Unprotected sex 5 weeks ago

[mnonymous]

I had unprotected sex 5 weeks ago with a woman I did not know and now I am extremely depressed, anxious, etc over the idea I may have contacted hsv-2.  During the encounter, I also performed oral sex on her for maybe 1 minute. I did not ejaculate inside her..not that it probably matters.  After two weeks I noticed a sore throat was developing. I should also note, I do have bad allergies.  Initially I thought it was just that and the changing of the seasons.  I also started having issues urinating.  I didn't burn, but I felt like I always had to pee even when I didn't have.  Almost like I had pee still left in my penis.  A week later my throat got worse and I got a really bad headache.  The severe headache lasted maybe 3 days, then got better.  Over the 2-3 weeks of sickness, I was definitely suffering from severe anxiety and panic attacks.  I was getting maybe 2-4 hours of sleep a night, and woke up with extremely dry eyes, throat, mouth every morning.  I think I was very dehydrated..probably didn't help with my headache.  I also started to experience tenderness in my testicles.  No pain at all, maybe just because I was constantly thinking about them.  I've always had issues urinating, especially when stressed.  For instance, whenever I ejaculated in the past I always feel like I have to pee afterward and it would take me a good 15-30 minutes before I could pee.  
At 21 days I got tested, and was negative for everything except HSV-1 (blood and urine tests).  I don't ever remember having any cold sores...so I must have gotten it when I was young like most people.   At about 28 days I went to my primary doctor and was tested for strep, negative.  But she said I had what looked like healing lesions in my throat.  Said it was a "stumper" to her because my lymph nodes seemed fine.  She said I may have had strep but could be getting over it already and thus tested negative.  I'm not sure if that makes any sense....but she also said I could have mono but there's no need to test for it because there's nothing they can do for it anyway.

After going home and checking my throat myself, I also noticed I had a white tongue.  Going on day 38, my throat is much better but I still have a little white going on with my tongue and started to notice a thicker saliva.  I still don't have any lesions on my penis or anything else, but I now have noticed some red spots on my shaft.  I've never really studied my penis before...so it's hard for me to tell if they are new...normal...or what.  They definitely don't hurt, itch, or have any fluid in them.

It is really hard for me to make any sense of all this or know what I should do.  I got tested at 21 days, but that's most likely too early to know so I know I need to go back after 4 months...but I am really struggling with it until then.  Is 5 weeks too late for herpes blisters to appear?  If they did appear...would they be mole sized red spots that are flat, not that close to each other, and do not hurt or itch.  Could it be irritated skin due to anxiety, and checking a lot? Thank you for your help...it is appreciated more than you know.....

[mnonymous]

Me again Grace.  So I wrote back in early April that I couldn't tell if I had swollen lymph nodes or not, but that I felt weird rubbery things that I could easily move and feel.  It is now a month later, and whatever is going on in that area is much worse.  It has gotten noticeably worse this past week and I can feel pressure there when not touching it.  It's not painful, I can just feel it. Almost like there's a golf ball under my skin in that area.  My question is should I be concerned?  Ever since early April I have experienced a non stop upset stomach that is constantly "gargling".  When this started I also started having issues with # 2.  I've noticed the pressure is usually worse when my gas and stomach issues are worse.  I started taking the culturelle you recommended two days ago.  Would this make it better/worse?

So to sum up my questions
1) Should I be concerned?
2) How long do lymph nodes stay swollen if it were STD related?
3) How to I get this to get better?
4) Keep taking culturelle? Should I increase to two a day?

I am just really wanting to start feeling healthy, and my doctors don't ever offer anything to get me better than to say there's nothing they can give me. Thanks again, I hope you enjoyed your vacation.

[petal130]

Easily it could be a drug allergy. I had a reaction (rash on thigh) to Z-Pack (after having taken it several times before in the past) and tested through an allergist as allergic to it.

[mnonymous]

Hi Grace, thanks for the advice. I stopped and purchased some Culturelle and will begin using it today.

Unfortunately, the medicine the ENT prescribe for me has not cured my sore throat and I still have two red bumps in my throat.  I have a follow up with her in 2 more weeks...I'm hoping it gets better by then but I'm not sure where to go from here.

A fungal infection makes more and more sense when I think about it.  Does this make sense: My sore throat symptoms did seem to start after I started taking penicillin 2 weeks after my sexual encounter.  I took maybe 5 days worth, taking a pill 2-3 times a day.  It was also a year expired (I had it for a previous sports related infection, not sexual related).  I did this out of paranoia.  From what I've now read...this was extremely stupid of me to do. Could my sore throat, red bumps in throat, night sweats, and red spots on penis all be caused by me taking a non-full course of penicillin? When I think back, my first 'symptom' I actually noticed before even a sore throat was two round red spots (the size of a pencil eraser) that were right next to each other on my thigh. They did not hurt but were obvious red burn looking spots.  Then to my surprise the next morning they were 100% gone.  This means they lasted maybe 10 hours max.  I now think this was probably a reaction (allergic?) to the penicillin.  Sorry to rant about this but I feel like maybe I'm finally having some understanding of what might be going on.  

[gracefromHHP]

if you had a fungal/yeast overgrowth orally, not unusual to have one genitally too. not a bad idea to use an otc antifungal cream twice a day for a few days to see if that helps at all.

also if you had an oral yeast issue, consider a probiotic like culturelle twice a day for a month or so too to help replace your "good" bacteria so the "bad" bacteria can't continue to overgrow. Culturelle has so much research behind it, we use it in hospitals :)  you can buy it at drug stores , online and even at walmart/target etc.

[mnonymous]

Ok thanks I will get the igg in 2 weeks. No, they didn't give me anything for it. My primary doctor looked at it and thought it was irritation because she couldn't figure out what else it would be. She didn't think it was an STD though.  It just left me feeling more confused and frustrated because I would just like to put this to rest :(

I told her the ENT I saw had thought I had oral thrush and prescribed two medications, "Nystatin" and "Fluticasone Propionate". She still didn't think it had anything to do with that based on how it looked.  She also thought the medication was overkill and still thought I had some viral thing.  Does it make sense to get a second opinion or to just go straight to a dermatologist or urologist?

[gracefromHHP]

wait and just repeat the regular type specific herpes igg blood testing at the 3 month mark. no reason to pay more for a WB at this point.  

have you treated for fungal infections genitally yet?