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This forum is an un-mediated, patient-to-patient forum for questions and support regarding herpes issues such as: Herpes symptoms and treatments, causes, diagnosis, and herpes in men, tests, telling your spouse or partner.
On Tuesday (today is Thursday ) the air in my apartment was broke ( I live in VA with high high humidity) so I was laying on the floor carpeting with my bra on and a pair of boy shorts. The carpet in my apartment has always given me skin issues (sensitive skin) when I lay on it for long periods of time like hours. So it was around like midnight and my stomach started itching and i scratched it and felt bumps. I jumped up and turned on the light and about four inches above my belly button was a small blister. There really was not any redness or any pain what so ever. I got the tweezers and popped it put alcohol on it (still no pain and a put on a shirt).
I was wide awake and my mind started processing things and I thought what if this was my first visible body herpes outbreak. I looked at the small hole again and pulled out a very small hair that that was near it and still no pain. The next day it was a little irraited but almost healed. Because I'm crazy, I picked at it again with a needle trying to see if was painful (it was not), I put alcohol on it to see if it burned (it did not)....I sprayed it with perfume to se if that made it burn, it didn't., I put cortizone cream on it and went to bed. This morning (thurday) it is completely healed just a small flat scab from where I kept pricking it with the needle. No redness, no raised skin, just flat smooth skin with the small scab.
I keep telling myself that it was just a reaction of my damp sweaty skin to the carpet. I usually do get bumps on my skin when I lay on it for a long time.....but I have never had a small blister. before. I think i'm just looking for reassurance. there was a scab on the wednesday morning and it happened tuesday night so I couldn't get it cultured (that seems to be what everyone does on this site when something happens).
My questions are,
1. Herpes on the skin hurts so the alcohol, pricking the area with a needle, perfume, and perioxide should have caused some discomfort right.
2. would the area (if it was a lesion be one small blister...the size of maybe two needle heads...initally there was not redness until I picked at it)
3. Would the area four inches above you belly button be considered the boxer short area...
4. Would it be healed in about ten hours it was a lesion
5. I had no symtoms before the blister appeared. My stomach just got itchy, Right away I looked down and felt the bump
Well not psychotic but anxiety ridden and neurotic about herpes indeed :)
If this is herpes going on, I'm the queen of england.
Stop picking at this - you probably have just caused more harm than good! Why you would spray perfume on it is beyond me. You are risking bacterial infection too with all that you are doing as well as you are just irritating the heck out of it and making it look worse and be on your mind more. Don't do a thing to it besides soap and water in the shower daily and if it's still there monday, see your provider to find out what is really going on.
most adults have hsv1 orally- not many of us make it to the old folks home without it. An inconclusive result means it probably was in the equivocal range which is negative unless it was a newly acquired hsv1 infection that was still in the process of seroconverting in your body and couldn't adequately be picked up on yet. My advice is STOP LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF HERPES ON YOUR BODY BECAUSE OF THIS BLOOD TEST!!! It's really not worth it and obviously is causing you anxiety.
Thanks grace it is completely gone. Its now sat morning and I think the scab came off in the shower. i have no idea what i was doing with the perfume....i think i grabbed it just to spray on lol.....you are sweet because we both know i sounded crazy as heck. I just re read my own posting. There is something happening with my skin that is making it extra sensitive for some reason. Today I put on my bf sweater and my arms, neck, and back broke out into small hives...i stripped, took a antihistamine, and laid down and within two hours everything had cleared. Kind of crazy. You do a wonderful service and I would like to say "thank you" . I can see the humor in my story and feel less psychotic . happy fourth and thanks again.(i can't believe i was pricking myself with a needle....) :)
Sensitive skin *****! My bf and I both have it and of course wouldn't you know that we aren't even sensitive to the same things...lol. He literally can get rashes laying on my flannel sheets in the winter - you just can't win sometimes. Have you followed up with a dermatologist at all yet?
Also have you had your carpets professionally cleaned recently at all? Do you use any products like carpet deodorizer before vacuuming or anything like that?
