Herpes. Everyone jokes about it, nobody wants it. I have it, and I want to eliminate the negative social Sigma attached to it. AMA

As a 22 yr old that has had HSV1 my whole life (got it from parents when I was an infant) I can honestly say HSV is not the end of the world. I had the misfortune of going through elementary, middle, high school, and college and still came out fine. The hardest part for a lot of people (myself included when I was younger) was being honest with the people you were hooking up with and just having confidence in your appearance when you have an outbreak. The only solid advice I can give you, is you just have to learn to live with it. The virus gets less severe throughout your life so outbreaks will become less frequent as you grow older. When I was younger (11-17) I would get a breakout almost 4-5 times a year. I'm now 22 and have gotten maybe 3 outbreaks since I was 18. I know how bad it can make you feel with a huge cold sore on your lip. I remember skipping a whole week in high school because I was so embarrassed to let people see me. One day I went to this forum[1] for people with HSV and it changed my entire perspective. There were so many people out there going through the same thing and it was very reassuring knowing that almost 80% of the population has HSV but a lot of them are asymptomatic meaning they show no symptoms. At the end of the day you have to realize it's something you have to deal with the rest of your life, and it's NOT the end of the world. EDIT: As for remedies when you get an outbreak I've probably tried almost all of them (having had HSV for so long). What I've noticed to work the most for me was Lysine Ointment. It makes cold sores go away so fast. Should be gone within 3-4 days if you put some on about 2-3 times a day.

/r/IAmA Thread Parent