Hear how a herpes diagnosis went from devastation to empowerment 

Alexandra: Hey you guys, I'm Alexandra Harbushka, founder of Life With Herpes. And I'm really excited today because I have an interview with one of our secret society members. So Jenna Roberts has offered to tell her story, share what it was like to get diagnosed, share what it was like to go through that whole process with her doctor. Go in, find out that it was herpes, you know, her whole dating story. And then she's going to…

Interview with Jenna Roberts: our own Secret Society Member 

Welcome to the Life With Herpes show. Today I sat down with one of our Life With Herpes Secret Society members, Jenna Roberts.  This was a huge deal for both of us and probably a bigger deal for Jenna. This is the first time I’ve had one of our community members on the show (yay) and this was Jenna’s way of stepping into her power and owning her herpes diagnosis! 

Jenna talks about her herpes diagnosis and how she was emotionally dev…

What you need to know about oral sex and herpes

One of the common questions I get from the community has to do with oral sex. Oral sex is kind of left out of the equation when we’re talking about sex, sex education or sexual health. Typically what comes to mind when we talk about sex is just the plane old heterosexual vaginal sex. And then when we talk about safe sex or even in sex ed classes, oral sex is kinda just left out. It’s like it’s not really considered sex.  

Ok so here’s the deal, y…

What you need to know about herpes 

Herpes has been around since humans have walked this earth. The fact is we have to learn to  live with this virus. What’s odd about this is as a culture we’ve decided that this virus is dirty and one of the worst things we could catch. With that being said, as a society we really don’t even know that much about herpes and it’s probably because we choose not to. I mean, we’ve made this herpes thing out to be worse than the boogie monster under your bed. 

With…

Do you always have to use protection now that you have herpes?

The quick answer is no! You can absolutely have unprotected sex even if you have herpes. Before we dive deep and go into explanation on this let’s talk about how this is a huge myth and is one of the drivers for the stigma.

When we are diagnosed and told that we have herpes we automatically think that we’re going to be forced to use condoms for the rest of our lives, even when we’re married. Yuck! And this is not true. Yes, condoms…

You disclosed you have herpes, use protection and now your partner has it too. What to do next!

This is one of our biggest fears when we find out we have herpes. The last thing we want is to pass it to someone else and have them experience what we went through. I mean it’s physically painful and emotionally painful. 

One of the aspects I like to bring up is normally when we’re diagnosed with herpes it came to us by surprise. Either our partner didn’t tell us or our partner didn’t know. Either …

These herpes myths will surprise you. I know they sure did for me.

The reason why there’s a stigma against herpes is because of all the myths out there. We say that someone was irresponsible and that's why they have herpes. We say that people were promiscuous and that’s why they have herpes. We think that condoms will protect you from getting herpes and so on. 

Really what this all boils down to is the lack of education about herpes and the snickering that continues about herpes and STI’s. 

T…

Yes, you can have sex and be intimate with your partner even if you have a herpes outbreak. 

Ok I’m sure you’re reading this going...what are you crazy!?! Before you start wondering about transmission and how this is going to work out let me calm you down and explain. 

Sex doesn’t have to mean vaginal sex. That’s typically what we think of when we hear the words sex. It’s pretty conventional and socially we’ve been programed to think of sex as vaginal intercouse. Well, there are many other way…

You probably have herpes and you’re not alone. 

When you get diagnosed with herpes you feel like you’re all alone and the only person in the world with herpes. Well guess what!!! You’re now the majority. Yes, the majority of people have herpes. In fact 84% of the world population has herpes. 

Let’s break that down for you...

First let’s talk about the United States and people with herpes. I pulled up numbers from the census and data from the Center of Disease Control to get as exact as we can…

Different Types of Antivirals for Your Herpes Outbreak

You get the call from your doctor saying you have herpes and they’ll fill your prescription. 

Eek… right?

Here’s the deal. Take the antiviral. Chances are you’re in pain and feel horrible and all you want is for your outbreak to go away. Getting that antiviral in your system ASAP is the best thing you can do. In fact, the soon you get it  in your system on the onset of an outbreak, the sooner your outbreak will clear up. I’ve heard of peo…