Author: Marian Nicholson

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The Organisms That Call Your Body Home

Organisms that call your body home” contributed by Janes Stokes, freelance writer:

The human body is made up of an ultra-complex system of ever-shifting cells. Everything we experience in life is a creation of the 200 different cell types populating our bodies, never sleeping and always working. Joining those 200 cells types are countless different other organisms, including bacteria and viruses. Many of these coexist peacefully in your body.
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Meeting people with herpes

Is meeting people with herpes like a letter in a bottle:

A member asked us about putting a Dates and Mates advert into the magazine: “I would like to meet some new friends male or female who I can trust and talk to… shall I put an ad in?” She added: “I had an invitation to a gathering but felt it was too big a step to take, I wish I had the confidence to do it …”
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Helpline – what they ask

What is it?

It amazes our new helpline volunteers how often a caller phones to describe their symptoms and get the helpliner to say what they have. We cannot do that. There are 24 ‘differential diagnoses’ that a sexual health doctor will be considering when s/he is shown what might be genital herpes.

We don’t list these on our website as we don’t want to encourage self-diagnosis.  After all, they don’t give a medical student a link to a website and say ‘Now you can diagnose sexually shared conditions”!
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Protect sexual health clinics

We need to protect sexual health clinics and services

Sign the petition  to maintain the sexual health services. Since the government REMOVED sexual health from the NHS and asked local councils to provide it, the standard of services (access times, staffing, etc) has gone down.

You need to show that members of the public do want the provision of anonymous, easily accessible sexual health clinics. Sign now!

And if you want action for your own sexual health clinic, write to your local councillor. No one does! You can say your children/nephews, etc., need the service. They don’t care who is using it, just that it needs support. Afterall, chlamydia is the most common cause of acquired infertility! That’s serious. There are 29 other things that look like herpes. So just because a person thinks they have it, until it is swabbed by a sexual health service, you cannot tell. We probably need a protest to protect sexual health clinics!

sexual health clinic sign
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‘Talking to a New Partner’ – Come to an Event That Will Give You Confidence (and Information)

We run these days to help you develop confidence, information, skills to talk to a new partner – and to meet others in the same boat.

Nine people attended recently. They marked their score cards with the top rating: a ‘very helpful’ day and several commented that it was even more enjoyable than they had expected. “Meeting the others on the course is a bonus,” said one lady.  “In fact I have made two new friends and we support each other and meet up.”  These days happen every three months. You can see the date for the next one on the Support Groups page of the website.
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No “Link between herpes in pregnancy and autism”

You may have read some headlines in the Sun or the Mail, etc. They report “‘Women infected with herpes while they are pregnant are twice as likely to have a child with autism.” This headline comes from a study looking at whether maternal infections during pregnancy are associated with the risk of neurological developmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASDs).
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