Terrified it's herpes

[confessionalities]

Hi all
So I was on holiday in Thailand last week, and on Saturday I had sex with a local girl I met at a bar. Her disease status is completely unknown.
During the sex the condom broke and I didn't realise until about thirty seconds later, when I immediately pulled out. It turns out she was on her period, and there was a lot of blood.

I immediately panicked and started to clean up, and I booked the first available flight home on Sunday. Since then I've had a very very minor tingling around the penis head. It comes for a few seconds and then goes away every few minutes. I went to the STD clinic first thing Monday morning and got tested. Initial results came back as negative, but they also took a blood sample to send away. I've been back to the clinic every day since for a check up about the itching, but they haven't given me a clear answer. So far there have been no rashes, blisters or any abnormal physical characteristics, just the slight itching.
I'm terrified it's herpes, but the two doctors who inspected me said my penis looks normal and that if it was herpes I would have had a blister within the first day or two. They suggested maybe she had a fungal infection or something, but at this point it's unlikely to be herpes or any other STD.

I also started taking PEP medication in the event she was HIV positive.


Anyone have advice??
Thanks

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, if she did not have any genital sores at the time your risk for contracting herpes is close to zero from a one time brief affair. I would agree with the doctors but sores would no appear in the first day or 2 but on average in a week or 2.
By the way, pep is taken for known exposure to an HIV positive person so im not sure you should have taken it. Pretty tough on the system.

[confessionalities]

Thanks for your reply.
The itchy has mostly gone now, but I'm concerned that whatever it is is just moving to the next stage.
I still have no rashes, sores, blisters or any other visible abnormalities on my penis. There's also no burning or anything.

Am I just being paranoid?

[Fleetwood20]

As far as herpes is concerned things would proceed quite quickly and lesions would form most likely. This would be a 1 in 1,000 chance.

Blood testing is required 12 weeks after exposure for a conclusive result. This blood test will tell you your baseline (status before exposure) only.

[confessionalities]

Thanks for your response.
Is it normal to have just very minor, periodic itching for nearly one week, with no lesions in the case of herpes?

The other initial STD tests came back negative, and the doctors said that herpes would have developed visible signs by now, and asked me not to come back unless something else develops. Though I'm just so paranoid that I can't shake the idea that something is wrong.

[Fleetwood20]

Generalized itching would not be a sign of herpes. The doctors are largely correct. Your odds of infection were low and to compound this with no typical symptoms all means an incredibly low chance infection occurred.

However peace of mind testing at 12 weeks post this episode will be conclusive.

[ds987]

I have just gone through something similar. The itching is definitely anxiety. I still randomly feel itchy down there but I stopped checking myself because I know its just anxiety. The anxiety is just gonna make things worse so try to calm down. The statistics are greatly in your favor. I m going to have my final blood test soon to know whether I have herpes or not so I know what you're going through.