When Dating Is A Positive Experience

Lots of people have sexually transmitted diseases. For many of them, it's something that can be dealt with with a course of antibiotics. For others, it's something that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives. When you're single, finding out that you have herpes or HIV can seem like the end of all hope. If you're honest about your diagnosis, it can make people reject you. If you're dishonest, you risk surprising someone you love with the same bad news that you wish you'd never heard. So what do you do?

You look to the internet. As the number of people with sexually transmitted diseases continues to rise, so does the number of social networking sites for individuals with those diagnoses. CNN recently published a story on online dating sites for individuals with herpes and other STDs. A positive test result doesn't close the door on love. It opens the door to new relationships where, when someone already knows one of your deepest secrets, it makes it easier to share the rest.

Some dating sites for individuals with STDs include

• HIV Passions
• Meet People With H(erpes)
• STD Match - for people with HIV, HPV, or Herpes
• Match STD - for people with HIV, HPV, Herpes, and Hepatitis

Remember to always be safe when meeting someone offline for the first time. Always meet in a public place, and make sure that at least one friend knows where you are. And, if you meet someone and want to go further than dinner and a movie, practice safer sex. Even if you met because you both have the same STD, you could still infect each other - either with different strains, or with a different disease entirely.