a rant …

cold sores are very common. ik it’s stigmatized. people shouldn’t be demonized, shamed, or thought of because they have it. but why aren’t more people educated about it??

the people i’ve talked to about it had no idea what it was. they either mistook it as canker sores, thought it was related to getting a cold, or just had no idea. even i didn’t know much about it. i knew it was the cause of a virus and i knew it was transmittable, BUT i thought it was only transmitted when active sores were present. i was sorely mistaken (ha). i have it because of sharing drinks indirectly.

now i know that the chances of passing it on in the absence of an active cold sore are low but NOT ZERO. but based on the posts ive been reading, it seems like other people are misinformed like i was.

im going to put this into practice. but i think that if you have cold sores, you shouldn’t share anything with anyone unless you’ve disclosed the fact and they are okay with the risks.

i wish i knew this before. and i wish people also knew this too. maybe i wouldnt have gotten it.