I hate that like when people talk about herpes, the first thing they hear is that like it sucks and I was so sad and I was depressed.

Like I want the first thing people to hear is like no this changed my life for the better.

Welcome back to other people's lives. I'm Joe Sanagato. I'm Greg Dybeck.

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Now today, just want to give a quick note about today's episode. Actually, if you've listened to the podcast from the start, you'll know that we covered the topic of herpes long, long time ago.

The guest was super informative, did a great job telling her story, but we have received a few emails over the years saying there may have been some misinformation around the topic. So we figured that since our audience has grown so much since we've added new platforms like YouTube, we want to just recover this super interesting, super honest and raw topic of living with herpes.

And we can't think of a better guest than the woman we have on today. Her name is Sarah. She hosts a podcast called positively positive podcast about her journey with herpes, as well as all around sexual health and empowerment. So Sarah, thanks for being on the show today.

Thank you guys for having me. Yeah, I've been listening and watching for a long time. I'm excited.

Awesome. So then you know, we kind of jump right into this. And I think the best place to start is just with your personal journey. And I guess that moment that to be completely honest, a lot of people fear and kind of hope never happens to them.

And that's that moment that you received the news that you had herpes. Can you just kind of walk us through how you got that news and how you're feeling?

Yeah. Okay. So I'm 29 now. I got herpes when I was 27. And I'll never actually forget the words that my doctor said to me. You should like look. My legs are off on the table. And she's like, okay, this does look consistent with herpes.

And that's the sentence that I'll never forget.

First, yeah, it sucks. But I I hate that like when people talk about herpes, the first thing they hear is that like it sucks. And I was so sad and I was depressed.

Like I want the first thing people to hear is like, no, this changed my life for the better. It improved my sex life, my communication, my romantic and my platonic relationships among many other things.

And literally one of the best things has ever happened to me. And that's like the first thing I want people to know. But going backwards, yeah, it fucking sucked.

So originally, you know, you get the news and you know, I'm assuming it's upsetting. Did you know exactly like, you know, who it was and how did you kind of go about, you know, informing, you know, maybe past partners or the partner that you like definitely know who it came from that you had this diagnosis.

Yeah, so I got it the first time that I had unprotected sex in about five or six years.

It was with a partner that I'd already been sleeping with. This wasn't someone new. It wasn't a one night stand, which I think is important to highlight because herpes does not discriminate.

You can get it from a one night stand, but you can also get it from a regular partner. And from someone you've been monogamous with for five or 10 years.

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