Here’s a story not too many people have to tell. I have genital herpes, and I knew the exact day that I got it. I knew that the decision I made to have unprotected sex with my infected partner would affect me for the rest of my life. It may sound crazy, but I will try to explain it as best I can without sounding completely insane. So here goes:
I am 21 years old and I have been sexually active and STD-free since the tender age of 13. I have had my fair share of drama and crazy relationships with crazy men. I finally found the ‘man of my dreams’, I mean, he checked out in all areas that I looked for in a potential spouse. There was no turning back! So, the day before we were to get married (we hadn’t had sex before), he tells me that four years ago he was diagnosed with genital herpes. And right then and there, I decided that I wanted to be with him NO MATTER WHAT, so I said ‘Ok, so I guess I have it too now’. Like I said, it may sound crazy, but I knew it would be too much work to use condoms every time I wanted to have sex with my husband (condoms made my vagina dry), and I knew that I wanted to have children with this man, and I had heard that aside from the physical effects, the psychological effects of having the virus can be worse.
On our wedding night I told him again (just in case he forgot), that whatever we did, we’d do it together, so we had sex without a condom. I have been married to him now for two weeks and I am having the WORST vaginal pain of my life! I have blisters in my vaginal opening, pain during sex, a swollen gland in my pelvis, and some mild vaginal spotting. We mutually agreed that when either of us are having an outbreak, we will NOT have sex. So, I will be still trying to have children (under CLOSE supervision by a doctor, of course) and I will live my life with my husband as ‘happily ever after’ as I can. And no matter what we go through, it will be TOGETHER. I haven’t told any of my family or friends, in fact, I haven’t told anyone except for this online ‘support group’. Thank you for letting me tell my story. I love you for it. There’s no moral to this story, it’s just my story and I wanted to share it.
