I was just wondering how long everyone here with Herpes has had it? Also how did you find out etc etc etc????

Here's my story....

I started dating the guy i'm with now back in 2001 and before we slept together I asked him to get an std check. I had previously been in a relationship for 10 years so I didn't want to risk anything. My partner went for an std check and the results came back negative on all what he was tested for. We didn't know for a long time that you are not routinely checked for Herpes or Genital Warts... so we assumed everything was fine and he was "clean".

After having sex for the first time....two days later I started having what I (and my dr) thought were thrush symptoms. I treated it as if it was thrush everytime also. It never even crossed our mind it could be anything else after him being tested. I kept getting this irritation down below a lot but still it never " clicked" because I kept thinking back to his negative results. Years before we met, my partner did have a few water type blisters appear on his penis on a couple of occasions but he had put that down to friction burn at the time..... and then after being tested and his tests being negative for everything ( well so we thought "everything") we were still putting it down to friction burn when it did appear around 3 times since we have been together also. He only seemed to get them after we had been having rougher sex than normal ....so to us it just looked like it was associated to that fact.

Fast forward to this year...

One day a few months ago I noticed my first sore down below and then another.... Also started getting the back and leg aches... I knew then something was "wrong" so I searched the web and realised what we had obviously got!! Talk about a shock to the system! :o That is when we realised also that those "std checks" don't actually test you for everything.
Since that day.... I haven't had anymore "sores" I just get what look like paper slits appear and the itching, tingles, aches etc

I have read so many times that people think when they have an std check up they think they are getting tested for everything ( just like we did) It erks me no end that most clinics don't tell you this. If they did tell you from the start..... I personally think it could have stopped a lot of people getting some of the things they have now.

I had my primary ob a little over 14 years ago, about 10 days before I went into labor with my 3rd boy. The midwoves cultured the sore. Usually the ob would have cleared up in time for me to have a vaginal birth, but I didn't know about garlic oil back then and it was a pretty bad primary, so i ended up with a Caesarean.

My ex-husband had his primary right before we started dating and we went to a herpes counselor together; he is not very aware of his body, and I can remember a couple of times when he had sores the day after we had had sex.

I like your name! Sounds like you are adjusting to the shock and doing well. Good luck.