Sorry if this has been asked here, but I couldn’t find any other posts with my specific question, and only posts regarding how it’s transmitted, etc.
Anyway, I’ve only ever gotten a cold sore twice ever from kissing my girlfriend, while she has never shown any symptoms. We don’t kiss when I have it, for precautionary reasons of course, but it led me to wonder why we’ve been able to kiss many times without it always leading to an outbreak. I post this as I currently have my second cold sore that I can recall. I don’t wanna just assume based on my personal case, so I wanted to know, will kissing (or sharing utensils, drinks, etc.) ALWAYS lead to a cold sore from now on, or is it possible for it to be like how it’s been going for us where she never gets it, and for me, it’s been super rare to have an outbreak?
Thanks in advance!
3 comments
Coldsore outbreaks are unrelated to you kissing your GF. They happen at times when the virus that’s living in a nerve becomes active again.
If she’s never had cold sores then she can catch them from you when you’re actively shedding the virus. When this is happening you should also avoid any oral sex (you giving it to her) as this can give her oral herpes (coldsores) on her genitals.
Hey, so your understanding is not right.
Cold sore is caused by a very common and transmissible virus. Once you get a cold sore once, the virus is in your body for the rest of your life. It lays dormant (I think in nerve cells?) most of the time.
Outbreaks occur for a variety of reasons: if you get too hot. If you get too cold. If you spend too much time in the sun. If you experience a change in weather. If you get a night of restless sleep. And sometimes they happen anyway even if you avoid the common triggers.
Talk to your doctor about getting a prescription medicine, they have good medicine for this nowadays. If you take it at the very first onset of symptoms, cold sore can be avoided or have a shorter duration.
If you have the virus, you can’t catch it again…it just lays dormant until something triggers and outbreak then it becomes active again. Triggers can be illness, stress, sunlight, hormones. Different for everyone. Mine were hormone related, I got them when my period was due but since having my son 9 years ago I haven’t had one since.
If she doesn’t have the virus she will likely catch it if you kiss, or perform oral with an active outbreak. She can theoretically catch it when you aren’t having an outbreak through “shedding” but the chances of that are lower. And the longer you have the virus the amount of shedding lessens and lessens.
There’s a lot of stigma around HSV, but the fact is more people have herpes than don’t, many have it without even knowing. It’s manageable and doesn’t end your romantic or sex life. And the frequency of outbreaks lessen over time too.