My boyfriend and I have been sexually active and together for about 2 years. I knew about his diagnosis of Herpes Simplex 2 prior to being with him and we were careful about when to have sex,etc all throughout the beginning and duration of our loving relationship. In the beginning, since I didn't know much of the in's and out's of the virus, we strictly used condoms and made sure of it, after a while (of course) we stopped using them and made sure to be very careful not to have any sexual contact during his outbreaks, sheddings..etc

He's had herpes for about 3 years, has a high stress level and induces alcohol on a social weekly/biweekly basis which leaves him suseptible to getting outbreaks. He currently is dependant on taking 1g of Valtrex daily (every day) and has approx. 2 outbreaks a year. If he was ever to miss a few days of meds, he's bound to have an outbreak in a matter of a week (so he's super dependant on the drug).

I know for a fact I don't want the virus. I love him but I'd rather try my best to be virus free for the future of when I want to have children,etc. I read up heavily on symptoms,etc to make sure I'm fully aware of all the risks. I make sure to get tested every 6 months to see if I am virus free (and have been). A few months ago I came down with really bad back pain, fatigue and an "out of it feeling", i told myself that I should probably prepare to brace myself for my first outbreak( i had no sores). I went to the doc, took blood tests and had myself examined, turned out to be just a common flu and I tested negative for HS2..thank goodness.

I'm in the process of another scare. Recently we had unprotected sex and the next day he woke up with two minor sores. This ofcourse caused me to freak out, wondering and asking if he was sure he was sore-free during the sex and if it's possible to be at high risk while the virus is brewing in one's system. I have incredible body ache, feverish, fatigue, no cold symptoms but no sores anywhere, theres no painful urination or anything. I bother my boyfriend with questions on how I should feel if I am going through my primary outbreak and I am sure he's fed up with trying to alieviate my worrying but I can't help it. Does the "shitty" feeling last days before the outbreak or is it a gradual process of first feeling run down, then before you know it within hours you'll have an outbreak?

I know everyone is different but I was hoping for some outlooks.