Information needed

I have been in a monogamous relationship for a year now and prior to that I went a few months without any sexual acts.  I have never been dx with herpes orally or gentially.  I have never even had a cold sore, but in the past week I have these small blister like sores on my gentials.  There are 4.  My finance does get cold sores, but he hasn't had one recently and he has never had anything on his gentiles.  I went to the doctor yesterday and he took some samples, but I won't get the results for a week or longer.  My questions are 1. If it is herpes how did I get it? and 2. Should we substain from any sexual activity?

[yi3o8]

I would abstain until the results come in... but ASSUMING you got type 1 from him unluckily, then his body would generally be able to protect from new infections.

So again assuming you even have it, it's type 1, and his cold sores are type 1... you would not have to worry about it in the future with him.

Please let us know how it goes and feel free to ask questions

[eatingmypsyche]

1.Assumming no-one has cheated, which absolutly does not have to be the case since he has cold sores, you got them from him or had them all along.

Even though he may not have a visible blister he may still be contagios from time to time. Even when you cant see a thing and even when he says he doesnt feel any irritation.

2. Its always good to substain if anyone has visible symptoms, if you feel that you may have gotten these blisters from anybody else you could both go and get tested so you can be sure you have the same cind of herpes.

Good luck.

[Smile2often]

I will let you know the results.  Thank you for your response.  I will have a week of worrying, but I guess that's life.  Things could always be worse.

[yi3o8]

Sorry, to answer your first question, and again completely assuming what has happened, type 1 can infect the genitals just as type 2 can infect the mouth area. If he has type 1 then he could have shed the virus even without symptoms. Herpes infections move with contact so it would be possible that if the area where he gets sores was outside his lips, you would not have necessarily gotten it from kissing. Again I hate to assume, these are just whatifs..

You would still need to wait on the tests, and verify what is going on however since there are several possibilities.

[eatingmypsyche]

yi3o8 Answered faster :)

Just as well I see since mine is riddled with spelling errors and such...oops.

[Smile2often]

(Eatingmypsyche)  Is it possible for me to have had them for well over a year and to have never had any symptoms?

[Smile2often]

What other possibilities are there?  I'm sure its a hard question to answer, but when I saw them all I could think was herpes and nothing else comes to mind.

[gracefromHHP]

did your provider think that these looked like herpes?   did they give you any medication for it?

odds are that neither you nor your partner have ever been tested for herpes before this. both of you should find out if you have been or not and if either of you haven't been tested since you've been together, it's a good idea for you to get type specific herpes igg blood tests to see who has what. If either of you have ever had any partner prior to each other, you could have hsv1 and/or hsv2.   Lesion cultures have a high false negative rate so even if your lesion culture results come back negative, you still need to follow up with the blood testing.

your partner could've transmitted his hsv1 oral infection to your genitals through oral sex. he also could've had hsv2 genitally and never realized it and recently transmitted it to your genital area. you could've had hsv2 genitally and never realized it and this is just your first obvious recurrence.  Of course it could also be that this isn't herpes going on at all.

If you haven't heard by monday what your lesion culture results are, call and ask. it typically doesn't take a week.

grace

[Smile2often]

Information update....The doctor called back yesterday and said that the cultures tested positive for HSV 1 and negative for HSV 2.  The doctor did give me some cream to apply, but other than that I just have to wait for them to go away.

Thank you all for your advice!

[gracefromHHP]

what cream were you given?

At this point, treating  this isn't worthwhile, it's almost ran its course. your provider should've given you herpes antivirals when they suspected genital herpes. the zovirax ointment really isn't effective, either the pill form of valtrex , acyclovir or famvir would've been most appropriate.

grace