Let's chat about HSV :)
Hey y'all.
A close friend of mine recently got told she has herpes. She's pretty gutted about it. I don't think people talk about H enough, even though it's so common. She's pretty young (21) and I'm worried about even younger people having to cope with the stigma, so hopefully this thread might educate a few more of us (including myself). I've realised I'm essentially clueless about the whole experience, and I really want to support her. Can anyone shed some light on their experience with the virus, good or bad? Tips, facts, warnings, love stories, all welcome!
Please show some love 
@speaktolors oooh well my favorite fact about herpes is that 1/3 adults have it :p to just call it "common" isn't enough, only 4% of adults have food allergies according to research by FARE so what this means is you are 8 times more likely to find an adult with herpes than you are to find an adult with food allergies. I hope that really conveys just how common that really is :p or another example if you went to a party with 100 people there, 33 of them on average would have herpes in some form. In fact herpes is more common than diabetes and asthma too. This being said herpes is rather harmless, in fact the most dangerous thing about it would probably be the fact that being diagnosed with it can play with your emotions TONS like some people might feel 'dirty' or undesirable because of it which can lead to a whole other set of problems. As for warnings, herpes spreads through contact and can usually be spotted decently easily, as there are 2 types of herpes, genital and oral. If you ever heard of a cold sore, that's herpes, blisters around the genitals? could be herpes. It's not something I'd say is important to make sure you have to try to avoid but not kissing someone with cold sores and using condoms during sex can really help reduce the chances. Cold sores are probably the easiest way for it to spread, that can be spread to literally anyone you kiss and does not much more but annoy you and spread more. Though just asking someone if they have it might not work up to 90% of people who have it might not know or even realise it, but it's not a dangerous virus at all, partly because it can be passed on without any symptoms I think people learning about it is the best thing possible hear because it probably won't be scary at all when you realise it's just something that is there and doesn't really ever go away. One thing you can do if you don't want to spread it to a partner is specialised medication to help reduce that risk, you can find these online or maybe even ask your doctor about them if you have herpes and want to know more about how to prevent spreading it :p
Well hopefully I helped out a bit hehe ^-^ *huggles* :3 <3 I think it was a great idea you started this thread and I'd love to see people talking about stuff like this more because it's good stuffs to know :p
@Keanan thanks for your post! I agree, I know almost nothing about it. People treat it like a big deal but it seems to me to be a largely psychological thing...
@speaktolors yuppers ^-^ a lot of it really jsut is the stigma surrounding it :p oh I thnk it's bad so it has to be bad :p
@speaktolors Hey guys,
Quick update on my research:
The figures differ slightly, but some websites say up to 1 in 3 adults have the virus that causes genital herpes!! It seems that most people don't even know they have it (80%) and as it poses little/no health risk, most doctors don't even screen for it in your average sexual health check-up. So why is there so much stigma surrounding it? I'm guessing the fact that the virus stays in your body for your entire life, and the culture of jokes and ridicule in our society. I've also heard that in the 70s pharmaceutical companies did ad campaigns against herpes to try and up sales of anti-virals... do anyone know if there's truth to that?
