could this be herpes?

[paranoidasalways]

so i've been seeing this girl for a little bit and she recently told me that she has been "exposed" to herpes. she has never had an outbreak and her doctor told her that she probably never will. her doctor also said that because she won't have outbreaks that there is a very low risk of passing it on. in fact the risk is around 3% if we don't use protection and less than 1% if we do (in fact her doctor suggested that she shouldn't tell me because of such the low risk). we have been intimate but have always used protection. her doctor stated that since she is only "exposed" that that means it isn't necessarily in one place or the other (meaning mouth or genitals), it's just kind of there, i think she said it's in her blood?- not too sure. today, early in the afternoon, my urethra feels funny. it's not a burning or a stinging feeling, it's mainly just uncomfortable. there are no blisters, ulcers, or bumps on or around my penis and it doesn't hurt when i urinate. there is no discharge, and no redness. i've had this sensation before, a long time ago before i was sexually active, but it usually goes away in a few hours. this has lasted most of the day. i was wondering if this could be herpes? i am a little paranoid about these things. i was also looking up facts and things about the virus, and was wondering if shedding occurs if there are no outbreaks?
any info would help me out a lot.

[paranoidasalways]

okay... my urine culture came back negative. i'm going to take the test again soon. i honestly don't know what's going on. i'm so confused about everything again. the testing site i took my test through said they offer the herpeselect test, but when i was asking questions earlier today, they said they didn't use that brand. but used a generic one? i didn't know there was a generic kind. grace, could you please shine some light on this. thank you.

[paranoidasalways]

i just went to see my gp. they did another urinalysis and said that they did find blood in my urine, and that almost always it's because of a kidney/bladder infection due to bacteria, or injury. they're sending it off to a lab and i should find out results around monday. he prescribed Amoxicillin culvanate 875-125 twice daily for 10 days (i also have strep throat). i can't find much of anything that suggests herpes causes blood in urine, but i might not be looking in the right places. i also stopped using that soap around that area and the irritation is still there but not as bad. if after two weeks nothing has changed i'll take the herpes test again just to double check.

1. does herpes cause blood in urine?
2. do bladder/kidney infections irritate the urethra?

i guess it's more of a wait and see situation.

[paranoidasalways]

i mentioned the possible tongue thrush, because sometime oral and genital yeast infection go together.

[Mistakeguy789]

Regarding your spot as we have said herpes doesn't last "weeks" at a time.  Outbreaks heal and you have a period of time where no symptoms are present.  The fact you have this spot for that long rules out herpes.  Time to move on past that.

Regarding your tongue work with your doctor.  Stop trying to use the forums to diagnois you.  We can't even if we wanted too.  Be seen is the best course of action.

[paranoidasalways]

also. sorry i forgot to mention. on the back of my tongue it looks like an oral thrush. there's kind of a whitish/yellow coat on it. if that helps any.

[paranoidasalways]

thanks again grace. the "spot" or redness on the meatus/urethra area has been going on for around 17-18 weeks. so i'm trying rule out herpes because i don't believe herpes could last this long consistently, and i don't think, if it were herpes, that if it did go away it would come back immediately, but i could be wrong. i've been looking up some info about yeast infections. the symptoms do fit but i'm still unsure. places that i've read about it on, state that in males the meatus/urethra area become red and irritated, and that it can cause uti's and bladder infections. also the area where this redness/spot is located touches with the opposite side of the meatus/urethra. i would think that if it was herpes, and since the one side touches the other side, that the uninfected side would become infected as well, especially if it were continual. just thoughts.
1. is a yeast infection possible or does it naturally heal itself on its own?
2. i'm going to get another blood test tomorrow. if it's negative is it completely safe to rule out herpes?
thanks again. i'm also trying to schedule an appointment with my gp soon, but he does not have a lot of openings.

[Mistakeguy789]

You need to work with your doctor on these things.  At this point its doubtful its herpes.  

The swab/culture tests are far more accurate when the sample is taken with enough time.  A postivie is not to be questioned because the only way it is wrong is human error.  The bloodtest like the Herpeselect is one of the best but even the best test misses 1 out of 10 infections.

The best thing is being seen with symptoms 24-48hrs and request a culture to be done or a PCR test to be done on the swab.  PCR is far more accurate as it doesn't require the virus to be alive just present on the swab.

[william28]

PCR/DNA test is more accurate (Gold standard test ) try to get lession swab within 24-48 hours to get more accurate result.

Good luck.

[paranoidasalways]

sorry to post again so quickly. are the herpes swab/culture tests more or less accurate than the herpeselect igg tests?
thank you.

[paranoidasalways]

grace i have tried using cortisone 10 and lotrimin. although not on a daily basis. no results really. should i still be concerned about herpes? would prostatitis cause this? possibly from masturbation? thanks again grace.

[gracefromHHP]

no , urethritis wouldn't cause a spot to stick around for months.

even though you haven't changed soaps, soaps change their ingredients all the time. same as reactions to products tend to develop over time, not the first time you use them.

certainly if this area lingers, perhaps a dermatologist would be a good consult too.

have you tried something as simple as a barrier cream to the area to protect the skin like desitin, a&d, aquaphor etc?

[william28]

Some websites: UTI related to herpes symptoms and other not. YOu will need to contact your doctor to be sure.

GOod luck.

