Negligence?

Because I am not a doctor, virologist, phlebotomist, or any variation of a clinician, I assumed the herpes test ordered by my doctor and taken by Labcorp was the most accurate available. As it now turns out I probably have genital HSV and have given it to someone. A healthy girl's sexuality has potentially been marred because I did not know that IgM tests were innacurate and that my doctor and lab were to be second guessed. No amount of repentance can make up for what Ive done. Has someone ever conceived of filing a class action lawsuit against the purveyors of this flawed method? Not to win but to at least have them change their practices so that no one has to live with the shame, remorse, and torture that has consumed me daily.

[gracefromHHP]

If you are interested in a malpractice suit against your provider, talk to a lawyer who specializes in that. I don't think it would be worth a class action lawsuit but I've been told that you can successfully argue that just testing with the herpes igm only is grounds for malpractice.  

do you got your test results back I take it?

grace

[backspace09]

Yes,
I tested positive by Tzanck smear.

I am still awaiting a new round of IGG tests. I feel hopless.

[gracefromHHP]

oh the smear is a very poor method also :(    why did they do that and not a lesion culture?  ( yeah I know, that question might as well have been asked to a brick wall if this is the same provider )

did your partner get their igg results back yet?

grace

[backspace09]

The igm test was the default test labcorp used when the walk in clinic doctor ordered a test for "herpes simplex antibodies." The other doctor, a dermatologist, appears to be a very competent physician. I do not know if it was a Tzanck smear, just that she took a biopsy of my penile legions and the pathologist "observed it under a microscope" and saw it had "cytological features indicative of herpes" and ruled it positive. They did not type it, which they would have if it were a
culture. However, the doctor says that it is possibly autoinoculation from my cold sores, either through my own touching or indirect through oral then genital sex. (use your own imagination). She says this is definitely a recently acquired infection. I know the doc says that hsv1 autoinoculation is impossible, but it seems to be the only way this is possible. (unless I have had hsv2 genitally forever and it has only recently expressed itself). The only new factor that presented itself before this was a cold sore. I'm ruling out infidelity and my girlfriend has both been tested and never shown symptoms until now.    

[gracefromHHP]

you won't transmit your own hsv1 to your genital area.

are you both getting igg herpes blood tests done soon?

grace

[backspace09]

Grace, I appreciate your prompt responses. Please send me a bill. My igg results are forthcoming. She has not yet been tested since the OB. I've now been left with two possibilities. Either I've been positive with hsv2 for an indeterminate amount of time and this was my first episode or I need to return the ring.

[backspace09]

Or, more probably, this is actually a recurrent episode and I simply disregarded my first as hives or fleas or something. Deep down in my memory I have a feeling it may be.

[gracefromHHP]

did your gf have a lesion culture come back +? If so, was it typed?

assume nothing. you both need igg blood tests done.

grace

[backspace09]

Grace, a blod test taken 10 days after my symptoms through labcorp is as follows: hsv1 igm, negative. Hsv2 igm negative. Hsv1 IGG 3.09 High. Hsv2 IGG negative.  If my gf is clear and has been monogamous, what dies this mean and did I get the wrong tests again?

[gracefromHHP]

no, you had the right tests this time.

wait for your gf's results and then we can figure this out better.  

grace

[backspace09]

It must be that I've always had both oral and genital hsv1 but the genital was latent.

[backspace09]

(I guess I may have just been carrying hsv1 genitally for who knows how long)

[gracefromHHP]

doubtful.

[backspace09]

And my girlfriends are clear.  Igg and igm.

[gracefromHHP]

Honestly at this point, unless you get a recurrence of genital symptoms to get a lesion culture and typing on, no easy answers. the tzanck smear is a very poor method of diagnosing genital herpes.  A + hsv1 igg only tells you what you have, not where. Unfortunately you really don't have very many answers yet.

grace

[backspace09]

My girlfriend had igg done. She is doubly negative.

[gracefromHHP]

well at least that question is answered for you now.

grace