Positive & Inspirational Stories about Living with herpes
How do you live with herpes? Read these positives and inspirational success stories from real people with herpes. Do you have a great story about living happily and healthy with Herpes? Pay it forward and share. You'll help a future reader...
I’m happy I have herpes
It’s helped me in two ways in my life.
First, I think a little more deeply about who I sleep with
The guys that treated me like shit before? Yeah, they aren’t exactly hopping to get into bed with me when I tell them about my little herp friend. At first I was frustrated by this. I used to enjoy sleeping around. I still do, don’t get me wrong. Funniest thing is that three out of four of those guys that said no have booty called me and I’ve been the one to turn them down in the end because, wouldn’t you know if, I’m busy sleeping with people that don’t care and that also happen to be great at having sex with. Bye, boy!
My mother and I like friends now. It feels much cozier
My mom and I had a falling out when I was thirteen. I didn’t see her for years, based on a hatred that came about because, well, I was 13 and pretty selfish. Neither her nor I was in the right but we didn’t reconnect until I was 16 or 17. Things have been tense since then. I haven’t felt like she’s my mother, more like someone vying for my love and attention. It’s been uncomfortable because I’ve felt like I had the power in the whole relationship, the upper hand. It was up to me to say “yes, you can be my mother again.” It wasn’t fair to her or to my kid sisters. This year that’s all changed. When I got diagnosed, I was a fucking wreck. I love my father but I couldn’t tell him. I still haven’t. He’s a joking kind of guy and I just don’t think I can handle that from him. I cried alone in my bed night after night until one night I said “I need my mother.” Well guess fuckingwhat. She’s got herpes too. Look at us. Mother and daughter. What a strong fucking woman. She never cracked and she was diagnosed right when I was 13. Right at my shittiest. Right when I ran away. Obviously thins aren’t 100% between and never will be, but we’re like friends now. It feels much cozier. I don’t think we’d be where we are if I hadn’t needed her, opened up to her, and had her do the same right back. We cried in each others arms, y’all!
I’m not saying I wouldn’t be stoked to NOT have herpes. That’d be cool. But that’s not an option, and because I’m dealing with this, I’m glad that there was a silver lining for me. If you’re new to this, maybe you’ll find one, too. Or not. But either way, it’s not a death sentence. Not nearly.
I have become a better person because of herpes
When I was 19 I thought I was dating the guy of my dreams. I could see us getting married and everything that comes with it, I was so deeply in love and he was my everything. This is when I got the herps. After sex I usually get really sore, damn my sensitive skin, but no matter what I did it got worse and worse and worse. I was like well fuck this is the worst yeast infection everrrrrrrrrrr, I looked up everything possible to make some weird home remedies to try to feel normal again. It was so bad that I missed class, had to pee in the shower because the burning was so bad, and had a hard time walking.
I moved to the big city so I put off going to the gyno partly because I was naive and in denial that it was anything worse than a yest infection. Eventually I found one and went because I thought I was dying and could see the light and I swear the 20 min walk to get there took me an hour to hobble there.
She said in the worst awh sucks for you good luck out there I don’t give a shit about your sanity with not the most reassuring frown, you have herpes. I was speechless, my brain went blank, and I lost all the feelings in my limbs. I remember sitting right out side of the waiting room in the building’s hallway sobbing trying to get a hold of my boyfriend. He consoled me as best as he could asking me so many questions that I couldn’t answer. She just told me I had herpes gave me my prescription for valacyclovir and sent me on my way.
Everything I know about my herpes is what I found online, on podcasts, and tumblr. At that time we had no info and we were trying to figure out how the hell this happened. He came to the conclusion that I was fucking around with other guys and that wasn’t the case and that infuriated me that he would even think that. After we got tired of trying to figure shit out he said that he loved me no matter what and we ended up dating for a year. We broke up and I started worrying if I could ever date again.
Through the years I’ve put my herpes puzzle pieces back together to figure out where this glitter came from. My boyfriend, who was the only guy I was seeing, would get cold sores so badly he would even get them in his eyes. hsv 1 is more commonly known as old sores! It as such a relieving moment to realize where I got it from and how the hell it happened. I was never told which herpes I had but it all made a lot of sense. I got hsv 1 on my lady parts. Recently I went to the greatest place on earth, Planned Parenthood, and got tested on all of the spectrum of stds and I’m waiting to confirm which herpes I have.
I’m 23 now and since then I’ve gotten through, for the most part, all of the is someone ever going to love me? Will sex ever be the same? Is there anyone like me? How am I ever going to love myself again? It rears its ugly head every once in a while especially when I get one of my breakouts which is once every few years and the self doubt and the hate for myself starts all over again. My self confidence imitates depression which makes it hard to love myself and be okay with having a little bit of irritated skin from time to time but I get through it with the support of my friends and the most amazing mother.
