10 Important Questions to Ask Your Doctor About Genital Herpes If You Are Newly Diagnosed: What type of herpes virus do I have? How long have I been infected? Should I be tested for other sexually transmitted diseases? How can I keep my partner from becoming infected? How soon should my partner be tested? How often can I expect to have symptoms? How will they affect my daily life? Should I start taking medication? If not now, when should I consider it? Will herpes complicate any other health problems I have? Can I still plan to have children? Can you recommend a support group or a counselor to help me deal with it? If You Are Living With Outbreaks Would I benefit from taking herpes suppression drugs daily, or should I take medication only when I have flare-ups? Which drug would be the best choice for me, and why? What are the possible side effects? What should I do if my medication causes problems or does not work well? Is there anything else I can use to relieve my symptoms? What can trigger outbreaks? Can I make lifestyle changes to prevent them? How often should my long-term partner be tested? How soon should a new partner wait to have a test? What should I do if I want to have children? Is it be a good idea to join a clinical trial for an experimental therapy? Can you recommend a support group or a counselor to help me through this? If Your Partner Has Herpes If I have been infected, how long would it take to show up in tests? Is it possible to have a "false negative" test result? How can I be sure that my test result is accurate? Should I be tested for other sexually transmitted diseases? How likely am I to be infected by my partner? What can we do to reduce the risk? If I keep having sex with my partner, how often should I be tested? If I become infected, would we have to change our sexual routine? What symptoms should I watch for? Can I still plan to have children with my partner? What can I do to help my partner manage the condition? Can you recommend a support group or a counselor to help us with this? Medically reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD, July 2004. © 2004 WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.