Oral herpes autoinoculation

[spacemans]

Hi fellow herpes suffers, I can't believe I am saying this but I have recently caught oral herpes. on 6/2 I started feeling alittle bit sick and getting shivers... by 6/3 I was really feverish and had alot of pain swallowing, on 6/4 I woke up with 2 small zit like bumps on the middle of my lips. so defintely herpes :( :(... makes me sick to my stomache.

6/5 the bumps were even bigger and today 6/6 i went to urgent care and the doctor agreed with cold sores and that i may have strep throat too (?) as so prescibed me azithromycin 250mg for the strep and acyclovir 400 mg for the cold sores... i am also using abreva on the sores

my main question is that i did something really stupid. on the day I woke up with my first little outbreak of bumps. which is 6/4... I decided to take a shower and at that point did not realize I had small bumps on my lips. My memory is not 100% clear as I was very out of it from the fever but I may have touched my face/lips a couple of times during the shower.

at one point i decided i wanted to clean my penis and soaped my hands up for 20-30 seconds and then washed them off with hot water... but did not dry.... I am pretty certain at this point i didnt touch my face after soaping my hands up but am not 100% sure. After I got out of the shower and realized I had new bumps on my lips... I freaked.. :(

my questions are:
1) Could i have autoinoculated myself doing this?
2) If so, how soon would the new bumps show up and would the symptoms and sequence be the same as my oral herpes outbreak?
3) do you guys agree with or have anything else i can do to help speed up the healing of my current sores?

so sad,
Spaceman

[Michael082881]

What are the symptoms of Hsv1?

[Samcat11]

Dude, CALM DOWN. you can only autoinnoculate yourself during a first out break. Antibodies from first exposure to herpes antigens keep it from spreading after your first outbreak. It's is possible that the virus can spread to another body part, but the chances are very slight and hsv2 outbreaks orally tend to be rare since it doesn't like living in the oral region. Same the other way around,. You're freaking yourself out over every tiny itch and bump and it's only going to make you crazy. Chillax. If you can't deal with the consequences of sex, don't have it or use protection for everything, I'm not sure how old you are but by the sound of it, you're young and if you are not careful, herpes will be the least of your worries. Educate yourself. That's the only real weapon you have.

[gracefromHHP]

typically it doesn't reoccur inside the mouth - usually those are canker sores. see your provider if you are concerned.

[spacemans]

recurrent herpes didoes really occur inside the mouth from what i have read. i think i will wait a until a week has passed to see if something has changed (typically within a week my blisters are gone) and if nothing changes then assume its not herpes.

does herpes inside the mouth act just the same as outer lip herpes? blistering and multiple lesions etc?

[gracefromHHP]

doesn't sound like herpes going on.

[spacemans]

hi guys, quick question.... about 4-5 days ago i had a burning feeling on my lip and noticed a bump on my inner upper lip (inside my mouth) near where the outside part of the lip begins. it is fleshy and not white like my typical herpes outbreaks nor do any of my normal herpes outbreak areas show any sign of an outbreak. it does not look like a blister more like a fleshy bump. this bump may have been there before but i had never noticed it and the bump has not changed since i have noticed it

it also does not look like a canker sore either so i am not sure what i am dealing with.

do you think this is herpes?  i figure since it has not changed in so many days i can probably kiss my gf... or is it worth a visit to my doc?

thanks! :)

[gracefromHHP]

many things can cause those symptoms which is why proper follow up and testing is always a good idea :)

If this is oral herpes, you can learn to control ob's faster when you get them. if it isn't oral herpes, then you can find out what it is and treat that too. Not many of us make it to the old folks home without oral herpes, just if you are one of the small percentage that gets obvious cold sores, it's very annoying to deal with them :(

[spacemans]

will do... but i am pretty sure i have herpes due to how sick I was during the first outbreak and how it followed typical initial herpes symptoms: swollen glands, trouble swallowing, bad breath, bad fever symptoms, really large bumps on my lips.

Perhaps because during both outbreaks i took acyclovir , that's why there was no crusting? a bit strange

but better to get it confirmed. it would be great if it wasn't herpes.
I will update when i have more information............. thanks grace and  Mistakeguy789!

[gracefromHHP]

hard to tell if these are herpes going on or something else like impetigo. if you get another recurrence within the next few weeks, be seen promptly and ask for a lesion culture

scratching your butt through clothing is not an issue at all.

[spacemans]

thanks guys for all the help, its been a week now since my 2nd outbreak began, the bumps are almost back down to normal and are healing. strangely no scabs again at all, just white bumps/blisters that fall off leaving red skin and are turning into red/whitish spots

can i be pretty certain i cannot autoinocculate myself now since I am quite sure this is my 2nd outbreak? (even though it occurred 3 weeks after my first ob)

the reason i ask is that i had another little incident:
i accidently scratched my butt for a few seconds through my boxers and got worried I may have touched my lips in the previous few minutes before i scratched myself.   i realize that you cant really pass herpes that way but I am worried I may have made a tiny cut in my skin from scratching and something could have happened because i still have the remnants of the outbreak on my face.

