How to Have a Safe And Fulfilling Sex Life With Herpes

Can I have sex if I have herpes? It is possible to have a great sex life when you have herpes. Herpes doesn’t take away from your ability to be intimate, but it does inform how you will be sexual. Read on to learn what you can do to have a healthy and satisfying sex life when you have herpes.

Have a Safe And Fulfilling Sex Life With Herpes

Can you still have great sex if one of you has herpes and the other doesn't? Yes, you can! Receiving a genital herpes diagnosis can be challenging and may bring about feelings of embarrassment, but it's essential to know that it doesn't spell the end of your sexual life. Engaging in sexual activity while living with herpes can be safe for both you and your partner as long as you follow the necessary precautions.

How is herpes spread?

Genital herpes is transmitted through direct skin-to-skin contact with an individual who has a herpes infection. This contact can occur by touching their herpes sores, the skin in the genital region, or through exposure to bodily fluids like saliva, semen, vaginal discharge, and more.

Oral herpes, typically caused by HSV-1, can also be transmitted from the mouth to the genital area during oral sex, either through skin contact or exposure to saliva.

Communicate with Your Partner

If you have herpes, it’s important to be open and honest about it with a new partner. This means that both you and your partner need to understand and accept the risks and implications that come with a herpes infection before having sex.

This is a conversation that has to come right up front if you feel like you’re going to be sexually active with someone new. Both people should get an STD test (even if you know you have herpes, you should also get tested for other diseases). You want to know what you're each bringing to the relationship. This is a trust builder — and hiding the information can be a trust breaker.

Should you tell a partner you have herpe

Being open will protect you both and help your partner understand why you want to use condoms. Herpes affects billions of people worldwide, with HSV-2 alone affecting more than 400 million people. This means that if you have herpes, you’re definitely not the only person who’s had to have a pre-sex conversation with your partner about the virus.

It’s also important to explain how the herpes virus spreads, and how safe sex practices such as using condoms or dental dams in combination with suppressive herpes medication like valacyclovir can help lower the risk of spreading the virus.

If you're not ready to talk about herpes with a potential sex partner--for whatever reason. Remember there are lots of other people who have herpes. There are even dating sites to meet other people with herpes.

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How to have safer sex if you have negative partner

Feeling upset after receiving a herpes diagnosis is entirely understandable, but it's important not to blame yourself or become overly fearful. Herpes is an extremely prevalent infection, affecting millions of people. Many continue to maintain entirely typical relationships and lead entirely typical lives despite having herpes.

We have detailed strategies to engage in safer sexual practices and reduce the transmission of herpes while exploring different treatment alternatives.

1. Avoid Sex During Outbreaks

Although it’s unlikely that you’re going to want to be intimate during an outbreak, it’s important to know that this is the time when the virus is most active and most likely to be transmissible, says Wyand. “Wait until all your symptoms go away, including any sores, itching, and tingling,” he advises.

2.Stop having sex when you feel warning signs of an outbreak.

Warning signs may include a burning, itching, or tingling feeling. Do not have vaginal, anal, or oral sex — even with a condom. Wait until seven days after the sore heals. The virus can spread from sores not covered by the condom. It can also spread in sweat or vaginal fluids to places the condom doesn’t cover.

3. Use Condoms

Condoms don’t prevent herpes transmission, but they help, cutting down the rate of transmission by about 30%. Condoms are not totally effective because genital herpes only require skin-to-skin contact to spread, so the areas that the condom does not cover are still susceptible. Using condoms consistently will diminish your risk of transmitting herpes to your partner.

Over time, couples in monogamous relationships may decide to forego the condom entirely. There’s nothing unreasonable about that at all, and it all depends on your comfort level in the relationshipd. As your relationship progresses, talk to your partner so you can make a choice that works for you both.

4. Try Medication

Talk to your doctor about an antiviral medication to suppress the virus. Suppressive therapy is the use of prescription Valtrex on a daily basis, whether an outbreak is present or not. Whereas Valtrex is commonly used to stop an outbreak as it is happening, it can also be used daily to prevent outbreaks to begin with. Studies show that it can reduce the viral shedding periods so much that transmission rates drop by 50%.

