Risk for me?

Question

Hi Terri!

Hopefully even if this thread is pretty old you will see my question! I encountered the same situation (I am a woman and have had cold sores all my life. I gave oral sex to my man on Saturday Night and I woke up the next morning with prodrom symptoms.) I know that there is a risk that I passed it on to him, but is there a risk that he could also have passed it on back to me genitally since there was a unprotected penetration after the oral sex?

Also, i was told that basically, without any symptoms, there is no way to really know whether he has it if let's say he is asymptomatic? Is this true? And basically, he could have already had it without even knowing.

Thank you in advance, this forum is such a great resource I can't believe I didnt know about it before.

This discussion is related to hsv1 transmission.

gracefromHHP · Answer

really, not everything is herpes. be seen and get an exam if you are concerned.

mtothetl · Answer

Hi again Grace,

I know you said that I would never get HSV1 back from him, but I've been feeling little "shocks" in my internal genital area since last night (its been 10 days now since the event happened). It's not incomfortable in any way, its just that I'm kind of freaking out and now i'm just super conscious of whatever might be going on down there..

I've been reading more on the subject and as you mentionned, it says that it would be very rare for a person to have HSV1 orally and then contract it genitally, but there IS a chance. I'm still worried that I passed it on to him and that he passed it back to me. I gave him oral sex on the Saturday night and we had unprotected genital sex the next morning... I'm just wondering if he can pass it on THAT fast?????

I will go get tested tomorrow if the symptoms persist. 

Thanks again for your help and support.

mtothetl · Answer

Ok this makes sense! This is such a complicated disease and I realize just now how little I knew about it even if i've had cold sores since I was very young. 

Thank you so much for your time and quick responses Grace!

gracefromHHP · Answer

typically hsv1 in the genital area isn't asymptomatic since it's out of its place of preference. the folks who have asymptomatic genital herpes typically have hsv1 orally first and then contract hsv2 genitally later on - the hsv1 takes the 'edge' off of the hsv2 infection so it goes unnoticed.

mtothetl · Answer

Ok ill make sure to do so. But i thought you could have asymptomatic HSV?

gracefromHHP · Answer

typically hsv1 genitally presents with very obvious and painful lesions. if he doesn't develop them within 2-20 days, he didn't contract hsv1 from you. 

just make sure he really did have herpes testing when he was last tested for std's as well as ask if he's had partners since he was last tested. you want to be protecting yourself from hsv2 too.

mtothetl · Answer

Thank you Grace! I have one last question, why do u say its useless for him to get tested in 2 months if he has no symptoms? I thought they could detect antibodies in the blood or something like that?

gracefromHHP · Answer

you have hsv1 orally. you know this because you get cold sores. You can transmit your hsv1 oral infection to a partner either orally through kissing them or genitally from performing oral sex on them.  your oral hsv1 gives you significant protection against contracting hsv1 genitally from a partner. 

your hsv1 won't move from your oral area to your genital area.

mtothetl · Answer

My last test was done back in December and I was clean back then.. 

Im a little confused now though..

Ok so I have HSV-1 orally. But is it possible to have it both orally and gentially, or because the virus has "decided" to have outbreaks on my lips, I can't just suddenly have outbreaks on my genitals?

gracefromHHP · Answer

you would never get it back again from him.

you will test + for hsv1 since you have hsv1 orally. why would you test in 2 months?

if he doesn't develop obvious symptoms, no reason for him to test in 2 months either.

have you been tested to know your hsv2 status?

mtothetl · Answer

He has been tested negatively in the past. Now we are waiting to see if any symptoms appear and if not we will both get a blood test done in 2 months. For now, i just want to be reassured that if can't have contracted it and then passed it on to me right away.

gracefromHHP · Answer

you tried to post on an old post on the experts forum so it was automatically bumped over to here. you have to pay to post to Terri.

has your partner been tested for herpes to know his own status? 

grace