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Avatar universal

Never been so scared...

After taking fat-burning pills last Tuesday that were loaded with caffeine I began to experience brief, mild genital itching, burning, shooting pains in/around my vagina, and brief, intermittent muscle/low and high abdominal pains.  All these symptoms were pretty mild, but very noticeable.  (Note:  I attribute the gastric burning I now feel to the ulcer I'm probably getting from worry.)  Per my initial post to Terri Warren last February, I had one unprotected encounter (with a real jerk) in February and since then my STD cultures (including HSV) have been negative, although there were no sores my provider could test.  Since this risky encounter, I've never had sores, internally or externally that my providers or I have seen (in Feb/April/my Pap in July/and today).  I've been inspecting myself regularly with every itch I've had over the last several months and I finally couldn't take it anymore.

So, finally, after months of worry, I bit the bullet and took the HSV blood tests today (IgG).  I already knew I was HSV-1 positive from a test last January (although I've never had sores anywhere), but I'm terrified of what my HSV-2 result will be.

The ladies at my county clinic were so supportive today, though, and put up with my boo-hooing remarkably well!  The herpes expert at my clinic actually told me that it was a valid option for me not to be tested because the test could come back positive and it would certainly impact the rest of my life.  That was kind of her, but I'm so exhausted that knowing for sure one way or the other has to be better than this!

Adding to my pain is that I've been in a relationship with a wonderful man since April and I'll somehow have to tell him tomorrow that we can't have sex again until I receive the results of my testing sometime next week.  I'm sure he'll hate me for putting him at risk but I thought I was okay until the strange symptoms began this past week.

(I'd like to add here how appalled and disappointed I am at how little the medical community still seems to know about herpes.  Does herpes cause generalized neuro symptoms (I've had some weird foot burning, by the way) or not?  Does herpes cause abdominal pain or not?   Is caffeine a trigger or not?  Even the testing is often difficult to interpret at times.  Seriously, this is 2010!  Very frustrating.  I think we'd be farther along if there wasn't such a big taboo about this disease.  A YouTube video says H is on the decline.  I hope that's true.)  

Any support you can give here would be awesome.  Please let me know if you have any advice on how to tell a partner that you got tested because you're afraid you have herpes!  Even if my test is negative, he'll probably always doubt me.  I'm a fairly smart girl (if I must say so myself) but did a stupid, stupid thing that I may pay for forever.  This sucks.


This discussion is related to 5-day (and counting) Herpes Prodrome?.
11 Responses
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Avatar universal
Hi Grace,
   I've been reading your post because Im in the same situation.  Did everything turn out ok?  Im scared I may have contracted HSV/2.  I can't tell if I feel a tingling near my genitals or if after reading so much I've convinced myself that Im tingling.  It's been 17 days since my possible exposure and I haven't seen anything yet. Im so scared :/
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101028 tn?1419603004
even the best tests still miss 1 out of every 10 hsv1 infections. Not surprising that your current testing didn't reflect hsv1 infection. Since you already know you have hsv1, running the combined test on you is a waste of time since many times it will come back as + due to your hsv1 infection ( when it picks up on it ).  

this doesn't sound like herpes. continue to follow up on it to find out what is really causing your symptoms.

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Avatar universal
Hi, Grace!  I got a call from the nurse at the health department and, at first, I was ecstatic to find out that I tested (qualitatively) negative for HSV 1 and 2.  But they ran a "Herpes 1/2 Ab Panel" which I'm told by the lab is an IgG combined test that tests for the presence of herpes antibodies.  The problem is that I tested positive for HSV 1 in January 2010.  My doctor's office said my HSV 1 result was 1.99 and anything over 1.09 was considered positive.  Was my HSV 1/2 test reliable?  Dr. Hook wrote in a recent post that in the absence of lesions, he would not even test so I doubt I'd retest even if I find out my test isn't reliable.  The only problem is that I'm still having the same symptoms that started a week ago and I'd like to relax and get past all this at some point.  My heart just can't take it!
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101028 tn?1419603004
it's not likely this is herpes related at all.
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Avatar universal
Also, my symptoms are much better today -  only a couple of parasthesias.  Have to see my BF in a couple hours, though:(
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Avatar universal
The nurse said everything looked normal, no vaginal or cervical lesions.  No yeast.  The slides they could do in the clinic were negative.  I'm waiting for the results of the cultures they sent out to a lab.  I stopped taking the fat burner after the symptoms started on the first day, 3 days before my exam yesterday.  I've wondered if my symptoms could be GI related but that doesn't explain the (rather minor) vaginal itching and twinges of pain.
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101028 tn?1419603004
did they find anything like yeast or bacterial infections vaginally?  did they see any obvious lesions on your cervix or anywhere during the exam?

are you also having diarrhea/gas from the fat burner?

grace
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Avatar universal
Yes, yesterday.
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101028 tn?1419603004
I meant did you get a proper exam with your current symptoms.

grace
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Avatar universal
Yes, I've had 3 pelvic exams, 1 from my Gyn and 2 from NP's since February.  Once for my usual Pap which was negative and twice for strange burning/itching/parasthesia symptoms.  They've never seen anything abnormal.  All my vaginal cultures/blood testing have been negative so far but yesterday was my first HSV IgG test since the suspicious encounter.  

I'm just so tired and very worried about seeing my boyfriend tonight.

(Also, I intended to post on this forum rather than Terri's)
Helpful - 0
101028 tn?1419603004
you tried to post to an old post of yours on Terri's forum and the time limit for doing so has passed. You'd have to pay again to get her advice. your post was automatically bumped over to here.

no caffeine isn't a trigger for the vast majority of folks who have herpes.

these symptoms could be any number of things going on.  did you also get a proper gyn exam too?

grace
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