So I ran to the bathroom , washed my hands with soap, then disinfected the area with 96% ethyl alcohol using a paper towel. which was probably stupid and could have increased my risk of getting genital autoincoulation by continuing to mess with my skin. was there any risk with this incident?

also, do hand sanitzers containg 60% ethyl alcohol kill herpes? the articles I have found on the net go back and forth on that. i have been trying to use it at work and at home when i accidently touch my face to prevent spreading.

Thank again and again!

[gracefromHHP]

putting a bandaid over a cold sore is meaningless. the virus sheds from the cold sore and also the oral area so as long as you aren't kissing your partner or performing oral sex on them, it's not an issue.

[spacemans]

Unfortunately I am Out of the country with my partner so it will be difficult. I was able to get some acocylvir from the local pharmacy yesterday though.

I wanted to ask: is it ok for my partner and I to have sex during this outbreak?

We did not be kiss or doing any oral sex of course, when we had sex... And I wore a small bandage covering the outbreak area... Lastly, we both washed our hands before we began everything....

Is that ok to do?

Thanks :)

[gracefromHHP]

now would be a good time to go and be seen and get a lesion culture done to confirm herpes as a cause of these.

[spacemans]

well i seem to have broken out into another oral herpes outbreak in the same exact spot as my largest whiteish red spot from before.... this is about 2.5 days since i had that oral sex encounter with my gf and deep kissing with her.

is it normal to have another break out so soon after my first one..? its been about 3.5 weeks.

also, can i assume i wasn't contagious before because i have a new breakout occurring? or could i have just been continuously contagious without a break since the initial outbreak?

as far as i could tel, there were no bumps present during that oral sex encounter... just a white mark.. so i can hopefully assume i wasnt that contagious

:(

[gracefromHHP]

indeed! I don't even talk about it to posters unless they specifically ask because it's THAT low of a risk.

[spacemans]

LOL i like myself but not that much!

so i assume the situation that Dr HHH is talking about when you touch a sore then touch yours genitals for autoincoulation is also fairly low risk also then?

[gracefromHHP]

still not really an issue. you don't have to worry about transmitting your oral herpes to your genitals unless you able to perform oral sex on yourself.

[spacemans]

yes but i am talking about lips... not really fingers?

[Mistakeguy789]

The immune system starts to respond to the virus once it is detected.  While yes there is a slight risk for autoinnoculation it isn't much of a concern because the virus doesn't live long on the fingers and even at that you need fritction for it to get past the skin.  

[spacemans]

grace, just wanted to say thanks for being patient with my multiple multiple questions. I know it must be aggravating sometimes.... :)

I am not sure if it is clear but this is my first outbreak of herpes I have ever experienced so wouldn't the hsv1 infection not be"well established"  and therefore makes me vulnerable... ?

Or do you mean at this point 3 weeks after the initial outbreak began , the infection is "well established" and autoinnoculation is quite difficult?

sorry if I am repeating my questions, I just want to be clear.

thank you sooo much!

:)

[gracefromHHP]

I'm not sure there are any documented cases of any adult giving themselves genital herpes from their own oral herpes. even the few cases from the boards in the 15 years I've been on them, less than a handful of folks who have well established oral hsv1 infections getting it back genitally and all of those had shaved their genitals just prior to sex/oral sex with a partner which creates microscopic cuts in the skin.

really, this isn't something to worry at all about. if it was, I would've told you. I know you don't know me from adam but this board operates on up to date information and factual, down to earth advice :)  

[spacemans]

thanks grace, i was curious why I would not be able to get herpes like that? it seems fairly high risk to me. since the virus maybe on her lips or something.

I found some other threads on the forum which are a help to me (and hopefully to other people in my situation)

in this thread. http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Tested-Positive-for-Oral-HSV1-and-questions-surrounding-transmission/show/494627

Dr HHH says:  "Once a lesion has healed completely -- i.e., intact skin is present and at least a week has passed since onset -- you can be pretty sure you aren't still shedding virus.  Pinkness of the new skin doesn't count; that's normal in recently healed but intact skin. "  

In my case, since the bumps gone and it has been 3 weeks since onset, I guess that is a good indication. The only concern I have is my skin is still whiteish more so than pink. Similar to the color the bump was at its worst.

In this thread: http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Primary-Oral-Herpes/show/248736
The guy had an perhaps an initial oral herpes ob and then gave oral sex to the girl, then had unprotected sex with her.

Dr HHH says: "There might be a small risk of you also getting genital infection if your oral infection is initial herpes.  But that would occur because of directly auto-inoculation, i.e. your own hands going from mouth to your genital area, for example when you use the toilet.  There is no reason to be concerned about oral then genital sex with your partner."

I find that quite interesting but dont understand why that is the case. It is somewhat similar to my case too. Doesn't the virus last on skin for a decent amount of time?

[gracefromHHP]

no you won't get herpes on your genitals like that.

3 weeks later is fine to start kissing your partner again.

[spacemans]

when i say kissed my genitals.. she attempted to start oral sex on me and made contact with her lips for perhaps a second before i jumped back...

i know i am being extremely paranoid but i am honestly scared by everything right now.