How do you know if what you have is herpes or a vaginal cut?

[qtpye]

How do you know if what you have is herpes or just a vaginal cut? In the middle of having sex i felt myself rip (down there) bc of aggressive sex..a few days later obviously it was irritated bc of using the bathroom frequently opening the cut up while peeing..and wiping. I went to my gynocologist and had him look at it..He didnt seem very professional at all  and told me it was fine for me to keep having sex, but then ran a herpes swab test? It ending up coming back positive for herpes supposably, but every picture Ive looked up online looks NOTHING like what i expierenced ..it looked like a paper cut and after a while irritated. And if he thought it was herpes then why would he tell me it was fine to continue having sex? He had also given me a steriod cream, which healed it up almost imediatly. I heard there is  a blood test you can take to tell you if u have herpes or not.I had also asked my gyn how they can desifer from the swab test if its herpes or just an infection and he said "because of abnormal cell changes", but couldnt an infection cause abnormal cell changes too? I just find it weird that i also got a pap done too when he ran this swab and it came back clean? Has anyone expierenced anything like this? Or do you have any suggestions on what i should do? Im really freaked out by it.

[peekawho]

There is a blood test.  The most common type you'll find is called the HerpeSelect test, which can tell if you have antibodies to HSV I or II.  It has to be at least 3 months past the date of exposure, though.

Many times herpes does look like a small cut or irritated area.  If a culture came back positive...that's pretty good evidence that it really was herpes unless they mixed up your results with someone elses.  If you do have it you need to know if its type I or II.  It makes a difference regarding whether or not suppressive therapy is needed, and the rate of recurrance, etc.

So ask for the HerpeSelect blood test.  Be watchful for other cuts or irritations.  Use condoms if you aren't in a committed relationship with a person who knows the story.