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Chapped Lips + Sore Mouth
Over a month ago I had a rather low-risk encounter but have nonetheless been anxiety-riddled about having acquired an STD (and now just HSV) infection ever since. Bear with the detail below, but wanted to but a timeline together. Here it is:
1. Two days after exposure: mini-panic attack, night sweats, muscle aches, burning mouth. Even had burning and discomfort in genital area, even though my brief exposure was strictly oral. Burning mouth/lips lasted almost entire two weeks.
2. Two weeks after exposure: sore throat with white spots on tonsils. No fever, to my knowledge. Told doctor my STD concerns, but he still just diagnosed as strep. (No swab.) Gave me injection of antibiotics and also a one-dose prescription of azythromicyn (4 pills) to alleviate my throat gonorreah fears.
3. Three weeks after exposure: formed single large-ish whitehead looking bump (sore to touch) near corner of mouth. Not touching lip, but just underneath. Did not look like a water blister, more like a big pus-filled zit that I would normally squeeze but went to doctor in panic thinking cold sore. Same doctor diagnosed as a sebaceous cyst and gave me cephalexin to take for 10 days. "Cyst" went down and was practically gone after 2 days of taking antibiotics. Never leaked or popped (that I noticed) and only left a tiny scab behind w/ a little bit of dry flakiness, but no ulcer that I could see. Still, was almost entirely unnoticeable within just 5 days, so I chalked it up to doctor diagnosing it correctly.
4. Weeks four/five: slightly a bit more relaxed, but still have much anxiety since I know I can't test for HSV for awhile. Yesterday I had soreness INSIDE my mouth on inside of cheek, under tongue and gums (felt like canker sores or like maybe I burned my mouth with hot coffee or something, but could not see any visible evidence, other than a bitten bottom lip). Soreness almost completely gone this morning.
Currently: Minor but lingering scratchy throat for over a week now, and persistently dry/chapped lips. I've never in my life bought ChapStick until just recently because my lips are always so dry. However, I am also constantly licking my lips subconciously trying to feel for odd bumps or sores. . .could that be causing the dryness? Does any of this sound like it adds up to an HSV infection? Thanks in advance for reading and responding.
1. Two days after exposure: mini-panic attack, night sweats, muscle aches, burning mouth. Even had burning and discomfort in genital area, even though my brief exposure was strictly oral. Burning mouth/lips lasted almost entire two weeks.
2. Two weeks after exposure: sore throat with white spots on tonsils. No fever, to my knowledge. Told doctor my STD concerns, but he still just diagnosed as strep. (No swab.) Gave me injection of antibiotics and also a one-dose prescription of azythromicyn (4 pills) to alleviate my throat gonorreah fears.
3. Three weeks after exposure: formed single large-ish whitehead looking bump (sore to touch) near corner of mouth. Not touching lip, but just underneath. Did not look like a water blister, more like a big pus-filled zit that I would normally squeeze but went to doctor in panic thinking cold sore. Same doctor diagnosed as a sebaceous cyst and gave me cephalexin to take for 10 days. "Cyst" went down and was practically gone after 2 days of taking antibiotics. Never leaked or popped (that I noticed) and only left a tiny scab behind w/ a little bit of dry flakiness, but no ulcer that I could see. Still, was almost entirely unnoticeable within just 5 days, so I chalked it up to doctor diagnosing it correctly.
4. Weeks four/five: slightly a bit more relaxed, but still have much anxiety since I know I can't test for HSV for awhile. Yesterday I had soreness INSIDE my mouth on inside of cheek, under tongue and gums (felt like canker sores or like maybe I burned my mouth with hot coffee or something, but could not see any visible evidence, other than a bitten bottom lip). Soreness almost completely gone this morning.
Currently: Minor but lingering scratchy throat for over a week now, and persistently dry/chapped lips. I've never in my life bought ChapStick until just recently because my lips are always so dry. However, I am also constantly licking my lips subconciously trying to feel for odd bumps or sores. . .could that be causing the dryness? Does any of this sound like it adds up to an HSV infection? Thanks in advance for reading and responding.
No, a positive test now will not indicate a recent infection. Only if you have a negative followed by a positive and best that this is the same manufacturers kit would you identify a recent infection.
As much as I hate to recount the embarrassing event, here's a link to the thread I started in the Expert forum:
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Herpes/HSV-Risk/show/2014393#post_9510248
http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Herpes/HSV-Risk/show/2014393#post_9510248
I actually do not know if I have a longstanding HSV-1 infection, as the thought of herpes had never even crossed my mind until the last month and a half. I've never been tested for it. But if all I have is an old infection that I'm just finding out about (that most people have anyway), then at least it will be good to finally realize this. However, I'm terrified that I may have actually been in the minority of "clean" people and contracted it just after this recent encounter (or worse, a case of HSV-2 orally) and will not know how to explain to my current GF.
That said, the experts on this board + my own doctor all feel mine was a low-to-zero risk, so I'm probably okay. It's just that I tend to worry a lot and envision worst-case scenarios, and having to wait so long to take a reliable HSV test is torture.
That's another question: if I do come up positive for HSV-1, would they be able to tell me if it was acquired recently or if it was a longstanding infection?
That said, the experts on this board + my own doctor all feel mine was a low-to-zero risk, so I'm probably okay. It's just that I tend to worry a lot and envision worst-case scenarios, and having to wait so long to take a reliable HSV test is torture.
That's another question: if I do come up positive for HSV-1, would they be able to tell me if it was acquired recently or if it was a longstanding infection?
I don't think we can add much to your doctor's diagnosis here. This will be the most likely diagnosis.
Your symptoms may also be independent of whether you have herpes or not; a common symptoms of herpes is nothing at all.
Are you sure you do not already have HSV1? You definitely have a negative IgG test from before?
Odds are that through your life you will contract HSV1, like 70% of the population. If you don't have HSV1 at this time, you'll be most probably at risk from the next girl you kiss.
Is it really worth the worry for a highly common virus for which the probable most serious implication may, or may not, be occasional cold sores?
Your symptoms may also be independent of whether you have herpes or not; a common symptoms of herpes is nothing at all.
Are you sure you do not already have HSV1? You definitely have a negative IgG test from before?
Odds are that through your life you will contract HSV1, like 70% of the population. If you don't have HSV1 at this time, you'll be most probably at risk from the next girl you kiss.
Is it really worth the worry for a highly common virus for which the probable most serious implication may, or may not, be occasional cold sores?
Actually, slight revision to my timeline: the cyst/sore that appeared on my mouth was actually closer to FOUR weeks after exposure. (30 days, precisely.) I think my concern there was that the strep throat I got at 2 weeks was a "primary" oral outbreak, and then the sore that showed up under my mouth 2 weeks after that was a recurrence. I know my doctor treated it (seemingly successfully) as a cyst, but playing devil's advocate could a first recurrence happen so soon (just 2 weeks) after the primary?
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You are reading content posted in the Herpes Community
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.
