The young man who tells what it is like to live and have quotes with a genital herpes |The printing press

The author of this article wanted to remain in anonymity.

I am not religious and I would describe me as an atheist, but when at 21 I began to feel irritation around my penis I had to pray about 50 times a day to be anything except a herpes.

I felt a lot of shame and I think that is due to the fact that no one talks on this issue: it is rare that it has so much stigma since two thirds of the world population below 50 has the type of Herpes HSV-1.

This variety of virus is normally manifested as a lip herpes, also known as a fire or heating, but you can pass to the genitals by skin contact.

Before having the official diagnosis I buckled on Googlemis symptoms and that was very afraid.

According to my internet research I am self -diagnosis Herpes.And when reading forums and articles with wrong information I thought it would be the end of my life.

I read that it was incurable and that could have outbreaks regularly.

That made me think that nobody would like to lie with me never again.

The whole process prior to the diagnosis was terrifying: it was hard for me to sleep after compulsively reading items on the Internet, and later suddenly woke up in a state of panic.

Will it be a bite?

The first time it came out was in September 2017.At first I thought I had chopped a bug, but after several weeks I realized that that little red spot must be something else.

The outbreaks of some people are painful, but mine was not.So I thought it should be an allergic reaction to a new clothing softener.

After several weeks, I went to the doctor and confirmed that I had Herpes.A test confirmed that it was the HSV-2 type, which is almost exclusively sexually transmitted.

How to spread

I became paranoid asking me who would have infected me.Would this person or that other be?

If you have had more than one sexual partner, it can be difficult to know how you infected you.In addition, as is passed by skin contact with skin you may have contracted even using a condom.

Despite knowing this I could not help feeling guilty, as if I had done something wrong, and that I had been careful and used protection.

The results of the sex clinic left me on the ground.I got scared and I didn't know what to do.They told me that I had to call all my sexual partners, and now.

After the diagnosis I was afraid to be rejected and I stopped dating girls for a few months.But I knew that the longer the problem would become the worst.

Looking for support

After investigating on the Internet I found a support group for people with genital herpes, and that was when I really began to understand what this diagnosis implies.

And I discovered that it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Normally you only have one outbreak a year, at most.

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— 𝘿𝙅 𝙎𝙀𝙉𝙉𝘼 Mon Oct 26 13:56:40 +0000 2020

So I gathered value to go to an appointment with a girl I had met by dating at night.

We saw each other a couple of times but I did not dare to get the subject and when one day he invited me to go after kissing the door of his house I left, I was afraid to talk about that.

The next day I desperately called a support telephone line looking for help and told me that I should tell him before having another appointment.

So I called her and invited her to an appointment at my house.That day I couldn't stop thinking about the subject and felt nerve nausea.

And there I told it, while we were sitting on the couch, looking at the floor all the time.When I raised my head, he laughed at me for having been so worried and kissed me.

Sexual life after diagnosis

Since then I have left with about five girls.I did not have sex with all of them and I think that is one of the positive aspects of all this experience, that my attitude towards relationships has changed and now I have more significant experiences.

The reason is that if I go out with someone and I see that we may sleep at some point, I tell him that I have HSV-2.But I just want to take that step with someone I really like and who can I trust.

Until now no one seemed back to the HSV-2.

But it is true that I have not tried to go out with friends of friends for fear that everyone will know.

I am still getting used to stigma, but I have been positive for me the reactions of the people I have told.

I even went out with a woman who told me that she also had a fire or warmth "down there" and she was very happy that I took the subject because she was ashamed.

When I told some friends that had genital herpes, the third told me "me too", so I knew he was not the only one.

How to handle an outbreak

My first Herpes outbreak, about 10 months ago, happened during an infectious mononucleosis episode or glandular fever, also popularly known as "kiss disease".

As my immune system was so low I had herpes outbreaks every two weeks.

Now, as a prevention to handle the problem and symptoms I take an antiviral medication twice a day.

But not everyone who has genital herpes type HSV-2 has to do that, many people do not take any medication.

I take antivirals as prevention, but most people use it only if they have an outbreak to control symptoms.

Sometimes I get out of sprouts when I am stressed, such as when I have work delivery dates at the university.

Apart from taking the medication and trying to cope with the symptoms, the best I can, there is not much but.

If I think about the scare that I spent last year, I would like to have known about the genital herpes everything I know now: that the diagnosis is not a death sentence.

In balance, I think I learned a lot from this experience, especially when it comes to my attitude towards appointments.

Now when I go home with someone, it means that we have a relationship close enough to have entrusted the truth.And that closeness means that it will be more special.

Read the original English article by BBC Threeen this link.

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