I would like to give you my thoughts and life experience thus far living with genital herpes. It was 22 years ago, I was just eighteen, my husband nineteen. We were not aware of what happened when you had a cold sore and then had oral sex! I can tell you, you get genital herpes and your life is not the same!

I am 41 and live with this every day. You forget about it when you're not having a outbreak, but any trauma, stress, illness of any kind can and will trigger an outbreak. My initial outbreak was violent. I thought I had the flu, my body ached, but I had blisters on my genital area. My doctor diagnosed me with genital herpes just by looking at it!

Both my husband and I were stupified by how I transmitted this awful disease. The doctor helped shed some light on the subject by asking a lot of questions about our sex life. I had just had our first child and was not sleeping with anyone else! My husband often got cold sores and we did not think about what the repercussions of this would be! We were young and ignorant. After my initial outbreak, I remained asymptomatic for a long period of time. Then, when I started having outbreaks again, they were on my butt cheek. I was not sure what it was because of the placement on the skin. I saw my dermatologist and he told me the facts: they can appear on any part of your body. So far, I suppose I am fortunate that they are confined to my butt area and cannot be seen.

The outbreaks affect every aspect of your life! Be careful: know your body and your partner and most of all be SAFE!