OK Lil,

First of all, thanks for your reply... although to be honest, it was more like a rant! Nice way to scare people away from these matters: something I feel we totally DON'T need. I totally understand your point of view, and I do agree with you totally, but I don't see how taking a rather stern attutude towards me contributes much. Besides, with this particular infection, there is no barrier that will effectively protect against it: this would still be an issue to us as a couple regardless.

I think a lot of people are completely missing the point of why I posted; I want to know how people practically live with these kinds of problems in their relationship. Comments like "go see a doctor" are redundant since we already have!

Also, you mention a significant risk of cancers developing. As I mentioned before, I've been doing a little reading up on the subject... roughly one in a hundred of cases are a type of virus that could potentially cause a cancer, and of these, only a small number will. This is by no means any kind of justification -just a bit of info you might find interesting. In the US, it is common to test for the type of virus; the NHS in the UK do not, which I was rather outraged at.

I don't know if you read my post earlier, but in the course of my reading, several authors have suggested that almost all sexually active people will carry at least one form of the virus, almost always undetected. Unfortunately, there are many specific combinations that will affect certain people, if actual warts develop then it would seem that you have been very unlucky! And, of course, since condoms do not stop the transfer of this virus, we really don't have any real way to inhibit the spread.

So, anyway, we're a good few posts into this thread and it doesn't seem like anyone wants to admit to actually having HAD an STD, which given the number of views is quite ridiculous -either you're all very lucky or just very shy!

Thanks anyway, everyone.