STI Awareness: Bringing Healing Through Shared Stories | Interview with Jenelle Pierce
For the next two weeks, we’re thrilled to have Jenelle Pierce, founder of The STI Project, on our podcast to talk with us about sexually transmitted infections.
Jenelle shares her experience of being diagnosed with an STI. And while we chose not to upload the entire transcript on our website to protect Jenelle’s story, we wanted to share this snippet of our interview.
“The doctor was a general practitioner in our small town in Michigan. He was a family doctor, so treated any number of maladies from broken arms to flus and things like that.
“He saw that I had a outbreak. Of course, first outbreaks of genital herpes, if you get symptoms, are usually the worst. The severity, duration, all of those things did dissipate over time, but mine was a very kind of traditional outbreak and experience.
“And he said, ‘you have herpes, and it's the worst case that I've ever seen.’ And he gave me a prescription for Valtrex and that was it.
“There was no, ‘This is super common. The first outbreak is oftentimes really severe, but after your body builds up antibodies, it will start to suppress.’
“No education.
“No literature.
“So then, I'm thinking, ‘Well, if someone who's a medical practitioner who in theory sees this somewhat frequently—I didn't even understand how common it was at the time, and of course he was certainly not going to substantiate that for me—communicates this, the patient is going to feel like this is the worst case than everyone else.
“‘And so, not only am I a slut and damaged and getting what I deserve and being punished by God, I am the sluttiest, the most trashy, the most damage, and God is truly punishing me for all of my wrongdoings’”
We heal through telling and sharing our stories, and are incredibly thankful for Jenelle’s wisdom and vulnerability. Learn more about Jenelle and The STI Project on Instagram.