HSV1 transmission? And some other questions.

[sacd456]

I went and got tested for herpes thinking it was a staph outbreak, because my boyfriend has had reoccurring staph on his genitals for years, and believed that he was having a staph outbreak at the same time that I was complaining about pain down there.
The doctor at a walk-in clinic diagnosed it as herpes, and sure enough the culture test came back positive. They didn't type it. My boyfriend couldn't go to a doctor at the time and his went away after a few days. He was using the cream that he's always used for staph, but I feel like staph wouldn't go away so easily, especially when he's had a history of bad staph infections. He says that he thinks he also had some staph on his wrist, but I'm a couple states away, so I didn't see it myself. But I still feel like staph would be different. He's convinced that it was just staph though.
He has always gotten cold sores so we're pretty positive he's always had HSV-1, and he does go down on me.

I went a week ago and got a blood test done and it came back positive for HSV-1. I'm assuming that I have genital HSV1 because I've never had a cold sore. But I do realize that it is possible that I've always been asymptomatic oral HSV1 and that I just recently contracted HSV2 from him so it wouldn't have shown up in the blood test yet.
I prefer the HSV1 diagnosis but I feel like it would be oddly coincidental that he would have given me HSV1 through oral sex and then just happened to have a genital staph outbreak when I have a herpes outbreak, but he has no genital herpes.

His outbreak (staph, herpes, who knows..) was small reddish bumps on the shaft of his penis. After a few days they scabbed over and went away. They were spread out and not at all clustered which is what confuses me (although my outbreak was not clustered either).

So, if I do only have HSV-1, which I would have gotten through oral sex, is it possible that I gave HSV-1 back to him genitally? His outbreak appeared a few days after I started to complain about mine.
I know it's harder to get it genitally if you already have it orally. His immune system isn't the greatest though. He tends to get sick fairly often.
He is going to get a blood test done in a few weeks (he's still at school). Assuming that it comes back as only HSV-1 can he just assume that he only has it orally, and is entirely free of genital herpes? Or does it sound like he's just in denial and his "staph" outbreak was herpes?

Basically, if you KNOW you have genital herpes, you have to tell future partners, blah blah blah. Since he would have no proof that it's genital, can he just assume it's not, call it staph, and forget anything happened?

Aside from that, if he doesn't have it genitally, is it still safe for us to have sex as per usual (not during outbreaks, obviously), oral sex, etc?

In the future, seeing as most people have HSV1 already, how worried do I have to be about transmitting it? GH is GH but if it's almost impossible for someone to get HSV1 genitally if they already have it orally(or so I've heard), then why does it matter?

Basically, i'm just frustrated. I went to the doctor and got diagnosed, so is it tough **** for me and life as normal for my boyfriend?

[symptomchecker]

You are all over the place on this one.  However, you do have a chance of getting some answers.  Have him get the blood test just as a baseline.  Next time he gets that outbreak-ish rash, have him go for a swab test immediately, while there is still fluid to test, before he puts the cream on it.  That way you can know if those bumps are herpes or not.  It is possible to spread HSV 1 from one area to another, though not pretty infrequent.  Telling future partners that you have HSV 1 is the responsible thing to do, but it is common enough that they prob. already have it or might not care if you do.  You are trying to answer too many questions immediately.
-If you trust him, ask him about the last time he had sexual contact with someone else.
-Get him to blood test IGG now.  Follow up with IGG 2-3 months after last other than you partner, if there were any, if he tests neg. for either 1 or 2.  
-Get an IgG test yourself now as a baseline.  If neg for either 1 or 2, do a followup in a few months.  
-Get any lesions/blisters tested by IGG typespecific from now on to figure out what type is where if you have more than one type.  

The tough **** for you and your bf is purely based on your decision.  If the basic prob. for you two is herpes outbreaks, go on daily meds and avoid sex during outbreaks.  If he has two types and you have one, you just make the decision whether or not you want to potentially get another type.  You are not going to constantly re-infect each other, but having sex during outbreaks might spread it or cause a recurrent outbreak for the partner.  Take the antivirals and move on with life, do research and talk to future partners about it.  Most likely the two of you will only have to avoid sex with each other for a few weeks out of the year, not a big deal.  

[gracefromHHP]

If you read our read before posting post on this forum, you'll see that we ask that you just keep adding to  your original post instead of making a new one each time. This is your 3rd post now and it really would save you time typing and me time having to go look at the prior ones if you just kept adding to 1 post. From this point forward, just keep it all in this post - thanks!

At this point, he needs tested to see what his status is. His symptoms that he assumes are staph very well could be herpes that was never properly diagnosed. Once you know his status then you can figure out if you need additional igg blood testing on yourself or not.

if you both have hsv2, it's not an issue. just never perform oral on on active genital lesions.

grace