Kind of an odd question/concern

I posted a while back regarding a scare regarding herpes and was reassured that I was good to go which I have accepted an moved on.
Here is my question.  My girlfriend for the past 6-8 weeks has had more or less a numb lower half of her body along with severe back and knee pain.  We got it checked out for obvious back issues (MRI, X-ray etc) and everything came back clear.
Obviously I dont expect a diagnosis of her back pain on the STD forum but I had read that numb legs/lower body along with lower back pain can sometimes be associated with herpes.  This was the only std that I was concerned about since all of my tests came back negative so I am obviously concerned that I might have transmitted something to her via my stupid indiscretion.
Any thoughts on this?  My guess would be it is unrelated, especially since her problems started after going running for the first time in months.
More than anything I am a bit worried, obviously I would not want to put her at risk for anything and I have finally become confidant that I am STD free after 3 1/2 months.  Maybe I am just looking for something else to worry about.  Who knows....
Thanks for everything you do on this site.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

Despite what you have read, symptoms like your partner's are rarely if ever due to herpes.  The neurological symptoms that can go along with herpes occur only, as far as is known, in people who have otherwise obvious evidence of herpes, i.e. recurrent genital sores.  In such people, intermittent neurological symptoms (numbness, tingling, pains shooting down the legs, etc) can precede a herpes outbreak for 1-2 days, called a prodrome.  The symptoms then go away within a few days, i.e. by the time the outbreak starts to heal.  In some circumstances, such symptoms might occur with asymptomatic shedding, i.e. without an obvious herpes outbreak.  But still, the symptoms only last for a few days, and they recur no more often than herpes outbreaks usually occur--that is, no more often than once a month and usually only 2-6 times per year.  So if that pattern matches what your partner is experiencing, conceivably it is due to herpes.  But musculoskeletal explanations (spine disease, pinched nerve, etc) are far more likely explanations, and I very much doubt your partner's symptoms have anything to do with your herpes scare.

Best wishes--  HHH, MD

[Jake24]

Thanks for the quick response, I appreciate it.  I didn't think it was herpes related especially since it has been constant pain/numbness for over a month and since I now think that I dont have herpes and all of my stuff has been anxiety related.
Sorry if that was a stupid question, we are ruling things out right now and I wanted to be sure that was something that I could rule out and it sounded like I can.
Thanks again.

[H. Hunter Handsfield, M.D.]

It wasn't a stupid question at all.  Many people have misunderstandings about HSV and unexplained pain and other neurological syndromes, largely because of misleading information on many herpes-related websites.

HHH, MD

[Jake24]

None the less, thank you very much for your response and dedication to misled anxiety stricken individuals like myself.

Now I can concentrate on finding out what the problem really is and get her patched up.