Recent diagnosis.

[FlowerGurl17]

At the beginning of last month, I developed a red bump which looked like a spider bite on the upper part of my left buttocks and lower back. Also another one on my right leg. The "bites" appeared to worsen and the one on my leg began to spread. A week or so later, I developed a new "bite" on the back of my right shoulder.  I went to a doctor who told me it was shingles and prescribed me xanex. I researched shingles and it didn't appear to be this. I visited another doctor who said it appeared to be herpes but she didn't offer the testing and told me to see a dermatologist. The dermatologist said it looked more like dermatitis. She did a scraping of the lesion on my arm and put in a tube. A couple days later, my left ring finger started itching really bad and the next day it had a cluster of blisters and were painful. I went back to my dermatologist to have her look at the blisters. She said my test came back positive for hsv-2. I am devastated! And why is it spreading? I am VERY cautious since I didn't know what it was. Never scratched one spot and scratched another. I wash my hands thoroughly and excessively! I have a 7 year old son and he has something that now look like a bite on his left arm and is red around the area. I am terrified! Is it possible I gave this to my baby somehow? And why is the virus spreading around my body in odd areas. I don't have anything in my genital area at all. Please help me. I have spent countless hours researching how to protect myself from more lesions, if others have had similar experiences, and how to protect my family when shedding the virus. I have read it can be passed even through saliva in sharing foods, drinks, etc. Also, my left arm gets very sensitive, from my elbow to my hand, off and on, where it almost hurts to touch it (more of a discomfort or "weird" feeling), even a breeze touching it.  Please help me.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

Whether this has spread around your body can't really be determined at this point because the swabs taken were mixed between sites.  Even if your arm is infected, it likely isn't due to "spread" in the way you are thinking about it, rather through you inoculating a new location.

I hope things go well for you and you figure out where you are actually infected.

This will be my last post on this thread.

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

Thanks Terri. Have you seen the infection spread around the body like this with other patients. Is this something I should be concerned about?

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

I guess you could ask to look at his test results.  The problem is, if he had new infection, then gave it to you right away, he might not yet be antibody positive.  I'm not suggesting he cheated on you, I'm just trying to come up with explanations about what might be going on here.

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

How do I know if he is truly negative? My boyfriend before him was of nine years. We had a little boy together. I heard rumors that he was unfaithful but I loved him. If I did got this from my ex, do you think it was after I was pregnant? If I was prone to breakouts, don't you think I would have experienced a break out during pregnancy?  My son is eight. And no, I have never had other breakouts. Only thing that could have been a breakout, was when I had something that looked like a bite on my arm and it had a big red ring around it. But never scabbed over or anything like that. And have you ever heard of the virus spreading like this? Thank you

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

Well, if your boyfriend is truly negative, then this means you've had it a while, so it isn't your first infection, so have you had anything like this in the past that you recall?

I think the test results are very likely correct.

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

I'm pretty sure they are all related. They all have the same characteristics., except for my finger. How unusual would it be to spread around the body this way? What are the chances that the results are inaccurate? My boyfriend has tested negative.
Thank you

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

The problem is, we can't know if the arm lesion or finger lesions or buttocks lesions were all herpes or just one place was herpes because she used the same vial for both.  I think the only thing you can do is if they return, go in to have them swabbed right away.  Be sure separate vials are used for the genital area vs. the arm/hand area.

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

I meant to say that my test (not rest) came back positive for hsv2.

[FlowerGurl17]

Also, after scraping my arm so vigorously, my arm was very irritated and tender afterward for a few days. The lesion got a lot bigger also. The one on my buttock was only slightly irritated.

[FlowerGurl17]

She first scraped my arm vigorously into one tube. After basically just collecting skin, I assume because she said it wasn't weepy, she used the SAME vile for my buttock. She only attempted that lesion for a few seconds before saying she couldnt get anything out of that either. She then said that it was likely to come back negative as she was pretty convinced that it was dermatitis. A few days later I developed an itch on my finger. I noticed little spots that I could see if I looked really closely but I don't remember the spots being raised yet to where I could feel them. I kept scratching as they were so itchy. The next day I had several blisters, maybe like 8 and were the same color as my skin. The next day they started to blend together and were a deep red like they were filled with blood. I tried putting the cream on it that was prescribed by the dermatologist for the other areas. It was so painful to touch to even put on the cream, which is why I called the doctor. When I came in, another doctor briefly looked at the areas on my body again. The PA who took my test came in to say that my rest was positive for hsv2.

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

So this is an important question:

When you had the swab testing done, and she tried to "get something" from the buttocks lesion, did she actually swab the buttocks lesion?  Do you know if she had only one vial in her hand or did she send two separate vials, one from the arm and one from the buttocks?

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

Hi Terri,

I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner, I've been having troubles locating my post and had to receive assistance from the moderators. The test was taken from the lesion on my arm. It was dry and the PA said she didnt think it would be herpes because the lesion wasn't "weepy". I then suggested she try the area on my buttocks. Sje couldn't get anything of of that spot. The blisters on my finger didn't show up until a few days later which is why I went back to see her. She didn't even really look at my finger, but just gave me the results and said it was positive for hsv2. I had my boyfriend tested igg and igm and he came up negative. I have never had these lesions on me before. When they came up in May, they appeared on my leg and buttock first. I was overcoming a terrible flu (it was going around, a friend of mine had the same one). I also was recovering from a bladder infection (which blood was detected, and not the first time). I also ended up with a discharge when trying to treat the infection so my bf and I were both tested for STDs and everything was negative. I took acyclovir because my family practice doctor said the lesions were shingles. By this time, the lesions were on my leg, arm (shoulder) and buttock. They were almost healed but I started my menstrual cycle and the ones on my leg never came back. But the one on my arm and buttock started to come back immediately. I have since finished my second round of acyclovir since tuesday and my arm and finger are almost healed, but my buttock look lighter but hasnt scabbed or anything. Does this sound like herpes? Thank you so much for your help!

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

Where was the swab test taken from again?

Terri

[Terri Warren, RN, Adult Nurse Practitioner]

So the test was taken from the blisters on your finger, is that right? Or was it your arm and if so where on your arm?   Was any testing done from the blisters on your shoulder or your buttocks?  Have you ever had these things on your buttocks in the past at any time?

Terri

[FlowerGurl17]

Thank you. I'm taking 800 mg acyclovir 4x daily. The lesions are healing, but sometimes still itchy.

[kylamm]

Wow girl stay strong? The doctor didn't prescribe you any medication for this?