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Genital herpes

Do outbreaks really get less frequent over time?

Told this repeatedly in year one. I would like to hear from people further along than that.

spare_room 5 months ago
NoteMember experience, not medical advice. Symptoms overlap between infections and only a test can tell them apart.

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Six years in. First year was frequent and miserable, and now I get perhaps one mild episode a year, sometimes none. The trend was real but it was gradual rather than a switch.

The pattern is also in the literature rather than only in anecdotes: recurrence rates decline over the years following the first episode, on average. Individual variation is wide, which is why year one advice feels hollow when you are in it.

Worth adding that HSV-1 genitally tends to recur considerably less often than HSV-2, so which type you have shapes what curve you are on. Ask which you have if you do not know.

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