What To Think! (Revised)

[rmdvrs]

Original Post:
Hello,
i just recently got a blood test done and thought of adding the herpeselect IgG test and my results came back positive.

HSV 1 IgG Quant (Herpeselect) 4.05 H^7
HSV 2 IgG Quant (Herpeselect) 6.75 H^8

I am assuming based on what I have seen here that this is positive but when I saw my doctor she said that she doesnt like doing this test because it just means that I have been exposed at some point in time. She left it at that and didnt say anything else. I have never had a genital outbreak or symptoms and thought I never had a cold sore but three or four times I did have something that thinking about it now probably was a cold sore but I thought it wasnt back then because it only ever happened after I chewed on my lips and cheek (nervous habit). I have read here that the test can pick up from 12-18 months but I have not been active for atleast two years if not more and only recently became active (oral sex only) with a virgin who has been with with two guys in her life which she received oral from both and gave oral to only one. My question is am I really positive and if so why did my doctor say what she did. Should I be contacting people or what should I be doing. Thank you in advance for the help.

Hi, that was my original post and today I talked with my doctor and the IgM results came back positive with a value of 2.47 and so I asked my doctor how this could be because I have not been with anybody for the past 2+ years and only recently ( about three months) did I start dating someone. We have had only oral sex. She said it means I have been exposed and what does it matter when. That they group the two together. That this is why its not a good test and they don't like doing it. I don't know what to think. Should I get re-tested somewhere else or just accept it. I don't understand how my doctor can be so nonchalant about it. She didnt even talk about treatment or anything. Any advice, especially from the doctors on here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[gracefromHHP]

There isn't any such thing as just being exposed. Sorry your doctor has you all confused about that!  You either have herpes or you don't. You've tested + for both hsv1 and hsv2 so statistically that's hsv1 oral and hsv2 genital.  You should assume that even though you haven't noticed any symptoms in either location that you are infected and can potentially transmit the virus. I encourage you to read the herpes handbook at www.westoverheights.com for more info on both oral and genital herpes to help you better understand this.  Your current partner will also need tested for herpes so that the two of you can make educated decisions about what precautions, if any, to take together in your relationship.

The igm blood test should've never even been drawn on you. It isn't accurate over all and isn't recommended to be used on adults.  It's not accurately type specific, it's not an accurate indicator of a new infection and it's frequently falsely positive due to other viruses also.  Totally disregard the results and the info your provider gave you about the igm.  It was all wrong.

There isn't any real reason to repeat your hsv1 and hsv2 igg results. Both are positive and well over the typical false positive range.  Not the news you want to hear I know but it's far better to know what you have than it is to not know it. Feel free to ask any other questions you might have and we'll try to give you a hand with them.

grace