Dating has been hard because you are afraid of rejection, maybe some soul crushing name calling, or people running away from you like you are the plague. It’s not like that at all. So far I haven’t ran into anyone that was anything but understanding. Hell I told this dude I was seeing I had herpes and he was like oh cool my friend had a girl that had it and he never got it. We had sex the next morning.
It’s important to disclose so your potential lover and give them time to make a chose and get informed. If here is a room full of 60 people, 10 have herpes. But out of that 10 only 2 of them know. Do them the courtesy of letting them know, unfortunately you probably didn’t get the chance to know because whoever passed it to you probably didn’t know but you can change that for someone else. Herpes sucks but at least you are one of the lucky ones that know and can disclose because those other 8 won’t. It’s hard but having herpes is the best way to weed out all the assholes and losers so you don’t waste your time, energy, and tears on people who don’t love you for all of you.
I am amazing, super cool, funny as fuck, quirky, sexy, beautiful, smart, talented, a god damn catch, and worth loving.I fucking love this glitter! I have become a better person because of it. I listen to my body, I pick and choose my partners carefully, and I inform my friends because I love them.
Being diagnosed with Herpes made me a better person
I wasn’t interested in std’s in almost any way, I was taught how they transmit in sex-ed class and that’s it. I knew everything I needed to know, or so I thought. Fast forward to the day I get diagnosed with HSV-2. I’ve never ingested so much information in such a short time over the web. I was scared, because I didn’t know what excactly the doc had just given me. I had a name of a virus and no other information, so I had to do research.
Today I know alot more. I’m totally comfortable with my diagnose and live a happy life. But the reason why I’m comfortable now is because of my research. Because now I know a lot more. I know that every 6th person has the same strain than me. I know the probability of spreading it with and without condoms and contraceptives. I know how to make myself more comfortable while I’m having an OB and how to handle it.
But most importantly, now I know why I was a shitty person for being one of many to joke about std’s and thinking that all that have ‘em are bad people and deserve to suffer. I was being ignorant and was afraid of the unknown. I’d like to apologize to everyone in the community for being a shitty person and for thinking less of you before. Now I understand that it’s not a big deal and that nobody is automatically a bad person just because they have an std of any kind. What you guys deserve is love.
Positive ways in which having an Herpes can improve your life
Being diagnosed with Herpes/STD can be a heartbreaking and overwhelming experience. Let’s face it, all of us are going through this. Although most of us want to just crawl into a corner and wallow in sadness, I thought it would be a great idea to try something new here. I myself was diagnosed with HSV, although I am not sure what type. I was heartbroken, because for me, I saved myself until I was eighteen, and then the first guy I slept with (and the only) passed it on to me. With the case of Herpes, for those of you who have it, we all know it never goes away. However, DON’T FRET! Life is all about overcoming obstacles, and what would it be without a challenge anyways? Herpes will always be a ‘fact,’ a ‘part of our lives,’ however, it is on us to choose to what level we will let this affect our happiness and ability to live fulfilling, joy filled lives. I for one won’t let it damper my flame! Here I would like to list some ways in which having herpes can affect your life in a POSITIVE way (this just doesn’t apply to herpes by the way).
Herpes can help you become more grateful for what you DO have in life. It is so easy to focus now on what we DON’T have (ugh we have this disease! Ugh we don’t have the same sex life! maybe.) But we can be thankful for SO much (our eyesight, our ability to love, our ability to walk). Having Herpes has opened my eyes to the beauty in the world around me. Yes I may be suffering from outbreaks every so often, but some people have to deal with the painful memories of a difficult past, or scars reminding them from an accident they had as a child (those will be a part of them forever too!). One thing that helped me is to write out, every morning , ten things in life that i was THANKFUL for. As I write them out, I feel the gratefulness, like really feel it (not just a half-hearted thank you, you have to feel it) and that exercise alone has helped me become more positive through this.
Another thing I’d like to mention is about how this gets us down. Yes, I am very optimistic, but yes, I am also human. Sometimes it still gets to me. Sometimes I get back into that cycle of feeling sad, being bitter towards my ex. etc. These are not healthy emotions, but all of us have them. When you find yourself slipping into this state, you can pull yourself out. Try listening to upbeat music, or exercise, or just do anything to get your mind off these thoughts (I usually think of a happy memory I had as a child). I think the most important message here is to try to stay positive as much as you possibly can given the circumstances, and with that, you will draw more happiness and joy into your life. So to everyone, good luck and stay positive!
Having Herpes can help kick start you into a direction of making healthier eating and living choices. Eating a proper, balanced diet, getting enough rest, and reducing stress will allow you to have less outbreaks, and are also probably THE BEST things for your body! So really, making these changes will benefit you in the long run. It has taught me to take better care of my body! Just think, maybe if you didn’t have the disease you would focus less on what your body needs (eating more fast food, not getting enough rest and partying all night, drinking excessively). You can start trying to alter your lifestyle more positively by searching different foods that can help prevent or trigger an outbreak, and different exercises and types of meditation that help relieve stress and promote relaxation (try the Internet or the library).
