Herpes Help! Genital Herpes, Oral Herpes and STD Resource

Because having an STD does Not define You! - Hi! My name is Angela and I’ve had Herpes for 12 years and counting. I want to let ya’ll know that whether you are new to Herpes OR have had this booger for a while – you are NOT alone and we are all in this together! I am dedicated to providing you with as much support and information as I possibly can. Hopefully, my dot com will have everything that you are looking for all in one spot. You can also find information about other sexually transmitted diseases on our STD message board. Help me help others to keep their STD facts straight, ok?

Don’t be afraid to check out ALL the linkage that you can get your mouse on. If you can’t find something write to me and I’ll do my best to help you. Please remember that I am not a doctor and even if you can find one on the net they couldn’t possibly begin to diagnose you or tell you what you have. Any person out there that claims to know what you have without seeing you personally and running proper herpes testing doesn’t really know what they are talking about in the first place. Of course lots of people can tell you what they “think” you might have but you will never really know for sure until you make yourself an appointment to see a doc. Oh and I would not bother trying to find herpes pictures out there because they are NOT realistic to what herpes is supposed to look like. Herpes pics on the net are almost always the worst case scenarios anyway. Herpes symptoms vary from person to person. Some people get them and some people don't.

If you are looking for others in real time to talk to about this stuff I have put together a listing of local support and social groups across the United States of America and around the world through what I call the Social Support Networking Alliance or SSNA. Contact these individuals listed on those pages because like myself they want to do what they can to help others that are newly diagnosed too. If you are looking for a doctor or clinic some of those folks might be able to give you a referral to a healthcare professional that actually knows what they’re doing. Every herpes HELP group listed has a medical advisor so you might want to start their first.

Now I have to tell ya ~ there are a couple of things about my site that are completely different from the rest. What makes my site different is the fact that I’ve got stories written by real people that have given me permission to post and share with you in the hopes that you won’t feel so alone in your diagnosis. I’ve also got a team of volunteers together who are regular every day people like me that want to help folks via e-mail. These people call themselves H Pals and the reason they want to help is because they care about people being able to get accurate information in their neck-of-the-woods.

If you’ve ever wanted to write your congressman or some sort of letter of awareness you can send those in to me and I will post them for you on our herpes awareness pages. This works out great because many times when we write those important letters we never get a response. Well, now you can have your letters posted on my site and even though you didn’t get a response before now at least the rest of the world can read about what you did, what you said, and what was done about the situation.

The bottom line is that many people have sent me their letters of awareness or their inspirational stories to bring YOU hope! If it has never crossed your mind to share your story you may want to take the time to think about doing that and mailing it to me electronically. I get e-mails every single day from people expressing to me just how much reading somebody else’s story has turned their life around for the better. A lot of you out there want something to be done to squash the negative stigma. Many of you want to better educate our healthcare professionals, acquaintances, friends and family about STDS. Maybe expressing yourself on an internet page will be just the thing to help you realize that some good can come from sharing your story. You may even touch somebody's life without even realizing it. So what are you waiting for? Take a look around and shoot me an e-mail with where you are at, ok?

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Helpful Tip: Before you start posting on the discussion boards you might want to pick a screen name and e-mail address that nobody knows about so you can maintain some level of privacy.

Did you know that 90 percent of those that have genital herpes do not even know that they have it? The reason people do not know that they have genital herpes is because many of them do not get any of the classic signs or symptoms that doctors were trained to look for back in the old days. Another reason why people do not suspect the possibility of herpes is because it is not included in the routine STD testing process. People are always assuming that they have been tested for “everything” but in reality they have not been properly tested at all. Sometimes folks mistake their herpes outbreaks for other things such as jock itch, yeast infection, or allergic reaction to something else.

Here is a list of sexually transmitted diseases that are optimally part of the STD screening process. I believe patients have a right to be screened for these infections when they request STD testing: Gonorrhea, Chlamydia (hopefully by the PCR method), HIV, Syphilis (RPR), Yeast Infections (wet mount), Trichomoniasis, Bacterial Vaginosis, HSV1 and HSV2 (antibody testing using type specific serology), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C, Gram stain from the urethra of men and the cervix of women, Physical exam for genital warts, scabies, crabs and molluscum, Pap smear for women who have not had one in the past year, and HPV DNA test for women over 30 should be added to the pap test.

Don’t be afraid to ask the healthcare professionals what they will be testing you for. You will be shocked and amazed when you see what is NOT on their list.

What was your reaction when you found out that herpes testing is not part of the STD screening process? What are you going to do about it? It’s not enough to be angry and upset that proper testing for herpes and other infections is not required routinely by all healthcare providers. It’s time to get out there and DO something to change this and make a difference! STD awareness should be a year round effort and not just in April for “STD Awareness Month” or November for “International Herpes Week”.

What would y'all like to do in honor of April being STD awareness month? I personally would love it if you would send me your letters of awareness OR inspirational stories written to inspire and give people hope so that I may post some new ones on the site. I can't tell you  how many times I have received e-mails from people telling me how happy and relieved they are to know that there are others going through some of the same things they are going through. To  know that it's possible to get through certain types of situations and live a normal life is like a weight being lifted off their shoulders. Let's continue to help others. You can send me your letters and stories for posting ~ feel free to share family friendly photos OR if you would prefer to remain anonymous that would be fine too. I look forward to hearing from ya!!

PS Write and let me know what your favorite herpes resource OR STD resource is so I can be sure that I haven't missed anything. There are so many information sites on the net these days that there aren't enough hours in the day to visit them all and I'd like to check out herpes sites OR STD sites that I have never seen before. Tell me what your favorite herpes dating sites OR regular dating sites are. People always ask me about these things and I like to stay on top of the new stuff. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you that I have a herpes poetry section over on my herpes blog. Check it out when you have a chance, k? Thanks xOxOx - Angela

PS If you are having difficulties finding the answers to your questions or finding a community that suits you, then you might try checking out some of these other sites:

Disease Support Resource Center - HerpesOnline.org - Herpes-Coldsores.com - Herpes-Coldsores.com Forum - H-YPE.com - H-YPE's Blog - I Have Genital Herpes Blog - Life After H - Picking Up the Pieces - STD Dating

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