i've had genetal herpes for about two years now.  i've also given it to my
wife - we both knew i had it but she accepted that we would have to risk it
to be able to continue a normal sex life.  we are in our mid 30's and live
in the UK.

haven't really done much research into herpes but another outbreak today
kinda make you a bit more pro-active :)

i wondered if my symptoms were normal.  i can normally tell an outbreak is
on it's way either by pimples appearing on my forhead which is just midly
annoying (i normally know it will be a mild outbreak if this is the case) or
i have severe pains in my left leg, sometimes buttocks as well and in worst
case it's the entire left side of my body.  it's kinda like very achy
muscles, but not neccessarily where muscles are and it hurts all the times -
i don't have to move.  this pain normally lasts about 24 hours.

then 60% of the time i'll get pimples appear on my penis (normally the same
area as a previous infection) which turn into water filled blisters which
within about 36 hours turn into small scabs that take a couple of days to
just turn into scars which take another week to heal and leave no evidence.
if i'm unlucky the hole cycle can start again immeadiately, other times it's
been a couple of months \o/

we rarely take medication.  occasionally i will take aclevere (SP?) on a
severe outbreak to try prevent a secondary infection and the wife will use
zoviarax (SP once again) cream to sooth the ichyness/pain.

during the inital phases (symptoms and blisters) i feel rather crappy, bowel
movements irregular, headaches for no aparent reason.

is this fairly standard or is there anything else i should look out for ?

are there particular foods or drinks that i should be avoiding?  and if so,
at any particular time?  i saw something about  lysine to arginine ratios
but wasn't totally clear whether i should make a point of eating the foods
at the top of the list and avoiding altogether the foods at the bottom of
the list.  I've heard people mention avoiding wine - which is a shame as i
enjoy the odd glass (well may be bottle(s)) quite regularly.

my wife and i enjoy a fairly active sex life mainly ignoring herpes.  i'll
avoid sex during the blistering stage - so this is about 2 days of the
entire cycle that i won't have sex.  she's pretty much the same.  we don't
use any form of protection other than the female pill.  i have slight
concerns about reinfecting other areas of the body or idead other areas of
the gentals.  it's bad enough being infected in the areas i am on my penis
but i wouldn't want to to effect the entire thing.  so is it possible to
reinfect?

also, we both enjoy oral sex but this time both avoiding if there are any
symptoms at all.  neither of us seem to have cold sores, but is is possible
to transfer type 2 to the mouth via oral sex?

both of us try to not let herpes affect us in anyway as much as possible.
sometimes my symptoms are too painful to want to go anywhere, but apart from
this we generally lead a normal life.  even so, i would rather be rid of
it - what sort of work is being done on a cure?  is there any information or
web sites on companies working on cures?  are there any charity's to make
donations to?

there seems to be a lot of BS written on the net and also a lot of people
answering questions who can recomend miracle cures but it's fairly clear
that they are somehow linked to the product they've recomended which
surprise surprise costs money for the rest of my life :/

any comments though will be appreciated or ignored appropriately ;)

regards,
alex