First off you made all the right choices by telling the guys to get tested and I'm happy for you your mom is so supportive!!! Many of us are scared to tell any family members about or situation. It sounds silly but just the thought of disappointment and anger my family might go through is plenty enough for me to be quite. Specially them always having concerns about me in the first place. I believe you can still get married and start a family!!! There's meds to protect your partner. I don't know how safe they are but it's worth looking into!!! Good luck!!!

Thank you very much for your support! I am really surprised how well my family that knows took it.. I mean, my brother was like, "Oh well." I'm still his sister, I still annoy the shit out of him, I guess he doesn't care! My dad was beyond upset... but he has come to terms with it... My mom always was like... "Well, from what I read, you won't have any huge problems. It could be worse, and I love you!"

I hope you are right. A family is something I have wanted my whole life... It took a lot of therapy to get me to be this ok with it. I hope it will get better...

I could use some therapy right now. I'm having my first outbreak as I'm typing and it is a sad, sad day for me. Here's my story:

I'm 23 years old. I've had cold sores all my life. I thought that was bad and embarrassing enough... A few nights ago I went out with a friend of mine. He and I have always been flirtatious with each other and we've slept together a few times. He's the only guy to ever make me orgasm, so the sex, obviously, is amazing! I had a cold sore at the time, but it was nearly healed so I didn't think it would be a problem. Let me just say, I was completely oblivious as to how contagious this virus really is. In my 23 years, I had only passed the virus on to 2 people (that I know of), so I didn't think it was that contagious. Also, I thought I had read one time that cold sores weren't contagious when they were in the healing process. Everything I've been reading the past couple days says the contrary and I wish I had known that before meeting up with my "friend". I never would've gone through with it if I had known this would happen! But we did the deed and 3 days later, I'm getting my first genital outbreak. Now not only am I depressed that I have herpes in 2 locations and find myself wondering how any guy will ever want to touch me again, but I more than likely gave it to my friend as well, which is the worst part!

I feel your pain about being scared you'll never have an amazing sex life or find love and have a family. Right now I'm mostly embarrassed about my friends finding out and what they'll say :-( I live in a small town where everybody talks. I've done a lot of reading on the subject the past few days (I started itching immediately following sex so I was already worried this would happen), and there's hope and I know it will get easier, but right now it just sucks. Here's some of what I read though and anyone please correct me if I say something wrong:

First of all, with proper treatment, you can reduce the risk of transmitting herpes to your partner to as little as 1% yearly. In order to do this, you would need to be on antiviral meds, I believe I also read that your partner can take antiviral meds to prevent contracting the virus, and you would also need to wear condoms and avoid engaging in sexual activity when you have an outbreak. There is still a risk so your partner must be aware of that before you engage in any sexual activity, that's part of the downside: breaking the news.

I read a wonderful story about a girl in our same situation: has herpes and was afraid no one would ever want to be with her. However, she began to see it as a positive because the guys she told that would run-off she figured were jerks who didn't deserve her. She began to see her virus as a way to weed out the bad guys, and since she wasn't wasting any more time on them, she found a good one. A guy who told her she was worth the risk. That will be the most romantic thing a guy can ever tell me now :-/.

Also, I've read that as many as 20% of Americans have Herpes and up to 50% will contract the virus at some point in their lives. 1 out of 5 women have genital herpes, so chances are someone you know has it, and any guy whose had more than 5 sexual partners has likely already taken that herp-roulette risk. I don't know about you, but those statistics make me feel less alone. I remembered I know someone who has it and would love nothing more than to talk to her about it, I think it would help me feel better, but I'm nervous she'd say something to our mutual friends and acquaintances.

To summarize, (and this is also to help myself get past this) you are not alone and someone can and will love you regardless of this virus. You are still you, you have herpes, but YOU ARE NOT HERPES. Through treatment you can still lead a fairly normal life with minimal outbreaks and/or risk. Good luck to you! I hope you find love and have an amazing family. Thank you for sharing your story.

I love that line! "You are not herpes". Exactly right! Sometimes it gets overwhelming!