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Possible STD
Hello Doctor,
I'm a 19-year old male currently working during the summer in Taiwan. 8 days ago, I performed unprotected oral sex on a girl I met for approximately thirty seconds. She then performed oral sex on me when I wasn't wearing a condom but it was only for a few seconds and we had vaginal sex with a condom on but again only for a few seconds. Didn't ejaculate.
Felt extremely fatigued the next day. Six days ago I popped a small, painless blister on the inside of my cheek and light-colored blood got on my finger. Five days ago I woke up with a sore throat and a slight fever. The fever went away in about two days but the sore throat remained until last night. It was painful to swallow, but the pain wasn't too severe. This was the longest sore throat I can remember having. Last night, after the sore throat subsided, very rapidly the fever returned, peaking at 103+ degrees. My tongue was very white with little red dots near the back.
This morning I went to the emergency room.Told him symptoms and about the sexual encounter. He took a blood test, X-ray, urine test, and gave me a shot to reduce my fever. After the results came in he told me I had bronchitis and tonsillitis, as well a bacterial and viral infection. He said the bacterial infection was most likely from the tonsillitis, but he wasn't sure what the virus was yet. He told me it might be herpes, and scheduled a follow up check-up in 3 days. Said my urine has higher-than-normal amounts of blood in it. (yet it was never painful for me to urinate and the blood is not visible to the naked eye). He also said I had a little bit of pus in the back of my mouth but it was subsiding. He told me my fever would flare up if my throat dried out.
Obviously his speculation I might have herpes has me extremely worried. I have not felt any tingling/burning on my lips or genitals yet. How often do flu-like symptoms occur before the onset of cold sores? Do you think I have herpes or another STD of some sort?
I'm a 19-year old male currently working during the summer in Taiwan. 8 days ago, I performed unprotected oral sex on a girl I met for approximately thirty seconds. She then performed oral sex on me when I wasn't wearing a condom but it was only for a few seconds and we had vaginal sex with a condom on but again only for a few seconds. Didn't ejaculate.
Felt extremely fatigued the next day. Six days ago I popped a small, painless blister on the inside of my cheek and light-colored blood got on my finger. Five days ago I woke up with a sore throat and a slight fever. The fever went away in about two days but the sore throat remained until last night. It was painful to swallow, but the pain wasn't too severe. This was the longest sore throat I can remember having. Last night, after the sore throat subsided, very rapidly the fever returned, peaking at 103+ degrees. My tongue was very white with little red dots near the back.
This morning I went to the emergency room.Told him symptoms and about the sexual encounter. He took a blood test, X-ray, urine test, and gave me a shot to reduce my fever. After the results came in he told me I had bronchitis and tonsillitis, as well a bacterial and viral infection. He said the bacterial infection was most likely from the tonsillitis, but he wasn't sure what the virus was yet. He told me it might be herpes, and scheduled a follow up check-up in 3 days. Said my urine has higher-than-normal amounts of blood in it. (yet it was never painful for me to urinate and the blood is not visible to the naked eye). He also said I had a little bit of pus in the back of my mouth but it was subsiding. He told me my fever would flare up if my throat dried out.
Obviously his speculation I might have herpes has me extremely worried. I have not felt any tingling/burning on my lips or genitals yet. How often do flu-like symptoms occur before the onset of cold sores? Do you think I have herpes or another STD of some sort?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the STD forum.
First, oral sex is safe sex. Not totally free of STD risk, but much safer than vaginal or anal sex. Second, your fatigue the next day cannot be due to any STD from that exposure. No STD can cause symptoms in less than 2-3 days.
That said, your throat symptoms conceivably could be due to herpes. Most likely not -- it is more likely that you happened to catch a garden variety upper respiratory infection at about the same time. "Pus in the back of the mouth" is more suggestive of a standard cold virus or strep throat, and herpes does not cause bronchitis. If you had oral herpes, then you probably would have had open sores in the mouth in addition to the sore throat etc. And "flu-like symptoms" with herpes do not precede the sores; it's usually the other way around -- sores first. You might have caught a virus or strep from your sex partner, but probably not herpes or any other STD.
So most likely the doc was being cautious, and I agree herpes is a possibility. But unlikely. And herpes is unlikely to cause the urinary symptoms or "higher than normal amounts of blood".
Follow up with whatever advice you were given by the doc. Presumably a test for HSV was done from your throat -- if so, most likely it will be negative. No guarantees, however. But oral herpes isn't a big deal in the long run, so don't lose a lot of sleep over this as you wait for final results.
Best wishes-- HHH, MD
First, oral sex is safe sex. Not totally free of STD risk, but much safer than vaginal or anal sex. Second, your fatigue the next day cannot be due to any STD from that exposure. No STD can cause symptoms in less than 2-3 days.
That said, your throat symptoms conceivably could be due to herpes. Most likely not -- it is more likely that you happened to catch a garden variety upper respiratory infection at about the same time. "Pus in the back of the mouth" is more suggestive of a standard cold virus or strep throat, and herpes does not cause bronchitis. If you had oral herpes, then you probably would have had open sores in the mouth in addition to the sore throat etc. And "flu-like symptoms" with herpes do not precede the sores; it's usually the other way around -- sores first. You might have caught a virus or strep from your sex partner, but probably not herpes or any other STD.
So most likely the doc was being cautious, and I agree herpes is a possibility. But unlikely. And herpes is unlikely to cause the urinary symptoms or "higher than normal amounts of blood".
Follow up with whatever advice you were given by the doc. Presumably a test for HSV was done from your throat -- if so, most likely it will be negative. No guarantees, however. But oral herpes isn't a big deal in the long run, so don't lose a lot of sleep over this as you wait for final results.
Best wishes-- HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Everybody has a row of 5-9 prominent tastebuds along the back of the tongue, arranged in a shallow V. Most likely yours are more obvious because of the white tongue.
Stop examining yourself. You're not going to develop sore or anything else in the mouth that you won't feel before you can see them. Just wait for the test results.
Stop examining yourself. You're not going to develop sore or anything else in the mouth that you won't feel before you can see them. Just wait for the test results.
Thanks for the feedback..
Forgot to mention that in addition to the white tongue, there are some raised red bumps on the back of my tongue.. Would these have anything to do with the open sores in the mouth, as you mentioned above?
Forgot to mention that in addition to the white tongue, there are some raised red bumps on the back of my tongue.. Would these have anything to do with the open sores in the mouth, as you mentioned above?
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
Herpes spreads by oral, vaginal and anal sex.
Herpes sores blister, then burst, scab and heal.
STIs are the most common cause of genital sores.
Millions of people are diagnosed with STDs in the U.S. each year.
STDs can't be transmitted by casual contact, like hugging or touching.
Syphilis is an STD that is transmitted by oral, genital and anal sex.
