Will Sex With a Sexual Partner Protected Using Condoms Lessen Further Outbreaks or Won't It Make Any Difference?

by Steve
(Gloucestershire, England, UK)

I have been with a girl for a while and I recently had an outbreak. I first had little clusters of blisters on my forearms by the crease to my elbows. I put the blisters down to something else, sparks from sharpening tools. The last time I had sex with her a couple of days later I had a little sore on my foreskin, another couple of days later the area blistered and I also felt like I had flu. I’m feeling OK now. So my question is... will I reduce outbreaks if I use protection? I don’t want to aggravate it if I can lessen outbreaks.



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Dear Steve,

Have you gotten yourself diagnosed yet? If you have and it turns out to be HSV2 then unfortunately, using protection such as condoms won’t reduce the severity and frequency of outbreaks. Condoms can protect from transmission though and is the safest way to practice sex with a non-positive partner.

Herpes is a tricky little virus. Once you acquired, it stays in your body forever, hiding at the base of your spinal cord when it is not active and causing outbreaks.

But there’s good news. You can do something about its rate of occurrence.

For starters, avoid triggers that may cause outbreaks. These can be a lack of sleep, improper diet, smoking, binge-drinking, stress, and inadequate exercise. Consider religiously taking your antiviral suppressive medication such as Acyclovir or Valtrex to reduce outbreaks. The faster you take action, the faster your sores will heal and the lesser chance of them coming back.

You can still enjoy a fulfilling sex life with herpes. Our page on Genital Herpes Sex has tons of information which you might find useful.

Hang in there. It gets better from here.

Gary

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