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connection with genital herpes and pityriasis rosea???
ok.... before i start i want to say that i know that viral culture are rarely falsely positive. i just need help understanding what is going on..... just an fyi, im a 21 year old african american female.
i first noticed a tiny red bump on my leg, i picked at it and it turned into a circluar scale on my leg, then disappeared over time with a little discoloration. the following week i went to the gym and had an intense workout!!! i dont think ive sweat so much in my life... anyway, i was also near the tail end of my period. i remember going home and getting ready to get in the shower but using the restroom first. it burned soooo badly to pee.... that's when i realized that something was really wrong. i looked down there and saw what looked like another scale on my perieum but obviously wet from the urine. i checked inside my vagina and saw on my labia minora that i had a bigger raw looking spot.
i called PP and got a viral culture done on these two spots. two weeks later the nurse calls and says that i have herpes. the next day i developed something on my face, the jaw-line, that looks exactly like ringworm! so i tried to treat it with ketaconazole cream to no relief. i did some research and realized it was a "herald patch" about a month later, i started to notice that i was developing little red papules on my chest that later looked like flat scalely oval scabs!!! in the following weeks they appeared on my back, my sides where my ribs are, my neck, my face, my arms, and a few on my legs, i think i have a few in my scalp too but im not able to see. i thought maybe i had the chickpox but i encountered no sickness whatsoever!! finally i made an appointment with my doctor who told me that it is pityriasis rosea.
here are a few questions that i cant figure out....
when looking on the internet, many sources say that dr's believe that PR may be caused by a viral infection.... evidence based on HHV-7 and that there is not connection between PR and HSV-1 or HSV-2.
so, could it be possible that i have contracted both of these at the same time??
i never learned the type on hsv i supposedly obtained, could it be that the culture picked up the hhv-7 if that is the culprit?
also, i have read and have also been told by my dr that genital herpes does not scar, well i have a scar in my vagina and tiny black "moles" where those patches were. they were never blisters, they were just flat sores. (meaning they had never been blisters to start with, not even the one on my perieum!)
why did it scar?? what are the mole looking dots? discolored skin??? i thought herpes wouldnt cause this??? my skin down there has never returned completely back to normal. i still have the pityriasis rosea and it is continuing to spread but i understand that there is no cure and all there is to do it wait it out. please give your thoughts and advice. thank you!!!
i first noticed a tiny red bump on my leg, i picked at it and it turned into a circluar scale on my leg, then disappeared over time with a little discoloration. the following week i went to the gym and had an intense workout!!! i dont think ive sweat so much in my life... anyway, i was also near the tail end of my period. i remember going home and getting ready to get in the shower but using the restroom first. it burned soooo badly to pee.... that's when i realized that something was really wrong. i looked down there and saw what looked like another scale on my perieum but obviously wet from the urine. i checked inside my vagina and saw on my labia minora that i had a bigger raw looking spot.
i called PP and got a viral culture done on these two spots. two weeks later the nurse calls and says that i have herpes. the next day i developed something on my face, the jaw-line, that looks exactly like ringworm! so i tried to treat it with ketaconazole cream to no relief. i did some research and realized it was a "herald patch" about a month later, i started to notice that i was developing little red papules on my chest that later looked like flat scalely oval scabs!!! in the following weeks they appeared on my back, my sides where my ribs are, my neck, my face, my arms, and a few on my legs, i think i have a few in my scalp too but im not able to see. i thought maybe i had the chickpox but i encountered no sickness whatsoever!! finally i made an appointment with my doctor who told me that it is pityriasis rosea.
here are a few questions that i cant figure out....
when looking on the internet, many sources say that dr's believe that PR may be caused by a viral infection.... evidence based on HHV-7 and that there is not connection between PR and HSV-1 or HSV-2.
so, could it be possible that i have contracted both of these at the same time??
i never learned the type on hsv i supposedly obtained, could it be that the culture picked up the hhv-7 if that is the culprit?
also, i have read and have also been told by my dr that genital herpes does not scar, well i have a scar in my vagina and tiny black "moles" where those patches were. they were never blisters, they were just flat sores. (meaning they had never been blisters to start with, not even the one on my perieum!)
why did it scar?? what are the mole looking dots? discolored skin??? i thought herpes wouldnt cause this??? my skin down there has never returned completely back to normal. i still have the pityriasis rosea and it is continuing to spread but i understand that there is no cure and all there is to do it wait it out. please give your thoughts and advice. thank you!!!
