The stress may have triggered the outbreak - that's true.

Friction from sex can sometimes trigger a flare up.

If you have herpes and so does your girlfriend why would you want to
continue to use condoms?
Have you both been tested for other stds to rule out hiv?

Hope this helps -

Angela : )
www.yoshi2me.com

Hi Patrick,

Keep reading below for my comments:

Stress is a trigger for outbreaks.  But so are a lot of other things.  It
all depends on the person.

How do you know it was your current girlfriend that gave it to you?  You
could have had it for many years and never had an outbreak prior to this.
Does your girlfriend have herpes outbreaks?

Once you have herpes, you have it.  If you know for sure that your gf has
it, then she can't get it again so condoms for herpes sake aren't necessary.
However, condoms protect us from a lot more than just herpes.

Unfortunately, we can't tell you if controling stress will control your
outbreaks.  Outbreaks are caused by many different things and it changes
from time to time.  The very best thing you can do for yourself is to get
healthy and stay that way.  :)  Proper nutrition, plenty of rest, exercise,
and stress reduction all help the immune system to combat herpes outbreaks.

Take care,
ar

Hi Patrick,
  A bit of good news here. It seems that for some people herpes kinda
slacks off on the outbreaks the longer you have it. Personally, I think for
me it has a lot to do with the way I look at having herpes. When I first got
it I thought that was the end of everything normal. I also had a lot of
outbreaks. After I had it a while I started not thinking about it ALL the
time and my OB's grew less often. Just my two cents worth.
Wanda