how do I continue with my life knowing that I have genital herpes?

[nika183]

I'm very scared. I don't know if I can get pregant having this disease. And besides neither my boyfriend nor I ever had any sympthoms, and we didn't cheat on each other. How could it be possible that I have herpes?

[gracefromHHP]

I also encourage you and your partner to read the herpes handbook at www.westoverheights.com. there is also a terrific patient counseling video on the same site to watch too that I think you'll get out a lot out of.  

grace

[auntiejessi]

How did you find out you had herpes?  By blood test?  If you get a copy of your exact results, and post them here, I can help sort that out.  Your boyfriend also needs to get tested, and he needs a type specific IgG herpes blood test.

If you do have herpes, you can still get pregnant.  If all you do is avoid sex during an outbreak, your partner has a 4% chance of getting it per year.  

The only dangers with pregnancy and herpes are if the mother was infected during the third trimester (last 3 months of the pregnancy), or if she had an outbreak at the time of delivery.

If you do have herpes, the doctor will probably put you on a suppressive dose of valtrex during the last 4-6 weeks of your pregnancy to prevent this, and if you did get an ob, they'd do a c-section and your baby won't get it.

Aj