Living With Herpes

There is as yet no actual cure for herpes but there are treatments than can tackle the symptoms.

Whilst you should avoid sexual contact whist an outbreak occurs there is no reason to feel you must give up sex altogether. You should consider the following:-

1. Discuss your herpes openly and frankly with your partner.

2. If your partner has no recollection of having herpes, but has had previous sexual partners, ask them to visit their doctor or health clinic to find out whether he or she has asymptotic herpes of the same type.

3. Get to know your herpes and avoid skin-to-skin contact with affected areas during active phases of infection. During active phases you may wish to use sexual techniques that do not include contact with your active areas.

4. Learn about safer sex practices and use them every time you have contact with your partner. After you have all the information and both you and your partner understand the issues, you can decide together about how you want to handle the safer sex issues for the longer term.

5. Discuss with your doctor or health clinic the possibility of using antiviral suppression to reduce the frequency of asymptotic shedding. This is not an absolute prevention method but it does reduce the frequency of shedding substantially.

6. Find out about the status of vaccinations for herpes. Your doctor or clinic may be participating in clinical trials or know more about one of the new vaccines under study.

These are just the first steps in learning to live with herpes but remember you are not alone and you need to stay positive.