have symptoms with an initial infection, but the chance of a chronic, ongoing infection would be very low.
I hope this helps. Good luck-- HHH, MD
Doc, I was thinking re. oral exposure to HSVII:
In cases like the above, wouldn't it be almost advisable for the uninfected partner try to get infected orally with HSVII? Given that there are almost never recurrent symptoms in cases of oral HSV II and that an oral infection would provide immunity to contracting it genitally....
In cases like the above, wouldn't it be almost advisable for the uninfected partner try to get infected orally with HSVII? Given that there are almost never recurrent symptoms in cases of oral HSV II and that an oral infection would provide immunity to contracting it genitally....
Doctor, thank you for your response, but I am still a little confused ... you said that my doctor gave me accurate info but then said that you haven't heard of the uninfected partner taking Valtrex after sex. We really don't want to use condoms, but also really don't want him to get infected ... do you think most of the risk is gone with me on supressive and him taking one every time we have sex? My doc said this would work because his body would already be prepared to fight the virus before it had a chance to get into the cells.
Also, you said that oral sex would be fine and that there is little risk, but I am also concerned with that because my doctor told me that it can be passed all around like that and we could both end up with it in our mouths. She said we should try to avoid it especially avoid kissing after oral sex. I wonder what to believe. I don't want to be held back sexually, but I also don't want this thing that I already don't want where it is spreading all around. Thanks for your help.
Also, you said that oral sex would be fine and that there is little risk, but I am also concerned with that because my doctor told me that it can be passed all around like that and we could both end up with it in our mouths. She said we should try to avoid it especially avoid kissing after oral sex. I wonder what to believe. I don't want to be held back sexually, but I also don't want this thing that I already don't want where it is spreading all around. Thanks for your help.
He's not going to tell you what "could" be causing something. That is what you go to a doctor in person for. Good luck.
I started taking Valtrex 500mg everyday about a month ago (when I first contracted HSV-2), I am on birth control pills and have only had protected sex, but I have completely missed my period this month. This has never happened to me before, I took a pregnancy test and it came back negative. Could it be from the Valtrex, the HSV or stress??? I have called my doctor 3 times already and still haven't had a return call, I'm worried. Thanks for all your help.
Doctor, I noticed that my thread from yesterday was deleted, and i was a bit surprised to see that. I can't begin to explain to you how terrible i have been feeling. I have been trying to collect everywhere i have been in the past month, and i cannot come up with a good conclusion of where i may have contracted what i have. it is severly obvious to me that my immune system is very down. the muscle i have lost is unbelieveable, and my mouth is getting worse by the day. there are lesions on both sides of my tongue, and the white yeast will not subside from the top. my beard is not growing back nearly as well as it has in the past, and i am very upset. this is real. i am going to take another test tomorrow, so hopefully there will be some sort of result. i have been eating like crazy and i cannot get my muscle back. my sleep has gotten worse by the day. please do not delete this thread. i need an answer. if not hiv/aids, what could be doing this to my body? i am only 21.
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
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.
