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Herpes or Not
by inquisitive1111, Sep 19, 2009 04:02PM
I had unprotected sex/oral with a girl I thought I could trust who the next morning told me she had HSV II. This was my first experience so I suppose I'm a little naive. Anyway, she told me it was no big deal because she wasn't having an OB and she was taking Valtrex twice a day. I did kiss another girl goodnight that I had a date with a week earlier. I have never had a cold sore.
If I do have it I'm almost asymptomatic because the symptoms I'm about to describe are extremely mild.
Some of these symptoms may have been there for a while and I just didn't notice them before since there was 0 chance I had an STD.
Symptoms on face:
-Very small white bumps on the inside of my upper lip in-between both corners of my mouth that do not go away. I noticed them two days after the event and they have been there for a month. This gives me a little hope that it is something else because I thought they should bleed clear liquid after a day or two.
-Tingling around my mouth.
-Very small white bumps where my lip and my skin meet all around my mouth.
-Cold sore like symptoms (redness, things that look like they could be blisters ) between my upper lip and my nostrils that I noticed one week after the event. Again they are so mild that I can't be sure and they haven't changed for about 3 weeks. Shouldn't they have blead by now?
-Dry lips/chapping occasionally.
-Discolored upper lip meaning it's slightly darker near where the lip meets the skin. Again, this has ben there for 3 weeks.
Genitals:
-Some mild pain but nothing I don't experience on say my finger and just dismiss. Its more like discomfort.
-Small patches of redness that all seem to align themselves with the scar from my circumcision ( the circular ring delineating the shaft between the bottom and the upper part of the shaft). Might just be a skin irritation.
-No urination pain
-No visible blisters. Could they be so small that I just can't see them?. I'm so tired of looking over there.
I took a blood test 5 days after the fact. It came back negative for IgG/IgM both I and II.
Is it highly unusual that I have symptoms that are so mild but seem to last for so long? If so, what else could it be? I'm going to go take another herpes select test in 2 months (3 months after the event) but if it comes back negative I'm going to want to know what else could be confused with Herpes. It also helps me psychologically to vent.
If I do have it I'm almost asymptomatic because the symptoms I'm about to describe are extremely mild.
Some of these symptoms may have been there for a while and I just didn't notice them before since there was 0 chance I had an STD.
Symptoms on face:
-Very small white bumps on the inside of my upper lip in-between both corners of my mouth that do not go away. I noticed them two days after the event and they have been there for a month. This gives me a little hope that it is something else because I thought they should bleed clear liquid after a day or two.
-Tingling around my mouth.
-Very small white bumps where my lip and my skin meet all around my mouth.
-Cold sore like symptoms (redness, things that look like they could be blisters ) between my upper lip and my nostrils that I noticed one week after the event. Again they are so mild that I can't be sure and they haven't changed for about 3 weeks. Shouldn't they have blead by now?
-Dry lips/chapping occasionally.
-Discolored upper lip meaning it's slightly darker near where the lip meets the skin. Again, this has ben there for 3 weeks.
Genitals:
-Some mild pain but nothing I don't experience on say my finger and just dismiss. Its more like discomfort.
-Small patches of redness that all seem to align themselves with the scar from my circumcision ( the circular ring delineating the shaft between the bottom and the upper part of the shaft). Might just be a skin irritation.
-No urination pain
-No visible blisters. Could they be so small that I just can't see them?. I'm so tired of looking over there.
I took a blood test 5 days after the fact. It came back negative for IgG/IgM both I and II.
Is it highly unusual that I have symptoms that are so mild but seem to last for so long? If so, what else could it be? I'm going to go take another herpes select test in 2 months (3 months after the event) but if it comes back negative I'm going to want to know what else could be confused with Herpes. It also helps me psychologically to vent.
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grace
Still don't know what's on my face though. Might be thrush or HSV-I.
I agree I should go see *a* provider again. My current provider isn't that great though, he told me those little white bumps on the inside of my upper lip that have been there for at least a month was HSV. He obviously visually diagnosed those wrong and scared the heck out of me for no reason. I'm going to go to someone else.
After doing some more research I found out that my Chron's disease can cause sores around the mouth that can be mistaken for HSV. The pictures I have seen look exactly like what I have minus the small white bumps. I think that this is what I have. I thought I should share that information in case someone else with Chron's disease is in a similar situation. I'm going to go see a gastro to be sure.
grace
I have had a red rash on my genitals for 1 month now. I haven't seen it clear up completely yet but it has been "less red" at times. I thought it was a yeast infection but today I noticed pin head sized bumps around the rash that may or may not have been there before (they are extremely small). I know herpes isn't supposed to last for a month but is it possible that it is constantly recurring?