I saw five different people regarding similar symptoms, and the only person who got everything right the first time was the guy who does my laundry every week.
- The general practitioner missed the ringworm, missed the PR, and mis-diagnosed all of it as lupus (though he did do a second test to correct himself).
- The three dermatologists (and a slew of interns using me for rounds) incorrectly thought the PR was herpes and had no explanation for the ringworm.
- One dermatologist correctly identified the PR and the ringworm (tinea), BUT gave me medication that amplified the PR and failed to kill the ringworm (if it's a fungal infection, why give me anti-viral??? give me an anti-fungal, please).
Long story short, my laundry guy gave me some antifungal cream for the ringworm, and it was gone very quickly. He also told me to buy aloe for the PR and it stopped spreading.
The worst three months of my life until I stopped going by the word of over-worked "experts."
- The general practitioner missed the ringworm, missed the PR, and mis-diagnosed all of it as lupus (though he did do a second test to correct himself).
- The three dermatologists (and a slew of interns using me for rounds) incorrectly thought the PR was herpes and had no explanation for the ringworm.
- One dermatologist correctly identified the PR and the ringworm (tinea), BUT gave me medication that amplified the PR and failed to kill the ringworm (if it's a fungal infection, why give me anti-viral??? give me an anti-fungal, please).
Long story short, my laundry guy gave me some antifungal cream for the ringworm, and it was gone very quickly. He also told me to buy aloe for the PR and it stopped spreading.
The worst three months of my life until I stopped going by the word of over-worked "experts."
Hi i am 30 year old bi-racial female. I was diagnosed with genital herpes in August 2010. It presented itself as 2 "pimple" like spots on my butt. They would hurt when i sat a certain way. I went to the Dr. and the swab came back with the results of herpes. Since then i have not had any other out breaks. Then 3 weeks ago i got this rash on my arms, back and abdomen. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with PR. I dont have it too severe, no real itching. As all this was going on when i had intercourse with my boyfriend it would hurt. At first i just thought maybe we were a little too rough but it was going on a week and i would notice when i pee it stings where i thought the "cut" was. I just last night took a mirror to see what is really going on, and i guess i see a lesion. Since i know i have the herpes virus, no guessing game here. But i do now believe they are linked because both cases appeared at the same time. So after reading your situation sounds as if you had the genital hepes virus and didnt know it. I have been reading and it says that usually the first outbreak occurs within 2 weeks of contracting it. This was not my case as i have been with my boyfriend for a year and we are both faithful as well. Dont know if this was any help to you but reading your story made me feel like im not alone. Thanks
the viral cultures only look for what the doctor orders them to look for. you have to grow them in certain culture medium so if the doc only orders testing for herpes, they only grow in a medium that is useful for that and only check for it. they don't have the time or the money to check for everything. if you had a + lesion culture for herpes then you have it. you didn't have blood testing for herpes at that time from what you wrote so no way to know if it was a recently acquired hsv infection for you or just your first obvious recurrence of a prior infection. the pityriasis could've stressed your body enough to make you start taking notice of obvious symptoms of a previous herpes infeciton. make sense?
follow up as needed with a dermatologist.
follow up as needed with a dermatologist.
I just re-read a sentence in your reply that says "I have also heard that false positives with HV tests arent that rare..." PLEASE message me an inbox message! I just want to talk a little more about all of this with you and maybe vent a little too :) thanks a million!
Ok, thanks grace. Why will a viral culture only detect herpes simplex if you don't mind me asking?
I have read that viral cultures are able to detect other viruses besides just hsv. Is this not true?
