is it herpes

[worriedtodeath123]

i had an unprotected (status not known) encounter 5 weeks ago, approx 10 days later i had extremely painful urination.  Took a zpack and cipro.  went to the doc, neg for chlymidia and gonorr.  they gave me doxy anyway and rocephin shot. one week later i saw my urologists who suggested prostatitis.  gave me cipro again, 2 tabs a day(1,000 mg/day with 200mg of doxy/day).  after 2 weeks of hell (painful urination) it went away and painful ejaculation as well.  then two days later, i started itching inside my penis, then the outside (head, shaft, testicles).  no bumps, or lesions, no redness.  took IgG herpeselect test at 4 week post exposure-negative.   went back to doc, she advised possibly yeast due to the strong antibiotics i was on.  gave me fungal cream and advised to eat yogurt.  After 3 days, the itching symptoms are starting to let up.  Here's my dilemna.....  is this all in my head?    I have read the: chances of contracting , and lack of lesions, neg test @ 4 weeks is all good stuff but damn!  i'm going nuts here.

[worriedtodeath123]

I have been diagnosed with prostatitis.  I really hope this is a false positive....  and big thanks to grace

[gracefromHHP]

it was still too early to test again. wait and repeat your testing in another month or two and if it's still a low positive then you'll need a herpes WB to confirm your status.  should you get a return of symptoms ( either actual lesions or pain with urination ), be seen within 48 hours of their appearance for herpes testing ( if it's just pain with urination, you'll need the swab done  inside your urethra - preferably a pcr swab for herpes ).

shingles is a different virus and doesn't cause a + herpes simplex test.  also if you've had your chicken pox vaccine or had chicken pox in the past, you are protected against it.

[worriedtodeath123]

HSV-2 came back 2.36.  My only partner was tested, all negative...........  Now i'm really confused.......  Could this have been a false positive as I recently learned I was in contact with a shingles person?  And the test was a low number?  The doc even mentioned that she was concerned with the painful, burning skin area I described on my thigh.  All other tests were negative, (HIV, STD's)

[gracefromHHP]

gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis testing is accurate at 6 weeks. you need to wait the full 3 months for herpes and hiv testing.

I wouldn't start the antibiotics again. I'd just go and be seen again and get re-examined again.

[worriedtodeath123]

I have noticed now the lymph nodes on my left side are huge, two of them, tender too.  The itch has almost all but gone away.  Still using antifungal cream per doc direction (3 days after itch goes away)  going to restart the antibiotics that I stopped taking tennis days into this horror.  Cipro.  Going in morning for another STD screen
  8 panel deal.  Figure if I had symptoms that lasted 3 weeks, surely I will have antibodies by now?  Approximately 6 weeks post possible exposure.

[worriedtodeath123]

Thanks a ton.  Now I just have to somehow get through 7 more weeks of agony.

[gracefromHHP]

nothing else you can do at this point but wait and repeat your herpes igg blood test 3 months post encounter. this could be herpes but more likely it isn't. you've had so many antibiotics at this point that not much of your testing for bacterial causes is going to be accurate at all.  

yogurt doesn't have many active bacteria in it. you might want to consider something like culturelle ( cvs and walmart usually carry it or you can order it from amazon even ) or another probiotic to recolonize your bowels with protective bacteria.  I am not aware of any specific products for colonizing males urogenital tracks to recommend but at least work on getting the bowels healthy again after all those antibiotics. it's your biggest organ in your body and if it isn't healthy it can affect the rest of your body!

grace