AG
Your sex life isn't over. You now have an extra responsibility when making those choices though. I am also young. I've had Herpes for almost 3 years now. You have the responsibility to tell the person that you're going to be sexually active with. It's not an easy task. I had to do it more than once, and each time, I was terrified. It can be very frustrating and frightening. I think that I was more afraid of a girl's response to it than of the actual disease. But to contradict the woman who is the social worker, you can pass the virus when it isn't active. You should always use a condom unless your goal is planned pregnancy. As far as the disease itself, the outbreaks become less frequent and less discomfortable with time. I tried the antiviral drugs when I was first diagnosed and haven't used them since. You may also want to try stress management, exercise, and proper diet. Some of the things that may trigger an outbreak are stress, lack of sleep and unhealthy lifestyles, like smoking consuming a lot of caffeine, etc. Good luck, and remember that it's not the end of the world. More people walk around with some form of a Herpes virus than you think.