Is this herpes?

[beaniebaby]

I was making out with new guy I had been seeing for three weeks. Noticed tiny pimples on his lip and a part looked swollen but didn’t think it looked like a cold sore to me at that time. We kissed very aggressively then he kissed my thigh then my vulva. We did not have oral sex. We rubbed up on each other with clothes on. This happened in the late morning and by the evening I felt a burning and tingling in my lips. I could see tiny bumps all over my top lip smaller than a pinhead and the same color as my lip. My tongue burned too. My lips felt very dry and leathery. The spot he kissed on my vagina was burning and tingling, tender and painful to touch. A few red pimples appeared and disappeared within hours. Gyno said it didn’t look like herpes but they didn’t rule it out and to get tested. I got tested( herpes select) by my regular doctor a week after the occurrence and was negative. (0.34) HSV-2 also negative. He said it was probably a virus it couldn’t have been herpes because it happen too soon after infection and if it was my first infection then I would have had a more obvious outbreak. He gave me a 10 day prescription for famvir which helped. This happened 5 weeks ago and my lips and vulva  still tingles and burns from time to time that seems to spread. I feel burning  down both of my inner thighs. I am angry at myself because all the warning signs were there. I kissed him the day I met him ( eight weeks ago) and noticed a small painful pimple below my lip later which my doctor said definitely wasn’t herpes but now I don’t know. I have a few small brown spots on my lips and I remember that he had a this on his lips too. I had dry cough and scratchy throat and felt feverish a two points.  Could this first pimple have been the intial transmission  and the first out break triggered by second contact. Is it normal to feel these symptoms this long. Could it be herpes or something else?

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

My first reaction is to the title you chose for this thread:  If a person has to ask whether particular symptoms are due to herpes, almost always the answer is no.  Herpes can be entirely asymptomatic, but when it causes symptoms at all, those symptoms are generally quite characteristic of the disease and not "atypical".

OK, going on to read your question....  And I find nothing to argue with myself about!  Let me cite the evidence against herpes, one by one:

1) Neither herpes nor any other STD can start to cause symptoms within several hours.  Two days is the absolute minimum, so the tingling/burning of your lips could not have been herpes.  2) Herpes doesn't cause "tiny bumps", "dry and leathery" skin, "brown spots" on the lips (or anywhere else), cough, or scratchy throat.  3) Anything that comes and goes in a few hours cannot be herpes.  Once a herpes lesion starts and progresses to a red bump or to the blister stage, it cannot clear up entirely in less than 10 days or so.  4) Gynecologists are good at recognizing herpes.  Since yours says your problem doesn't look like herpes, most likely it isn't herpes.

The only thing you mention that remotely resembles herpes is the pimple on your lip.  However, the first episode of oral herpes usually is multiple, very painful sores inside the mouth, plus severe sore throat--and not a pimple or two on the outside.

I have no explanation for your symptoms and will not try to guess. But you can put herpes to rest.  If you want even more security, you could have another HerpeSelect blood test 3 months after your kissing events.  In the meantime, I hope this event hasn't put you off on an otherwise promising sexual relationship.  Even if your partner has oral herpes, that infection isn't important enough to get in the way of romance and healthy sex!

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[beaniebaby]

Thanks for your input. The guy I got this from disapearred.  Because I got this from someone else. I can concerned about possibly giving it to someone else. I know you said you would not try to guess but any info you have that would help me diagnosis this would be appreciated. Is there another specialist I should see or test I should take. Viral, Bacterial and yeast infections have all been brought up. But I don't understand how those could cause symptoms this persistent. Also, the burning and tingling seem to get worse in sunlight and when I have sugar, coffee or chocolate,