Comment on I got herpes. What can I expect?
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day agoSome people have more outbreaks and more painful outbreaks than others. It’s helpful to take an antiviral that suppresses the outbreaks. When there are no outbreaks, chances of transfer are low but not zero. It’s tends to be higher risk for the penetrated party rather than the one doing the penetrating. Since she never had an outbreak and the penetrated party does less transfer, this may be why.
Frankly, though, like all viruses, long-term effects can be kind of scary, like the evidence of a correlation with higher rates of alzheimers and dementia in patients HSV-I/HSV-II. Viruses do a lot of things to the body long-term that may not be readily obvious or related directly to the virus itself, much like human papillomavirus is correlated with higher instances of cervical cancer and throat cancer.
While transfer probability is low, it’s still valuable to try to stop transmission by using prophylactics.
LongLive@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Any advice, please, on how to deal with the overwhelm? I can feel depressed from any injury, and a contagious aspect makes it heavier.
SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
Don’t blame yourself. Viral spread happens and even condoms aren’t 100% effective, depending on the area it is presenting in. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s something to be ashamed of. The shaming aspect of disease needs to stop, I would have thought we had learned that with HIV. Shame does nothing but harm the communities already affected by these problems, and the treatments get better and better all the time. While some aspects (like potential long-term effects) may be nerve-wracking, they are never a guarantee of that outcome, as there is only correlation and no specific proven causation (that I know of).
The common cold is a virus. Viruses are trickier than bacteria in some ways. The main thing is to remind yourself that while you may have made mistakes, the existence and spread of viruses is not entirely your fault. It is nothing to be ashamed of and anyone pushing shame on you for it is not worth associating with. It would be like someone shaming me for having cancer. It’s absurd.
It may take time to come to terms with and work through your depression, and it may help to talk to a therapist who is familiar with the virus and the shame-culture built around it. The first poster in this thread is right on the money that the stigma came from an advertising campaign promoting antivirals for it. Which, if you are insured, the antivirals are often covered. They will prescribe them based on the frequency and severity of outbreaks
Good luck!