This is a bit more of a comment than a question, but please do read and consider. What I'm writing is very important to a great many people! I just want to reassure all of you with constant herpes prodrome symptoms that NO, this is not just something you are imagining! Despite the dismissals and poo-pooing that you often hear from doctors, the bottom line is as follows...
Of all the people I've met with herpes (and I know many), nearly every single one has eventually come to experience what many of you have described on this site, which is a point, after several years (usually 5-10), when the outbreaks stop completely, but are then replaced by CONSTANT, non-stop, very mild, but rather annoying prodrome symptoms. For almost everyone, it is the same... mild itching, or tingling, or numbness (like a foot falling asleep, but somewhere in the genital region) that nearly everyone with herpes knows quite well. None of us can figure out why this happens, but it DOES HAPPEN, and it's absolutely real.
I wouldn't care at all, as I find these symptoms so mild that I basically can ignore what's happening, but the problem is that no one can offer a straight answer regarding whether or not this makes us constantly contagious. For now, just know that you are not crazy! This is real. We all know where our first outbreak occurred, we all know what our prodrome symptoms are, and we all know that we are now experiencing THOSE symptoms in the exact same place where the outbreaks used to occur.
I never had many outbreaks, even in the beginning, and even my first was quite mild. My only concern was keeping my partners safe. From the beginning, I refused to go on any daily suppressive medication, and to be frank, I'm very glad I never did. I used condoms until I got married, and then I stopped. My husband and I have been married for several years and he is still virus-free. I strongly believe that refusing toxic medication and living very healthfully is the reason why my body became so strong early on and was able to suppress the virus entirely on its own.
I hope that someday drug companies will put their efforts into researching CURES instead of just hooking us on pills with side-effects to help us "live" with all these viruses. Until then, I will cope naturally, as I always have done. I just really wish that the experts would listen to us and stop pretending that what we're experiencing isn't real. This needs to be taken seriously, studies need to be done, and we need to be given answers as to whether or not we're contagious at the point when the outbreaks stop and the near-daily, very mild prodrome symptoms begin.
Thank you for reading and for your consideration in this matter.
This discussion is related to
Constant Tingling post-initial HSV1 genital outbreak.