today i found out i have hsv2 from blood results, swabs were negative. both my partner of 2+ yrs & i have in the past had cold sores & had no idea that the virus could be spread to the genitals through oral sex even though there are no cold sores. what im confused about is does the type 1 turn into type 2 because of it being transfered to the genitals or are there literally 2 strains of the virus? eg type 2 could be transfered to the mouth through oral sex ?
im so upset & been crying on & off all day
i have no way of knowing if i caught it from him or someone else in my past
yes, it can be transmitted from type 1 to type 2. but it could be from your past as well, and you're just now having an outbreak. i was diagnosed about 4 months ago, my boyfriend who i've been with for a year has no breakouts at all, type 1 or type 2. i may have even gotten it from the partner before him. There is no way to really tell how long you've truly had it. you can have it for years before you breakout with it, or even never breakout yet you carry it.
thats what i was worried about. as we have both had cold sores (rarely) since we were young its highly likely we have infected each other , assuming we didnt already have it when we got together
Hi
The short answer is Type 1 cannot become Type 2... but both types can cause an outbreak on either mouth or genital area... and other skin areas apparently.
Please know that it is not as bad as u think, the stigma surrounding HERPES makes it seem so much more than the little skin irritation that it actually is 
Unfortunately there is no way of knowing when, how or who we caught it from as it can lie dormant for years.
I recently got diagnosed with HSV Type 1 after a very mild genital outbreak. I remember having a single oral cold sore outbreak when I was a teenager... way before I had even kissed a boy never mind anything else!!!
For all I know I've now transferred it myself... before the outbreak, it had been two months since I had sex and over a year since oral sex. None of my exes showed any symptoms and as a general sexual health check-up doesn't screen for it... who knows when I've had it since!
Types cannot mutate into each other... but an outbreak of either Types can appear on either skin area. The skin area does not equal the Type 1 or Type 2 strain you have.
is type 1 on the genitals 'milder' than type 2 or the same?
i never noticed any blisters just a rash & isnt painful or itchy, & no tingling like when u get a cold sore either.
its annoying the sh*t out of me because i cant stop thinking about it. when i google pictures those look Way worse than what i am experiencing
is type 1 on genitals 'milder' than type 2?
when i google images they look scary. what i have is not like those. its just a rash & isnt sore, itchy or tingly.
in my previous reply i said the 4 letter s word ending in t & i didnt realize swearing is banned lol. was just stating How annoying my situation is
Avoid Google images lol I think they show worse case scenarios! Mine didnt look like anything ive seen.
Yes, Type 1 is generally considered the milder of the two, less chance of recurrence, shorter outbreaks and more 'socially acceptable'... although neither is a pleasant experience
Also a swab test is more accurate to dedetermine the type u have.
Yup the foyr-letter 's' word should surely be allowed on this forum lol
Please dont worry too much... my friend was diagnosed at 18... Type 1
Oops wasn't finished... Type 1 with genital outbreak that was 20 years ago and only had one other outbreak
j x
now im wondering if the 'outbreak' is from type 1 because the swab results were negative (is that common?) . i guess id feel a Little tiny bit better about it. we have obviously had a lot of oral sex in our relationship & now that i know all the info im not surprized that one of us is having an outbreak. if the first is the worst then...so far so good. trying to find a silver lining
I'm not a medical expert, but have done a lot of research since diagnosis lol
From what I have read, both false-positives and false-negatives are possible and you should get re-tested in 3-4 months for confirmation.
First outbreak is definitely considered the worse.
The silver lining is, we are alive and healthy human beings... just have a minor skin irritant 