Hi Grace,
I can't afford to go to the dermatologist right now :( She's awesome, but a office visit with her costs $120.00. Everything is pretty much gone now except the little scab (from when I pricked off the old scab with the needle). My mom reminded me how my lab coat last year caused my skin to break out on my arms where the derm was like "I have no idea what that is," and had the area removed with a cutout biopsy. I have a nice circular scar and received a diagnosis of dermatitis,. It was like 300.00 and all she gave me was cortisol cream. The apartment people professionally clean the carpet once a year and I vacuum almost every week. I'm moving into a apartment closer to my grad school at the end of July and I was looking for one with hardwood floors. My carpeting here is very low quality synthetic fibers because the carpet at my parents house does not bother my skin at all. I like to read on the floor and type reports :)
Just for my own knowledge., are all herpes outbreaks painful. I read some other postings here where they said that most people don't know if they are having one. Its kind of freaky. I figured after I put the alcohol and other random stuff on mine, it wasn't anything dealing with a nerve because it wasn't painful and I didn't feel anything. Is that a correct general assumption about the virus? It seems to be a tricky little thing. Asha said something about red patches connected together while other diseases/viruses produces individual red patches underneath the bumps or something like that . A little insight is much appreciated. One of my gf was diagnosed with herpes three years ago. She never talked about it even when I gave her invitation. I told her about this site ....although she was visibly upset to be discussing it. Hopefully she can find some comfort of something here. You guys are great and really informative. No idea it was this common.
I know that my stomach rash wasn't caused by the virus. I let it go after reading Grace's reply. My question was for more general info to clear up some things that I have read and beliefs that I had formed. I thought that was what this site was for. Thank you petal for your reply, but I was looking for clarifying information. A lot of stuff on the web is posted by people who have no clue or greatly outdated information.
Yes a lot of the info you find online isn't very accurate :( It's part of why I have been doing this for so long - so that folks do get accurate info for their questions.
Generally herpes lesions itch and/or are painful. When they are on the area of the skin you had issues with, even more so.
Also nickel allergies are an issue in that area too - just something to keep in mind.
I'd also get the carpet cleaned a lot more than just yearly!!! Another option is throw down a nice fleece blanket or pick up a larger throw rug to put down where you tend to lay on the floor - something that is soft and can be laundered easily.
If this is herpes going on, I'm the queen of england.
Stop picking at this - you probably have just caused more harm than good! Why you would spray perfume on it is beyond me. You are risking bacterial infection too with all that you are doing as well as you are just irritating the heck out of it and making it look worse and be on your mind more. Don't do a thing to it besides soap and water in the shower daily and if it's still there monday, see your provider to find out what is really going on.
most adults have hsv1 orally- not many of us make it to the old folks home without it. An inconclusive result means it probably was in the equivocal range which is negative unless it was a newly acquired hsv1 infection that was still in the process of seroconverting in your body and couldn't adequately be picked up on yet. My advice is STOP LOOKING FOR SIGNS OF HERPES ON YOUR BODY BECAUSE OF THIS BLOOD TEST!!! It's really not worth it and obviously is causing you anxiety.
grace
Also have you had your carpets professionally cleaned recently at all? Do you use any products like carpet deodorizer before vacuuming or anything like that?
grace
I can't afford to go to the dermatologist right now :( She's awesome, but a office visit with her costs $120.00. Everything is pretty much gone now except the little scab (from when I pricked off the old scab with the needle). My mom reminded me how my lab coat last year caused my skin to break out on my arms where the derm was like "I have no idea what that is," and had the area removed with a cutout biopsy. I have a nice circular scar and received a diagnosis of dermatitis,. It was like 300.00 and all she gave me was cortisol cream. The apartment people professionally clean the carpet once a year and I vacuum almost every week. I'm moving into a apartment closer to my grad school at the end of July and I was looking for one with hardwood floors. My carpeting here is very low quality synthetic fibers because the carpet at my parents house does not bother my skin at all. I like to read on the floor and type reports :)
Just for my own knowledge., are all herpes outbreaks painful. I read some other postings here where they said that most people don't know if they are having one. Its kind of freaky. I figured after I put the alcohol and other random stuff on mine, it wasn't anything dealing with a nerve because it wasn't painful and I didn't feel anything. Is that a correct general assumption about the virus? It seems to be a tricky little thing. Asha said something about red patches connected together while other diseases/viruses produces individual red patches underneath the bumps or something like that . A little insight is much appreciated. One of my gf was diagnosed with herpes three years ago. She never talked about it even when I gave her invitation. I told her about this site ....although she was visibly upset to be discussing it. Hopefully she can find some comfort of something here. You guys are great and really informative. No idea it was this common.
Tei
Generally herpes lesions itch and/or are painful. When they are on the area of the skin you had issues with, even more so.
Also nickel allergies are an issue in that area too - just something to keep in mind.
I'd also get the carpet cleaned a lot more than just yearly!!! Another option is throw down a nice fleece blanket or pick up a larger throw rug to put down where you tend to lay on the floor - something that is soft and can be laundered easily.
grace