Other common antivirals for herpes are acyclovir (also spelled aciclovir) and Zovirax. Acyclovir is cheaper, but requires you to take more capsules at a time. With Valtrex, you only need to take one pill a day for the purpose of suppressive therapy.

5. Limit the number of sexual partners

By having sex with a non-infected partner who has sex only with you (mutual monogamy) you are greatly decreasing the chance of spreading the herpes virus to other people.

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Oral Sex and Herpes

I have hsv2 can i receive oral? HSV can also be acquired through oral sex. If someone has a cold sore on their lips while performing oral sex on their partner, they can actually infect their partner genitally (yes, it’s that easy). Usually, this is how genital HSV-1 occurs. In addition, it can also be possible to infect someone through oral sex without a cold sore visible via asymptomatic shedding of the virus. While a reasonable amount of people (though not anywhere close to all) use protection during sexual intercourse, few to none use protection during oral sex. Sexually active people, whether they know it or not, put themselves at risk daily for contracting HSV. The risk is always there.You might also wish to use a condom or dental dam.

Can HSV2 be transmitted through oral sex? Although it is uncommon for HSV2 to be transmitted through oral sex, it is still a possibility. HSV2 is typically passed along from one person to another through vaginal or anal intercourse.Similarly, a person who is infected with HSV2 in the oral area can potentially cause genital herpes in others by giving oral sex. HSV-2 doesn’t like the oral environment. In fact, only 3% of oral herpes outbreaks are from HSV-2.

A dental dam is a latex barrier that can be placed over the vulva/vagina (and anal area if involved) to prevent skin-to-skin contact during oral sex.

How long after a herpes outbreak is it safe to have sex?

When is it safe to have sex after an outbreak? If you recently been diagnosed with herpes, You may wait about four to six months after the primary outbreak to have sex, so you can give your body time to build up antibodies to the virus. You should also avoid kissing your partner, as well as sharing glasses and utensils. Focus on treating the outbreak. Once it’s healed, you can refocus on your sex life.

Herpes virus is at its most contagious during a physical outbreak. During the first outbreak, your body also hasn’t had time to prepare its own immune response to the virus. Combined, this makes your risk of infecting other people with herpes very high during the first outbreak.

During a recurrent outbreak, you can safely have sex after seven to ten days. Once the sores are completely healed, your risk goes back down to non-outbreak levels. When you’re using antiviral medication, you might heal a bit quicker.

Sex when both partners are HSV positive

As long as the relationship is monogamous, both partners have the same type of herpes infection(s) (known as a seroconcordant couple), and both partners are free of other sexually transmitted infections, it's not necessary to use barrier methods like condoms or dental dams. Friction can aggravate herpes sores and slow healing, so you may want to avoid getting it on when one of you has an outbreak for comfort reasons. On a related note, some folks with herpes actually seek a partner who has the same strain(s) of herpes, that way there's no risk of passing on the virus.

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With the right combination of a positive attitude, antiviral drug use and safe sex, having herpes doesn’t need to spell the end of your sex life. Having sex with herpes is still possible, so long as you follow the advice above and, like millions of other people with herpes, be smart, safe and open with the people you love about your status.

Positive Story:Herpes has affected my sex life

I will tell you how having herpes has affected my sex life. For the most part, it hasn’t slowed me down. I went on Tinder a bit after getting my results and tested out the waters. My approach was messaging matches and saying, “Hey what’s up, how you doing, I have herpes.” And to my surprise, most people still seemed interested in hitting up bone zone. Of course, some weren’t as comfortable with it. One guy thought that meant I had constant open sores on my vag that would never, ever go away, which I thought was LOL. Like, if that were the case, I would def not be trying to put anything inside me, let alone a d*ck. That would hurt so bad. Anyway, there have been people who, upon hearing I have herpes, are not willing to have sex with me. And that’s okay. I respect that. In fact, in a way, it’s made being intimate with someone a more communicative activity. And honestly, that’s pretty dope.

I’ve always been very attached to my sexuality, sometimes to a fault. I’m definitely still working on coming to terms with all of this, but I will say that my herpes diagnosis has helped me realize that while I love and cherish my sexuality, it does not define me. Just like having herpes does not define me. I was worried having herpes would mean I could no longer connect with my sexuality, but in many ways it has helped me become even more comfortable with it. I have herpes, and tbh, it’s kind of chic. All adventurous girls do, babe.