Thanks for all your help Grace.
This sounds more like a folliculitis or a fungal infection. have you followed up with another provider yet?
grace
I didn't tell him about my genital symptoms. Don't know why, I guess I was shy because a nurse was in the room. After he told me not to worry about HSV I stopped taking Acyclovir and 3 days later my genital symptoms completely cleared up anyway. Like you said, it was probably a reaction. The reaction was to the Acyclovir though. I was taking more then the prescribed dosage (2 to 3 times as much) and rash is a side effect.
Now that I am stress free the dark spot on my lip is slowly starting to clear up too. I know my Chron's reactivates under stress and I'm certain, after my research, that the dark upper lip and chapped corners of my mouth were from a Chron's flare up due to the stress of my misdiagnosis.
I'm still going to get one more herpes select test just because I would never forgive myself if I transmitted to someone else without letting them know of the risks first. I'm sure it will come out negative though.
Cross your fingers.
"studies say that roughly 10 partners out of 100 will transmit the virus per year, given they are having unprotected sex 2-3 times a week and avoiding outbreaks. (so NOT 10% chance per sex session)"
If that is an accurate statistic, would that mean that if I have sex once with an infected person with no OB, my odds of catching it would be much less than 1 percent?
(10% ) divided by (125 sex acts a year) = 0.08%
grace
After searching the forum I have come to the conclusion that the doctors and others whose opinions I respect firmly believe that if a primary OB lasts for more than three weeks then, well, it isn't an OB at all. I have three questions for clarification. I can understand why you may not want to answer the third:
1) Is my assessment of the opinions of the experts on this board correct?
2) What marks the "end of an outbreak"? Should the skin be completely normal? Or, when people say the OB has ended can there still be a small red rash?
3) Between the primary OB and the first recurrence should there be a period of complete healing or can the first recurrence happen while there is still some redness.
Anyway, I just want to thank you, Grace. Because of your input I am able to function normally in life as I wait for my conclusive 3 month Herpes Select IgG test. I plan on paying you back by doing whatever I can to reduce the stigma associated with HSV in my everyday life.
2- the skin will look normal again when an ob is over
3- there is usually at least a few days. about 1/2 of folks have a recurrence within 2 months of being infected. Sometimes it's hard to tell when the first ob has completely finished running its course and when the first recurrence happens.
Your symptoms don't sound like herpes. Continue to follow up with your provider or a dermatologist for better answers.
grace
Genital rash came back in the same place after it disappeared for a day or two. Since it's been near 6 weeks with genital redness and I know my symptoms aren't herpes I'm just going to skip my herpes select test after 3 months and schedule something with a new GP.
It's a Bleeding, painful sore near anus. There is blood almost everytime I wipe. It's been there with varying degrees of severity for at least two weeks now but just got worse recently.
I'm guessing it's a chrons flare brought on by stress, lack of sleep and lack of eating the first few weeks following of my probable misdiagnosis of herpes that were actually fordyce spots.
I'm looking for confirmation that those symptoms don't sound herpetic.
Thanks.
grace
1) assuming I did catch hsv 8 weeks ago. What are the odds I did not seroconvert yet.
If you are going to test again, you really should do it again in 2 months though really what you've posted so far doesn't sound like herpes ( have I said that enough yet? ).
grace
It's only $50 for a herpes select test through PP where I am though and I think what would help my anxiety more than anything is a negative IgG blood test even at if it is at 8 weeks.
The waiting a month or two for sex isn't the hard part for me, it's the explaining-to-a-great-girl-why-I-want-to-wait-thing that I'm dreading. I don't think I can lie for two months straight (I'm just not that smart/sneaky) so I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and tell her.
Here are odds based on female to male transmission of genital herpes.
FEMALE TO MALE RATE OF TRANSMISSION (HSV2 ONLY STATS IS NOT APPLICABLE FOR HSV1)
If you have 100 couples where the female has HSV2 but not the male (these figures are over a year) the odds of female to male transmission are, if you do nothing other than avoid sex during an outbreak, 4 men out of a 100 will get herpes in a year, or 4%. If you do go on a suppressive therapy then it drops to 2 men out of a 100 in a year, or 2%. And if you use suppressive and a condom the chances are 1 man out of a 100 will get herpes in one year or 1%.
The Valtrex and transmission study stats are based on having sex 2 times/week.