Those sores on my genitals healed up in july and I still to this day have the scar on my labia. The scar is like two lines of tiny raised bumps very close together that curves like the shape that the lesion was (an oval, round shape) (The lesion had a very sharp border) I get cold sore and I never get scars like that.. The skin ALWAYS returns back to normal. Oh, I still have a little black dot on the labia (like hyperpigmintation) and a black dot on my perineum that don't appear to have any intention of fading.. Just like my pityriasis rosea scars.. Some of them look like moles on my skin now. Some are light brown, some are dark brown, and some are black. Call it denial but this is really how it appears to me. And its also because these two conditions happened around the exact same time. Ya know, like if I were going to get genital herpes, why not get JUST that - genital herpes! Why did I get PR too?!? If I only got genital herpes and that's it.. Just a rash down there I would find it easier to believe but two totally separate things at the same time?! I just can't believe that. And studies show that PR is not associated with nor caused by HSV 1 or HSV 2. I haven't had anymore genital lesions or outbreaks either... But in the medhelp dermatology forum and other forums I've found on different sites, there are people with Pityriasis Rosea that say it has affected their genitals too.. One girl on this site said "just one day after being diagnosed with PR by my doctor i began to have vaginal itching and a sore developed on my (vaginal) lip." She then asked "Is this normal?" It sounds EXACTLY what I went through! Another lady on the derm forum said that PR had spread to her pubic area and genitals where it is burning and stinging and how she really can't take the pain much longer. I am just confused... My boyfriend doesn't have it and I spoke with the guy I was with before my current boyfriend and he swears he doesn't have it and is sending me a copy of his results because he is tired of me bothering him about it. But he's been really nice about my concerns. What do you think of this?
And thank you unhealthyluck! I really appreciate your comment and insight!!!
I have read that viral cultures are able to detect other viruses besides just hsv. Is this not true?
Those sores on my genitals healed up in july and I still to this day have the scar on my labia. The scar is like two lines of tiny raised bumps very close together that curves like the shape that the lesion was (an oval, round shape) (The lesion had a very sharp border) I get cold sore and I never get scars like that.. The skin ALWAYS returns back to normal. Oh, I still have a little black dot on the labia (like hyperpigmintation) and a black dot on my perineum that don't appear to have any intention of fading.. Just like my pityriasis rosea scars.. Some of them look like moles on my skin now. Some are light brown, some are dark brown, and some are black. Call it denial but this is really how it appears to me. And its also because these two conditions happened around the exact same time. Ya know, like if I were going to get genital herpes, why not get JUST that - genital herpes! Why did I get PR too?!? If I only got genital herpes and that's it.. Just a rash down there I would find it easier to believe but two totally separate things at the same time?! I just can't believe that. And studies show that PR is not associated with nor caused by HSV 1 or HSV 2. I haven't had anymore genital lesions or outbreaks either... But in the medhelp dermatology forum and other forums I've found on different sites, there are people with Pityriasis Rosea that say it has affected their genitals too.. One girl on this site said "just one day after being diagnosed with PR by my doctor i began to have vaginal itching and a sore developed on my (vaginal) lip." She then asked "Is this normal?" It sounds EXACTLY what I went through! Another lady on the derm forum said that PR had spread to her pubic area and genitals where it is burning and stinging and how she really can't take the pain much longer. I am just confused... My boyfriend doesn't have it and I spoke with the guy I was with before my current boyfriend and he swears he doesn't have it and is sending me a copy of his results because he is tired of me bothering him about it. But he's been really nice about my concerns. What do you think of this?
And thank you unhealthyluck! I really appreciate your comment and insight!!!
Well I am a white women, and I went to the doctor for a rash that was all over my body, and even down on my bikini line. I showed all the patches and my DR said that it was all pityriasis rosea. Ever since I left the doctor it has become worse all over my body. I feel like getting my period made it worse down there because I only wear pads, and pads usually irritate me anyways, and cause a bacterial infection. IDK. I just feel like I know what your going through. I have also heard that false positives with HV tests arent that rare......
Its hard being a young woman doctors just assume your young and horny, and full of STDs. I been misdiagnosed 3 times and even almost died once due to a misdiagnosis of PID.......
Its hard being a young woman doctors just assume your young and horny, and full of STDs. I been misdiagnosed 3 times and even almost died once due to a misdiagnosis of PID.......
if you have skin that tends to scar easily then you might get scars from herpes. Also sometimes they do look more obvious or a few weeks and will fade over time.
the test for herpes you had done will only detect herpes simplex, not other forms of the herpes virus.
has your partner been tested yet?
it's most helpful if you just keep adding to your original post instead of making new ones each time. thank you for your future cooperation with this.
grace
the test for herpes you had done will only detect herpes simplex, not other forms of the herpes virus.
has your partner been tested yet?
it's most helpful if you just keep adding to your original post instead of making new ones each time. thank you for your future cooperation with this.
grace
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You are reading content posted in the Herpes Community
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
