Question:
I have occasionally had little cold sores on my lips since I was little, which I never thought about until about three weeks ago when I passed them on to my bf's genitals through oral sex, which then was passed back to mine. We both tested positive for hsv1, so statistics about the low possibility of genital hsv1 be damned! They put us on an anti-viral, not valtrex but the other one that I can't remember the name of. My initial outbreak was bad but only lasted for about two weeks, but his is still there though it seems to be fading.

The doctor said that, since we both already have it, being exposed to each other when only one of us has an outbreak will not necessarily trigger an outbreak in the other. Is this true? Prior to this we were very sexual, sometimes two or three times a day. Now that the 'shameful' and 'dirty' feelings have gone away somewhat, we have started having sex again. This was a few days ago and I haven't had any symptoms yet, so just wondering what experiences other people have had with this. I will update this thread if I start to notice any trends. Still hoping for zero future outbreaks though since it is type 1!

My second question is on his healing time. Did mine go away so quickly because I already had it orally so already had antibodies for it? Is over three weeks a long time for an initial outbreak to last? Will having sex increase his recovery time? He does say that it hurts a little but we are both so insatiable from being out of commission for so long that we do it anyway. I don't want this to go on forever :(

Answer:
Yes, since you both have it, you won't be able to give each other primary outbreaks again. It is possible that the sex might trigger outbreaks, but as you mentioned, supposedly the outbreak frequency of genital HSV1 is low.

Your theory of your outbreak going away so quickly is pretty probable. The primary outbreak usually heals within 4 weeks. Having sex will increase your recovery times, so try to hold off for a bit.