Does recurring coldsores mean I have an STD?

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I do feel a tingly and itchy feeling before I get them. But all through summer the corners of my lips were constantly itching but there was no coldsores or even any marks there at all. I put it down to hay fever of some sort, as I had other hay fever symptoms. The itching stopped as soon as the hay fever season was over and my other hay fever symptoms had stopped. But it was the same tingling and itching sensations I get before getting a coldsore. So that's strange.
My coldsores don't bleed, but they start off by a pink blemish, then they scab over and sometimes throb a little, and the scab drops off and leaves a blemish, and then the process starts all over again, meaning they come back as soon as they heal.



Nice to know.

So much of the population between the ages of 18-60 has HSV-1 and/or HSV-2 (Herpes Simplex Virus 1 - cold sores, Herpes Simplex Virus 2 - genital herpes) that most doctors do not even test for it if you ask for an STD panel (not bothering to look it up again right now but it's between 60-80% of that population if memory serves). You generally have to specifically ask to be tested for them. Both forms do not have a cure but do have treatments. Both conditions you can be a carrier for and never have any symptoms. Both conditions are contagious even when you do not have active sores. You can have an oral HSV-2 infection and you can have a genital HSV-1 infection. You can even be a carrier for both and HSV-1 and and HSV-2.

Both my fourteen year old son and I have HSV-1. He has visible coldsores on his mouth now and again and he's had them since he was little. I haven't had a cold sore since I was a kid. My younger son and husband show no signs, but haven't been tested either. Complications can come up, but they are rare and it's seriously not a big deal the vast majority of the time.

The most important part is that if you have active HSV sores anywhere don't be doing sexy times that involve those sores and a partner or other parts of your own anatomy OR sharing anything else that might have come in contact with aforementioned sores (beverage containers, toothbrushes, dildos, etc). It's not the end of the world, but it is something to be consciously aware of.

Worst advice ever.


Both my parents WERE tested for STDs (I asked them), and neither of them have any STDs or herpes-related diseases at all. And I read that kissing somebody with it (although I never kissed many people as a child) is OK if they haven't got coldsores at the time you kissed them. But everywhere I read about how herpes simplex virus is caused, it always says through sexual intercourse, which is frustrating because I never had any sexual intercourse as a child.

Maybe I was raped by a guy with an STD when I was a baby, I don't know.