Valtrex, Never an Outbreak (at least a noticeable one) and Unprotected Sex

[eltavo]

Hi,

About 1 month ago, I went to a routine exam and asked to be tested for everything, as I have not been tested for STDs in over 15 years. To the best of my knowledge i have always been asymptomatic, not even a UTI. Everything came negative, with the exception of HSV-2 where the result came back positive. Needless to say, i was suprised as I've never experience symptoms, etc. Since the results came back, i have read and get as much information as possible. I need help with the following questions:

- In the future, if i decide to have children, continue without outbreaks (I have never had one, at least a noticeable one), take 500 mg Valtrex daily (suppression therapy), and have unprotected sex with a HSV-2 Negative partner, what is the likelihood of transmission to my partner? I know there is always a risk, we are just trying to make an intelligent and educated decision.

- I was tested using HerpSelect IgG , my result was 1.8, per my doctors request i am in the process of getting retested, however from what i read error-rate is extremely low. Apart from a positive result, does the 1.8 mean anything else?

- If I have a negative HSV-2 partner and i decide to take Valtrex ongoing daily as a supression therapy,are there any long-term negative effects?

- Lastly, I live in San Francisco and have seen 3 doctors regarding my diagnosis and treatment (including planned parenthood), needless to say i have and had tons of questions. All of them have basically said, "come back if you have an outbreak as without an outbreak there is really nothing to treat". I need help trying to find a doctor that has experience with Genital Herpes, that can work with me through the options (suppressive therapy, etc), keeps up to date with treatments, can help me and an uninffected partner work through all our questions and solution. Where  can i get help finding this type of doctor? I have been to an urologist and 2 General Practioners, but have not been comfortable with their level of understading of the treatments, transmission, etc.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who participates in this forum in one way or another. This forum has been an extremely valuable source of information.

[gracefromHHP]

I'd trust your biokit then :)

grace

[eltavo]

Last time i had sex was 3 months ago.

[gracefromHHP]

http://www.ashastdwebstore.org/herpes-testing-toolkit.html  is a booklet for under $3 that will update your provider on herpes testing and confirmatory testing for low positives. You can suggest they buy it or buy it and give it to them yourself :)

when was the last time you had sex prior to your testing?  

grace

[eltavo]

A final note, went back to the doctor to get the second IgG result and it came back as 1.6, i.e, lower than the previous one, which was at 1.8.

I think the decrease in the unit index with the negative biokit and no outbreaks should certainly be negative.

Can i put this to rest or should i go the WB route? I am sorry to keep poundering, i just want to be confident where i stand.

Thanks,

[eltavo]

Grace,

Thank you for all your help, for staying informed and most of all for volunteering your valuable time in helping other people.

If it had not been for this forum, i would have been wrongly diagnosed, would have complete changed by life style and would have continued carrying living my life a bit differently. Living with Genital Herpes is not the end of the world, but I am sure there are a lot of people out there who have been wrongly diagnosed!

I still have an appointment with the doctor who first diagnose me. I am going to take the biokit result and Dr. HHH print out in the hopes that he is better informed next time he diagnose other patients.

For venting purposes, Doctors should not be allowed to order ANY test unless they fully understand the results and course of action. Additionally, they should be tested on a yearly basis to make sure that they are keeping up with the latest treatments, specially on an inffection as common as HSV, where there is a high percentage of + population. After this experience, now i understand why doctors continued to be sued for malpractice.  

Thanks! Your help and time means a lot to all of us and the people who will join in the forum in future!

[gracefromHHP]

I agree with this doctor's assessment :)

grace

[eltavo]

Grace,

I decided to go and get a BioKit test done today and it came back negative. I was too anxious to wait for the other IgG result, which as you know takes several days.

I went to a different doctor to get the BioKit test done; he is the only one in the bay area that performs this test and who is very familiar with HSV.

In conclusion, he said, a low positive IgG, no Outbreak History and a negative BioKit test meant that I was negative. He said i should discontinue the use of Valtrex as well.

I wanted to run it by you. This is the 4th doctor I have gone and really trust this forum.

IgG performed on 9/3/9  - result 1.82
BioKit performed on 9/23/09 - Negative
No history of outbreaks (at least visible ones)

Thanks!

[gracefromHHP]

should be fine. If this 2nd one is still a low positive then a herpes WB blood test is the next step.

grace

[eltavo]

Thanks Grace, i did actually went to get tested yesterday, waiting for the results. I am shocked on how little some GPs know about this infection. i am fully aware that eventually people get used to it and continue their normal lives, however I am sure most are shocked, confused and with a lot of questions and some GPs do not give good answers.

When my doctor suggested i got re-tested it was on the basis of a potential "lab mistake", which i know that now with all the technology rarely happened.

I decided to go to a different lab this time, would this make comparing both results an issue?

thanks!

[gracefromHHP]

Definitely your 1.8 result needs confirmed. it's well within the false positive range.  http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Confusing-Igg-Test-Results/show/771141 is a prior post by HHH that goes into it all in more details.

no, no long term side effects to taking herpes antivirals should you really be hsv2+ and decide to do suppressive therapy.

A gp should be your best bet for herpes in theory but obviously some of them are better than others. You can see if there are any herpes support groups near you or herpes social groups ( check the ashastd.org website under support groups and also yahoo groups typically has lots of social herpes groups to find one near you ) and see if anyone there can recommend a more herpes aware provider in your area.  

Definitely do follow up testing to confirm your status to see if indeed you are really i nfected or not and then we can go from there :)

grace