After Some Advice

[2776]

Last year I had protected one night stand, about 10 days after i had an itch, and scratched and scratched the shaft of my penis until I'd made it sore, two docs looked and neither were concerned about herpes, however i hit google and became convinced it was herpes.  Since then i've had almost daily tingling, skin crawling, and this has been more than a year.  This sensation seem to cover my whole scrotum or large parts.  I've not had any lesions or blisters.  For years I have had irritation after sex, particularly if i don't clean my penis after sex or at certain times of the month in my partners cycle.  This irritation would make the whole of my penis head and foreskin red/sore.   Over a couple of days it goes and is almost like my skin peels.   On an occasion I did notice a couple of white spots that were not sore or blisters, these seemed to disappear within a day and leave a little ring of dry skin, kind of like a white head on the face, due to my current anxiety i'm literally investigating everything with a microscope.

To add to my anxiety my ex partner used to get fairly regular irritation over the past year, she had on occasions what she described as friction patches, after masturbation or sex if we weren't completely de-clothed and there was some rubbing of clothing.  Sometime the skin between her lips cracked, (and would bleed). I checked myself for her, pulled the skin a bit too hard and it split along the folds in her lips, it seemed very fragile.  She has what can be described as a very sensitive tight outer vaginal lips, there isn't as lot of spare skin/flesh to stretch.  She described it as a bruised rather than sore sensation.   She does have facial cold sores and said she would know if she was getting the same sensations in her vagina, so is relaxed about it

I'm now recently single and about to start dating again, Herpes tests are not routine in the UK and if I push for one wonder if i'm only causing more anxiety.  Thank you.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

If your test was positive, we could say, with 95% certainty, that you had genital HSV 2 infection.  If you were positive for HSV 1, we could not know if your infection was oral or genital if you've never had a lesion in either location.

This is my last post on this thread.

Terri

[2776]

Thank you for the reply..

So in essence, without sores to test, even if I had hsv 1 or 2, there is no way of knowing where due to absence of symptoms and something to test against.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

No, I don't believe you ex would have transmitted herpes to her own genitals.  

Honestly, I think you might want to not pursue this anymore.  Or ask for a test and get it over with.  Your call.  If you are HSV 1 positive, you cannot know where it is since you have no lesions anywhere to swab test.

Terri

[2776]

Hi Terri,

Thanks for the reply, I've never had a facial cold sore, bit do on occasions get a small tingle on my lips, bit nothing happens.  both my parents do and my ex did, she had a few whilst we were together.  In terms of the irritation I've had, I forgot to say I used canesten cream for a couple of weeks solid and this seems to clear up my redness and soreness.  I did speak to the one night stand and asked her if she had any kind of problems down there and she said no ( this happened whilst ex and I were on a had separated for a few weeks)  Also, can I ask, would any tingling be located solely to the place where a blister would come through?? Also, I get itching on my penis but this seems to regularly change location, from the bottom of the base to the head, to under foreskin, is this consistent at all?

I was a little more concerned about my ex, but as I say she is super relaxed about it, I have mentioned it to her since, but I'm dismissed as worrying about nothing, I had read about herpes showing up as cuts, but these cuts in her vaginal folds seemed to follow foreplay, the wearing of very tight clothes or other preceding factors, and were always where the flaps of skin meet.

Is it possible, that she could or we could have passed her facial sores to her genitals?  

I did attend a sexual health clinic here who were great but really unconcerned about herpes ( even if you had it ).  Pretty much though, without symptoms they dont routinely test.

Thanks and sorry for the rambling text

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

A one night stand with a condom is a very low risk situation for acquiring genital herpes.  Also, most herpes shows up before 10 days has passed and also you are not describing symptoms that sounds like herpes to me.  Herpes is not something that is a constant, as are the symptoms that you describe.  They are intermittent.

Have you ever in your life had a cold sore on your lip?  If your previous partner had cold sores, it is possible that you could have contracted this from her, right?  

Testing is certainly up to you.  I do have patients in the UK who test, but just not sure if that would help you.

Suffice to say, your symptoms really don't sound like herpes to me.  Hard to sort out your previous partners symptoms though they are somewhat less clear than yours in terms of the possibility of herpes.

Terri