backpacker

I just returned to the boards after a very long time and saw that Audrey B had mentioned me lately. Hey! I'm now homeschooling my teenagers through high school and so don't have much time to get on the boards. I have also recently broken up with my dear partner of about 15 years..yes, I broke up with him, the reason had nothing to do with herpes but with his childhood wounds getting in the way (he became more and more verbally abusive, as his father had been toward him), and he never contracted herpes from me.

Because of the tension between us, I was having obs about once a month. In the last 6 months, I have only had one ob, and that was right before he came back to pack up his things. It's actually great not to have to worry about whether I'm getting an ob or not. Now I don't even look if I start feeling some irritation down there; I just put on a little aloe vera gel (thanks for the idea, orn!--how's it going?--the aloe gel is more convenient than the garlic oil was) that I bought at Target (the little trial size bottles; the gel is clear) and then go on with my life.

Since I'm not spending time with him or on damage control, I've been trail running a lot--I prefer backpacking, but can't do that all the time, especially in the winter. I slowly increased my running time to 3 hours and 2 minutes last Sunday. Not sure if I'll ever do a marathon, but it's pretty cool to be able to run that long without feeling tired (just a little achy--I am 48, after all!)

I have tried OLE but didn't get significant results from it. I think the OOO extract is good just because it is a good immune system activator. I have some of that on hand but use it more nowadays when I think I'm getting a cold, along with echinacea. I still take vitamins and garlic tablets every day for general health, and I eat mostly natural foods and am a vegetarian. Besides the running, I lift weights 4x a week with my boys. That's about all I ever do for the herpes any more. In my opinion, discovering your sources of pain (not necessarily stress--I'm under a lot of stress with the homeschooling, but that doesn't cause obs) and doing something about them is the best way to handle h. It took me years to tell my man that I just couldn't live with him anymore. He deserved the chance, but I deserve the peace I now have in my life.

I'm lonely sometimes and I miss sex, but right now I'm pretty content and very busy just taking care of my children and myself.

Hope everybody is doing well. Peace to you all.