by Michael Hurd

Created on: April 25, 2008   Last Updated: April 29, 2008

Talk about an inconvenient truth. Herpes like all STD's is not something we want to talk about or even think about, but it keeps coming up. In more ways than one.

It's easier when we talk about someone else so let's create a guy who will show us some truth about living with herpes. We'll call him John. Not because he's into hookers, but because he can be just about anybody. A regular guy maybe in his twenties, some college and dating the girl he just proposed to. Pretty average. That's the point. Although there are studies defining what gender, races or education levels who've contracted the disease, herpes is indiscriminate. Anyone is eligible.

This is not your cold sore herpes simplex virus type 1, it is the upgraded version, HSV-2. HSV-2 spreads through an exchange of fluids that contain the virus. Typically the contaminated fluids are present due to an open lesion or sore that occurs during a "breakout". More recent science is proving that it is also possible to transmit the disease during periods of "shedding" where the virus is present in a fluid, but there isn't an active breakout.

Back to John. John first discovered his herpes a while ago. Being an athletic guy he thought the burning was his jock itch until he visited the bathroom. Like most guys, John refrained from screaming like a girl when he saw the gathering of blisters and sores down the length of his penis. A doctor's examination and testing of the fluid in one of the blisters confirmed that John now had the incurable disease, herpes.

HSV lives in the nervous system waiting for John's immune system to weaken just enough for it to multiply, typically around the genitalia or anus. Very painful. Anyway, John did the right thing and told his fiancee about his affliction. Besides, there are medicines that can help.

There are three families of medication; the most prevalent being nucleoside analogs. Common brand names are; "Valtrex", "Zovirax" or "Cytovene". They won't stop the breakouts, but will shorten the duration and frequency. Now let's put a twist in the plot. John's medication has a very low reaction rate, 1% to 2%. But we're going to say that John is one of the 2% group and the medication makes him really sick. Of course this takes out his immune system and his herpes gives him a breakout for a wedding present.

So John and, let's call her Jane, start their new life together. For John it's frustrating. For Jane it's downright scary. Meanwhile they learn to work around it. One night, after a particularly

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