I'm a 20yo female. I met a wonderful older man and fell in love.. After being in a relationship for a few months everything felt perfect. He was older, supportive, and kind. The sex was amazing. Oral sex makes me uncomfortable when I'm not comfortable with someone so we didn't do it for a while. Maybe 4 months in we started to do a lot & things got intense. One day I started to get a sore throat it resembled tonsil stones as if something was stuck and wouldn't go down. Over the days it got worse I got a fever of 103 that would not go away it was horrible. Looking into my throat I saw white spots. I couldn't eat, swallow, nothing. I went to urgent care they suspected Strep, negative. Mono? Negative. Flu? Negative. I was lost and in pain. It's now day 4 of symptoms and I still had no answers until i went pee. It burned like hell. But I had also just gotten a Brazilian wax so I thought my waxer burned me. Throughout this pain my boyfriend said nothing. Day 5, I woke up went to the bathroom peed and grabbed a hand mirror I had 3 large blisters. I sent a picture to a friend that I had that was a nurse & she confirmed HERPES. I had a rare form of herpes esophagitis as well & I was devastated. I was afraid he wouldn't want me anymore & I also had no idea how I contracted the virus. After gathering up the courage to tell him what was going on I could tell by his reaction that something wasn't right. He had herpes for over 5 years. Never told a soul. We stayed together after and I felt a sense of normalcy, but things were never the same. So we ended things. After being alone it hit me hard because I felt like damaged goods. He played the victim and hated when I brought it up in fights because he didn't like that it was his fault. I was hurt but not broken. The pain is temporary but I am not. If you're dealing with this you are not alone. Everyone has a story & yours does not end here.