[paranoidasalways]

sorry to keep this going. i went to a clinic and talked to one of the doctors for a long time and had an actual physical exam. i actually got to point out my worrisome spots. my main concern was the red spot on/near the urethra (that has been there from the beginning of this whole time: roughly 4 months). they said all of my other worrisome spots looked like natural tissue and the red spot did look irritated, but did not look like herpes. they suggested it could be from soaps or detergents or friction. the only thing is, i've been using the same kind of soap and detergent for years. but it did help me calm down a little. they also said they could run tests but it would be a waste of money because of my negative results, and their tests are not as good as others. i am going back to my gp for him to run a uti test. i think it's from urethritis.
sorry... but my questions are:

1. could my spot be caused by urethritis?
2. any other suggestions on what this spot could be.

thanks again sorry i've been such a pain.

[Mistakeguy789]

1.  No need for more testing.

2 You can have a uti.  Herpes won't cause a UTI.  You need to work with your provider.

[paranoidasalways]

i'm no longer seeing her. we didn't sleep together since the last time in november. she did get the same test as i did and she was positive. her results were 4.6 i think. mine were less than .91 negative. my main concern which still scares me, is the uti. i still have it and that makes me think that the tests were a false negative. but i can't find much information whether or no herpes causes a uti. i know it causes the symptoms of it, but not the actual thing. the uti test i took was from azo, and it showed high leukocytes. i dunno if herpes would do that. please any info would help greatly.

1. should i get tested for herpes again? even given the time frame 11-12 weeks with the negative results?

2 can herpes cause an actual uti and not just the symptoms?
please help i'm losing my mind.

[gracefromHHP]

don't hesitate to call your insurance and talk to them to let them know that you are still on your parents insurance but request that HIPAA privacy guidelines be followed in the billing and the information given out to your parents.  Even though your folks pay the bills, legally they have no right to even know that you are being seen let alone that you are having testing done and what tests etc.  it's a very tough situation but if you aren't comfortable talking to them about why you are being seen, be prepared to potentially thoroughly anger them by asking for the privacy..  Probably much easier to tell the folks that you've had a rash that won't go away that you saw the doctor for and felt silly afterward that it turned out to be simple jock itch ( nice easy explanation to give the folks if you don't want to talk to them about what really has been going on ).

nothing you've mentioned sounds like it's a std going on. I wouldn't even bother going for more std testing. no reason for testing for ngu either from the sounds of things.

are you still dating the gal in question? did she ever get her blood test results for you to post for me to look at?

[Mistakeguy789]

I don't know much about the other STD testing.  Though what I do believe is that NGU would have shown up on those tests.

2.  Every city is different.  I couldn't really tell you :( Call them and find out what testing they offer in advance and you may want they can tell you of local STD clinics in the area.  

3. Everyones different.  

4.  Our bodies are different Some people get UTI's easily and some don't.

At this point you have something else going on than STD's.  You need to speak to your doctor and work with just one doctor to find out whats going on.  Your GP is the best place to start.  Not much we can do for you at this point.  If NGU was a concern its been treated.  

[paranoidasalways]

tests were negative for chlamydia and gono. my gp only cultured the samples for those two std's.

1. would ngu have come up if he only cultured those two?

2. i'm trying to keep this from everyone, my parents especially. and since i went through my gp, the insurance bill came back and they saw that there had been tests run, but it didn't say what it was for. i'm going to go to the local health department to try and keep it hidden. typically how efficient are health departments?
3. will they culture the samples to look for other things besides std?
4. are there any other things that cause uti's that are common among 20-25 year olds.

thank you.

[Mistakeguy789]

They are treating you.  Could be what was going on.  But now its just time to wait for lab results.  If the treatment is working you will know that that may have been the case.

[paranoidasalways]

I went to the doctor and told him about my problems, and my test and time period. he suspected chlamydia more than anything. (i apologize that this isn't the correct forum and will understand if i need to move to another one, but you already know my story). they're testing a sample of discharge, which i never noticed. he gave me a shot for gonorrhea and 4 pills of Azithromycin, i believe. would this explain my symptoms? including the the pain not in the urethra? any advice or help would be greatly appreciated, i'm starting worry again, and have bad anxiety over this. i'm mainly just scared, and beating myself up. i feel dirty and gross. please grace any help would be great. thank you.

[paranoidasalways]

thank you for everything. sorry i've been such a pain for this long. thank you for your patience through everything. it's been a rough few months, and i've been extremely worried and losing my mind. i took a home uti test, i think azo. and it was positive, very strongly positive. i'm sorry to keep asking questions, i've made another doctor's appointment concerning it. could my symptoms could have been from a uti all along. again sorry to keep asking questions, just trying to solve this and put my mind finally at ease.

[gracefromHHP]

there is no reason to repeat your testing.  

as I've said previously, it's not likely this is herpes causing your symptoms. time to look for other causes.

grace

[paranoidasalways]

any other thoughts would be helpful also.

[paranoidasalways]

well i've compiled more research together from different places and this is what i've found.
from a study conducted at the University of Washington with the igg herpeselect test, antibodies for type 2 could be found in subjects as early as 21 days with a 50% accuracy rate, 6 weeks with a 70-80% percent accuracy rate- and so on and so forth. even if i was a few days shy of 12 weeks those antibodies would be present. also a question answered in the forum by Dr. Handsfield (not my question, but one concerning herpes 2), he says "you can rely completely on the HerpeSelect results at 10 weeks". i don't think he would say this unless he believed it to be completely true.
(link--->   http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/HerpeSelect-test-10-weeks/show/247418). so i'm guessing from that, i can rely completely on the HerpeSelect results after 10 weeks. i have also found that there is a very high accuracy rating with this test at 8 weeks as well. just thinking out loud at this point.