HSV test results question

[pzeudo]

Hi. A bit more than a month ago (on 6/24, to be exact) I had protected vaginal sex and unprotected oral sex with a new partner. About a week later I started having a painful burning sensation while urinating, and got tested for the usual stuff - UTI, Gonhorrea, Chlymidia, etc. All the tests came back negative, and I was perscribed antibiotics anyway - the symptoms continued. A week later I got something like a pimple on the head of my penis, and then another one, and I went to get tested for HSV. On 7/8 I had an IgM test taken, but the results were going to take two weeks, so a week later I went to another hospital and had an IgG test taken. I recently found out that the IgM came back positive (1.3) and the IgG came back negative. What does this mean for me? The symptoms are all gone now, but how can I find out for sure whether I am infected, and if so, with which simplex?

[gracefromHHP]

Plenty of posts here on this forum and also on HHH's about why the igm is a waste of time and should've never been drawn on you.  

At this point the only thing you know is that you didn't have herpes prior to this - did you have a hsv1 and hsv2 igg done?  You know nothing else.  The symptoms are gone so there's no way to culture them for herpes which is what the doctor should've done instead of drawing the igm blood test.  At this point you will have to wait and repeat your igg blood test in 3 months and compare them.  Should you get a return of symptoms before then - see your doctor within 48 hours of their appearance for a lesion culture and typing -insist on the typing since hsv1 might be the issue here since you had unprotected oral sex too.

I know these aren't quick and easy answers but since the doctor dropped the ball it's the best we can do at this point.

grace

[pzeudo]

In fact I did have a culture done - unfortunately it was not done until the same time I got the igg, when I was already on acyclovir for a couple days and the lesions were scabbed over. The doctor removed the scab and did his best to get a good sample but he said that a negative result would not be conclusive because of how late the culture was done. The test did come back negative - was he right that this negative test meant very little?

[gracefromHHP]

Yep - total waste of time and money if it was several days into acyclovir and already scabbed :(  

grace