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STDs (Expert Forum)
Herpes/HIV freaked OUT
Answered by
University of Washington
Seattle - WA
Welcome to the STD Forum, which is intended only for questions and support pertaining to sexually transmitted diseases other than HIV/AIDS, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, human papillomavirus, genital warts, trichomonas, other vaginal infections, nongonoccal urethritis (NGU), cervicitis, molluscum contagiosum, chancroid, and pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). All questions will be answered by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D. or Edward W Hook, MD.
Herpes/HIV freaked OUT
by iamqueenanxiety, Feb 02, 2006 12:00AM
Where do I begin? I met a guy during the holidays we spent alot of time together. We had protected sex except for 30 seconds on one occasion. He is 23 years old in school on the football team..(he also had reconstructive surgery on his leg 3months ago)after about 1.5 weeks i got an itchy-but non painful rash/cluster bumps on the opening of my vagina(between vagina opening and anus)...my doc and nurse said it doesn't look like herpes because there is no fluid the bumps look too dry especially being in the area that would be more moist and wasn't painful. i even pressed on it hard to see if it would pop with any kind of fluid (it wouldn't). I freaked because i have never had any occurence like this and looking online i kept diagnosing myself with herpes. I was diagnosed with hpv 6 years prior and haven't had any incidence since. My nurse says it looks more like hpv. so i began using aldara (for 2 weeks) on it. I talked to my nurse and she told me if it was herpes the aldara usage would have been excrutiating pain. After using Aldara the bumps turned grayish white hard and eventually peeled into one open sore. Since healing it is still there like a slightly raised scar. i went to NY feeling scared and began gettin the chills, and feeling hot and with an assumed fever the next morning we were headed to Milan,Italy..I woke up on my mentrual cycle and the symptoms went away...3days in Milan i started to get the same chills, hot face neck, slight white tongue, no swollen glands no cough or congestions, an assumed fever(couldn't find a thermometer in milan). I immediately flew home the next day cutting my trip short. I took myself to the emergency room and was diagnosed with and upper respiratory infection. my bloodwork came back normal white blood at 7000. The doc said if it was high i would have a bacterial infection. Low white blood count would relate to a viral infection. I was given zithromax and immediately felt better. All this happening in a course of 2.5 weeks. I am suffering now from anxiety thinking i have herpes/hiv. my questions are:
1. The guy says he is hiv negative and that he had intense reconstructive surgery 3 months ago and they did thorough bloodwork. When undergoing intense surgery do they test your blood for everything?
2. The herpes scare. Is it true that if I had a cluster of raised bumps that itched that showed up overnight that didnt become fluid filled nor would they pop even with extreme pressure and didnt hurt after putting aldara on it(and believe me i over did it with aldara) and turned grayish white but after 4 times of aldara it did peel into an open sore. its not herpes?
3. if my symptoms of sickness were chills, slight white tongue, no glands were swollen, no cough or congestion, slight mucus, tingling in arms, feeling hot all over, loss of appetite and doc i have never felt this sick in my life.. is that ars? is that herpes? or just an upper respiratory infection?
Sorry for such a long question help!
1. The guy says he is hiv negative and that he had intense reconstructive surgery 3 months ago and they did thorough bloodwork. When undergoing intense surgery do they test your blood for everything?
2. The herpes scare. Is it true that if I had a cluster of raised bumps that itched that showed up overnight that didnt become fluid filled nor would they pop even with extreme pressure and didnt hurt after putting aldara on it(and believe me i over did it with aldara) and turned grayish white but after 4 times of aldara it did peel into an open sore. its not herpes?
3. if my symptoms of sickness were chills, slight white tongue, no glands were swollen, no cough or congestion, slight mucus, tingling in arms, feeling hot all over, loss of appetite and doc i have never felt this sick in my life.. is that ars? is that herpes? or just an upper respiratory infection?
Sorry for such a long question help!
Doctor's Answer
by H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D., Feb 02, 2006 12:00AM
, Feb 02, 2006 12:00AM
I'll try to help, one question at a time. But the bottom line is that you almost certainly do not have HIV and herpes seems unlikely.
1) They may or may not have tested your partner for HIV at the time of his surgery, but people who have HIV rarely lie outright if asked. If he says he doesn't have HIV, you probably can rely on it. Anyway, if he isn't from an HIV endemic geographic area (e.g., subsaharan Africa) and isn't gay or an injection drug user, the chance he has HIV is exceedingly low. But of course you are in a much better position than I am to judge his truthfulness. But since you're nervous about HIV, you might as well be tested for it. As I have said many times on this forum, all the verbal reassurance in the world may be less helpful than having a negative test result.
2) Your description doesn't sound classical for herpes--but herpes usually isn't all that classical (even herpes experts often cannot reliably tell just by looking at a lesion). On the other hand, it doesn't sound like HPV either. The way to know about herpes is to have a blood test to check for HSV-2 infection.
3) Your symptoms could be any of a number of things, all much more common than HIV: bad cold, influenze, mononucleosis, and others. Or, concievably, herpes. See above re HSV testing.
Finally, while you're at it, get tested for other common STDs, especially gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. I don't particularly suspect them, but they should be done routinely at least once a year in young, sexually active people; and this would be a good time.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
1) They may or may not have tested your partner for HIV at the time of his surgery, but people who have HIV rarely lie outright if asked. If he says he doesn't have HIV, you probably can rely on it. Anyway, if he isn't from an HIV endemic geographic area (e.g., subsaharan Africa) and isn't gay or an injection drug user, the chance he has HIV is exceedingly low. But of course you are in a much better position than I am to judge his truthfulness. But since you're nervous about HIV, you might as well be tested for it. As I have said many times on this forum, all the verbal reassurance in the world may be less helpful than having a negative test result.
2) Your description doesn't sound classical for herpes--but herpes usually isn't all that classical (even herpes experts often cannot reliably tell just by looking at a lesion). On the other hand, it doesn't sound like HPV either. The way to know about herpes is to have a blood test to check for HSV-2 infection.
3) Your symptoms could be any of a number of things, all much more common than HIV: bad cold, influenze, mononucleosis, and others. Or, concievably, herpes. See above re HSV testing.
Finally, while you're at it, get tested for other common STDs, especially gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis. I don't particularly suspect them, but they should be done routinely at least once a year in young, sexually active people; and this would be a good time.
Good luck-- HHH, MD
