Just diagnosed with GHSV-1 and would love some advice.
Just got diagnosed with GHSV-1. 26M. My gf is being really cool about it but its rattled me pretty bad. Thought all the STI risk was behind me. We’ve been together over 2.5 years and I never cheated. Im positive she never cheated. She tested negative the first few weeks of the relationship. Pretty sure it was just dormant, so no idea who I got it from. Nobody ever notified me so Im assuming they either didn’t know or knew or didn’t want to tell me. First OB and its started healing but just got on valacyclovir today. Hoping this is the only OB but who knows. Terrified she’ll get it, or that it will fuck up our sex life, or that she’ll leave me for it. If that happens idk if Ill ever be able to find someone again. Looking for advice on how to manage this, what peoples experiences have been and how valid my worries really are. I feel like I got bit by a zombie. I never had issues with women before this, and if Im being open, I was always secretly very proud of my manhood. Now Im disgusted by it and myself. My doctor is acting like its just OHSV-1 which is far less stigmatized. They seem to think its not a big deal but it feels like its a huge deal. I was in a great place both mentally and physically for the first time in a long time and now I feel like the walls are caving in on me. Like I got to see what it was like to really have it all and now its just gonna get snatched away, years after I thought Id ever had to worry about this kind of thing. How can I cope with this?
Posted Feb 18, 2026, 2:21 AM UTC