Medication Interfering with Test Results?

[hopingfalsepositive]

Hi Terri,

This is hopingfalsepositive again submitting a new thread. I just submitted a few more questions at the bottom of my previous thread - if you could respond to those, I would be most grateful because they are still important to me!

I know you are familiar with my situation from my previous thread. My HSV-1 came back 3.06 and my HSV-2 came back 1.75, and the exposure incident was on March 19th. You told me yesterday that having a first breakout so long after the exposure is very unusual and that I shouldn't worry about that bump I found. Which, by the way, has disappeared.

So I'm hoping I am a false positive...BUT...I am having lots of symptoms that do not include bumps or blisters, but that do include flu-like symptoms, fatigue and burning tingling "down there" so I'm thinking that I am in fact positive and I'd like to preempt any blisters or sores by getting some medicine ASAP.

My next question is this: if I take my results to the doctor tomorrow and they give me some treatment medicine, and I take it for a couple of months, will the medication affect the test results in a couple of months?

Thanks so much,

Sleepless in Seattle

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

These symptoms could be herpes or not.  Without confirmation by western blot, we just can't know for certain.  You are still too early from the exposure to do the western blot with accuracy.  If it was positive now, that would be accurate, but if it was negative now, it would be hard to know if that was accurate or not.  

For now, in terms of your sexual behavior, until you get the western blot, I would assume that you are positive.  Whether that is accurate or not, I cannot say at this time.

Terri

[hopingfalsepositive]

Hi Terri,

Thanks for the response.

My symptoms got a lot worse before they got better, and included not only flu symptoms (chills, body aches), but also significant internal vaginal discomfort, sore / tingly feet and ear aches / head pressure and even tingly lips. What I did NOT get, and am assuming I won't get because I'm feeling mostly better now, are any externally visible sores or lesions or blisters.

I'm assuming that it's highly possible to get all of these symptoms without lesions when you have Type 2, correct? Most people in my case just would have assumed that they got some weird flu-type thing with vaginal discomfort and never known they had herpes, right?

I don't want to be naive, and if I have all the symptoms except the blisters and sores then I should be realistic and assume that I am in fact positive for Type 2...would you agree?

Thanks!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

No, it would not be good to take medicine now.  Just wait and get the western blot.  The University of Washington lab asks that question "is the patient on daily medicine for herpes" when we call to sort out difficult-to-interpret labs, so I would recommend that you NOT take medicine now.  Just wait.  Not clear what to make of your flu symptoms, but they really could be related to many things, not just herpes, right?
And the first RECOGNIZED outbreak can occur weeks or months or years after first infection, that is true, but if you are going to have a recognized outbreak with the first infection, it usually happens within 2-10 days.  Do you see the difference?

Terri

[hopingfalsepositive]

One more question...you said in the previous thread that it is very unusually for a first outbreak to occur 3 weeks after exposure so you didn't think that my bump was an outbreak. But in so many places online, I read that a first outbreak can occur months or even years after first exposure. So isn't it possible that my flu-like symptoms are indeed a delayed first outbreak? Thanks!