Life With Herpes https://youtu.be/UoHz1iwTv7E Hi guys and welcome to today's episode. I’m getting a ton of questions on genital herpes and oral herpes and it can be pretty confusing so today I want to spend some time on HS1 when it’s down there. A lot of questions I hear are:

• “I have HSV1 but I also have genital herpes, so does that mean I have HSV2 also?”
• “I have HSV1 but I don't get cold sores.”
• “If I have HSV1 down there can my partner get it on their mouth?”
• “I’m confused because I have genital herpes but HSV1 is oral herpes.”

In general, we are told to think oral herpes is only HSV1 and it can only be around your mouth and the “other” kind is genital herpes and its HSV2. This is 100% false and really they are no different from each other.  For the sake of understanding, today’s message let’s get away from associating oral herpes with HSV1. Let's just use HSV1 and HSV2. With fun sexual activities like oral sex, herpes can be transmitted from someone orally to their partner genitally or visa versa genially to their partner's mouth.  This is why so many people are getting oral herpes down there. To make sure we all know how common herpes is, ⅔ people have HSV1 and ⅙ people have HSV2. These statistics show there are more people with HSV1 and therefore it’s very common to be diagnosed with genital HSV1. It’s important to find out from your doctor when you are diagnosed with herpes if it’s HSV1 or HSV2. This way you can have a conversation with your partner and your potential future partners. For example, if partner A has HSV1 genitally and partner B has HSV2 genitally they can transmit herpes to each other because they are different strains of the virus. I’ve seen this actual situation happen to a number of couples and then boom...a whole new outbreak.   So the bottom line is HSV1 and HSV2 can go wherever you give it a place to go. The previous categories of genital vs oral are not specific enough and in order to fully communicate with our lovers we need to know what strain and where we have it. DM me if you have any questions on this topic or need some clarification. See you next week. Xoxo, Alexandra Here’s How I Can Support Join our monthly live Herpes Support Group - www.lifewithherpes.com/supportgroup Herpes Outbreak Toolkit - https://lifewithherpes.com/herpes-outbreak-toolkit Emergency Call - https://lifewithherpes.com/emergencycall/ Keep in touch with Alexandra Harbushka www.lifewithherpes.com www.instagram.com/alexandraharbushka www.facebook.com/lifewithherpespodcast   www.pinterest.com/lifewithherpes Join The Live With Herpes Community If you are ready to join a community of people who are living with herpes also then you will want to join our slack group. It is FREE and it is a great way to find the support and comfort that you are looking for. Head on over to www.lifewithherpes.com and join our community. You will receive a slack invitation as soon as you sign up. See you in there. Ways You Can Support The Life With Herpes Show If you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed making it for you than  a subscribe would be a great idea. Are you a YouTuber? Go ahead and subscribe to the show. It is a way to pay it forward to fellow friends who are living with herpes. When you subscribe it helps the algorithm in YouTube and it helps promote the show. If you are worried about your identity and your friends finding out you subscribed to a herpes channel then change your settings to private. And trust me I totally get it and would want to keep it a secret. Also, when you subscribe you will be notified in your inbox when a new episode is out or when Alexandra is live on Youtube Live. Subscribe Here Are you a podcast listener? Please give the Life With Herpes show a review. It is a way to pay it forward to fellow friends who are living with herpes. You can Subscribe, Rate and Review the show through your iTunes app or on the desktop. Seriously, it helps out a lot more than it is a hassle for you. You see, iTunes has an algorithm that organically promotes the show, so the more ratings and reviews the Life With Herpes Show receives then the higher it gets ranked. This is your way of paying it forward and helping someone find the show who really needs it. Oh, and you can totally use a fake name, so don’t worry about a friend finding you in the iTunes review. Talking about herpes needs to be spread as far and wide as possible. You are totally a part of this movement so THANK YOU!   Subscribe, Rate and Review