i can't tell if i have herpes, please help!

[chinsquestions]

I am 21 years old and i have been with my boyfriend over two years now, although i work away on cruise ships so we only get to have sex when i am home every few months. In December last year i got tonsillitis, something i have suffered with very regularly since i was little. I was on antibiotics and i started to feel uncomfortable and a little itchy 'downstairs' but because i was bed bound i didn't have a look at it. A few days went buy and it was still there so i had a look with a mirror and noticed that on the left side of my vagina was redish, a little swollen and almost like there was a small graze or paper cut there which turned into what looked like a tiny ulcer, just one though. When i went to my doctors for a checkup on my throat i asked him and he instantly said herpes which scared the hell out of me but he didn't take any swabs or anything, then it disappeared so i just left it. Now this year i have tonsillitis again and i have the same symptoms, although no ulcer yet. A few days after taking antibiotics this redness and swelling has appeared in the same place but on the right side of my vagina. I don't think it is anything to do with the tablets as i have taken antibiotics since i was little and never had a problem before.

So i'm thinking that if this is herpes then either:
1) i have always had it in me and since my immune system is down it has become activated
2) the boyfriend i was with before this one had cheated on me so it could be from him, and again is activated whilst i am sick
3) my current boyfriend suffers a lot with cold sores and it had been passed via oral sex

I am just confused because when i look up herpes it says that they are like blisters but i have had nothing like that and my abrasion doesn't look like the pictures i have researched. Also i have read that it comes in clusters so i should have more than one but i don't, and it only comes when my immune system is down.

If this sounds like herpes please let me know. The trouble is I'm too sick to get to the docs to have a swab taken so I am just trying to guess by researching online. It doesn't hurt when I pee but it is tender to touch so I am just leaving it.

Thank you!

[chinsquestions]

Hey thanks for your replies, a day after I posted on here it went away :S but I had a smear test done Friday so hopefully something will show up there and I may get some results, if not, I will ask about blood tests then.

Thank you!

[gracefromHHP]

Odds are that neither you nor your partner have ever been tested for herpes to know your status.  you both should seek out type specific herpes igg blood testing done to see who has what.

you also need to be seen promptly for a full vaginal exam and testing for yeast and bacterial infections.  if they suspect herpes , they can do a lesion culture and typing too.

Don't put it off, be seen today or tomorrow.

grace

[Life360_Dave]

Hi Chin, you really need to be tested to know for sure but if the doctor said you have it, i dont think he would make a bad judgement with all the malpractice cases looming. I would lean towards the doctors conclusion.