Boyfriend may have herpes

[paranoid25]

So my boyfriend got this weird break out below his belly button. He talked to me about it the other day and said it hurts really bad and I was looking at it and started freaking out because it does not look like pimples because one opened up like a sore and he said they are painful. I told him to go get tested because it is not going away. We always use condoms when having sex, but there has never been anything weird going on around his genital area just what is going on on under his belly button. I have been doing nothing but researching and scaring myself about all of this fearing I he may have herpes and I do too. I looked up that herpes may come with flu like symptoms. We both have had a cough for the past 4 days that I am thinking has to do with it. I feel weak, but I have no symptoms, no sores just a cough. I have gotten papsmears and  they all come out normal. My last one was in July, but the more research I do I have found out that papsmears do not really test for std's. I fear that although I have never had any type of herpes symptoms, I could have still been infected with it with no symptoms. I just recently started having sex with him in July and I was not sexually active for almost 4 years before him. I am soo scared. He is waiting for the results of the swab they took of his sores at the doctor, but meanwhile I do not know how to handle this. I usually sleep over his house a lot during the weak, but now I am afraid that if he is scratching the area and touches me I may break out where he touches me. Is this irrational thinking? I miss him and want to be around him, but I am so nervous.

[paranoid25]

I woke up yesterday morning with sores near the corner of my mouth. I freaked and was angry at him because this hasn't happened to me before. I told him I wanted him to get tested again so we went to the clinic at our school together. I got HSV 1 and 2 dna tests and he went in so the doctor could examine the scabs he had on his stomach. The doc said because the pattern was going down it couldn't have been herpes or shingles. The doctor doesn't really know what it is and told him it could be a rare case of moscullum contagium. Anyway, I told my bf I didn't want to be angry with him and he is trying to calm me down. I know for sure that I have some type of oral herpes tough because the way the bumps have progressed on my lip. They started as a cluster and burst open. I don't really know how to deal with this. I know I shouldn't try to figure out who gave what to who because they say that makes things worse, but I have honestly lost all my drive for sex and I just want to push everyone away.

[catinbarefeet]

He needs to have his sores swabbed as soon as they show up, or he risks a false negative. So the very next time he has fresh sores, send him to get swabbed before 48 hours is up.

You can contract HSV from these lesions if they are indeed herpes, but they would have to come in contact with either a portal (cut, wound, tear, abrasion) on your skin or a mucous membrane (mouth, genitals).

You also should get a reliable blood test, by the way. Ask your doctor to order an IgG other than the ELISA, and make sure it's type-specific. Good luck to you!

[Fleetwood20]

Please try to be rational about this. Have you had testing for HSV? There is about a 60% chance you already have one form of HSZ. If your boyfriend has genital HSV, which I think is unlikely, he may have got it from you.

If the sores and rash have moved above his hip, then this is more likely something else, strep/staph for example. I agree though the easing of symptoms is not proof of an absence of herpes.

The reality is that HSV is part of our lives and not something to lose a relationship or miss out on love for.

[paranoid25]

So my boyfriends herpes culture test came back negative, but I am not assured by this. The way the blisters were below his bellow button and they actually spread to the side of his stomach, three more popped up. They are healing now and the scabs are dark and the sores look like they were deep. He complained about cold sores he had in his mouth. I am now noticing a small pimple growing on the corner of my bottom lip. I have never had any type of pimple or cold sore on the outside of my lip until now. I am freaking out because I feel I cannot trust him. I don't know if I can be with him or anyone else right now.

[paranoid25]

I just saw my boyfriend and he got antibacterial cream on monday from our clinic at school. They have done a blood test which we have not gotten results for yet. He told me today that it it is getting better, the bumps are getting smaller and the redness is going away. His logic is because the antibacterial cream is working it is not herpes because if it was the cream wouldve done anything. I dont know about that...

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, very high chances this is not herpes related. First its very high up for an outbreak. We consider the "boxer short" area for breakouts and the belly button is right at the no zone. Also if this is a herpes sore, showing up in that area means it is an old infection and he has had breakouts before. Herpes sores for recent infection would be at the point of contact like his penis shaft.

Yours fears of contracting it from him touching is unfounded as hsv in the genital area is only transmitted from sexual contact.
Do let us know the results.