Made an novel of a post on here a few weeks ago that ended up getting taken down (rightfully so)
In short, I am a 26M and am looking for any advice or support from older guys who have HSV-2 and have reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
In summary, I have had this for a little over four years now. I have been in therapy since this happened to me. Initially I had all of the crazy emotions most people experience when they are first diagnosed, but I feel like instead of those feelings going away and going back to being happy/loving myself again I just have learned to coexist with them. I went to an intensive therapy program last year, tried ketamine therapy for my suicidal thoughts, and tried antidepressants for about a year which kinda did nothing. I have disclosed to multiple girls I then dated who didn't seem to care but I just cannot shake how this makes me feel about myself. I feel like I just settle and latch onto a girl if she is accepting because I feel I can't have much standards with having this. I still haven't gotten over it and its affected me so much and I still think about it every day. I just want to feel confident again.
I would just like to hear stories to make me hopeful I guess from older men who are happy in life and have gotten on the other side of this thing. Getting this so young has been torture and it has defined my 20's. Ive tried every therapy modality I know of and I still like hate myself for having this and feel like I've made very little progress in moving on with my life. I'm single again and I just find myself wondering all the time how different things would be if this never happened to me.
Either way sending love to all others who have this but specifically the men as I know dating is hard enough for us as it is. Trying to stay strong and keep moving forward but all I want to do is give up.