Herpes or something rare?

[crawford86]

Here is the long progression of facts in my case:

Male, 35 yrs old. no prior STDs and in good health.  I have never had HSV1 or 2 before.

felt feverish, dizzy, and flu-like for about 2-3 days before having unprotected oral and vaginal sex with a woman.  In the previous 1-2 weeks I was exposed to strep from 2-3 people in my family that had it.

day 1 after unprotected sex - tingling / mild burning in urethra at all times. no burning on urination. frequent urination
day 2- mild burning and frequent urination continued
day 3-4 felt feverish but no fever according to home thermometer, felt flu-like, tired. headache, mild sore throat. general warm/hot feeling in groin and testicles. tingling and burning in penis / urethra continued.  visited my doctor. mild fever (99F), no signs of blisters, no swollen lymph nodes
day 5 - had blood and urine tests done.  mild burning persisted. flu-like symptoms lessened
day 6 - swollen lymph nodes in groin noticed.  a few numb / tingling sensations felt in left leg. physician called in perscription for Valtrex since I was about to leave town for 5 days. began taking valtrex 2x daily
day 7-12 - flu-like symptoms esentially gone.  burning in urethra and pin-***** / hot sensation in glans of penis persisted.  a few numb / tingling sensations in arms and hands one day.  Groin lymph nodes became increasingly swollen.  whole lower abdominal area became puffy looking with general feeling of being bloated.  glans has looked very wrinkled at times and 1-2 very small low profile skin-colored or mildly white bumps seem to appear and disappear day 10-12.  Glands in neck seem a bit swollen as well.  Mild sore throat.

all blood and urnine tests for STDs and UTIs were negative. however, I know the IgG test may take 3-4 weeks to show the herpes antibodies.

no visible sores yet into day 13.

Questions: What are the chances this is NOT genital herpes.  Could these symptoms indicative of early stages of another STD the tests didn't pick up due to the fact that the blood and urine were taken just 4 days after the fact.

Is it rare to have all of these symptoms without the presence of visible sores now?  Is the lack of sores just due to the valtrex keeping them in check?

Could this be related to streptococcus exposure? I did have sex (prior to the incident I am concerned about) from a woman who probably had strep throat at the time.

If I do have genital herpes and there is no outbreak of sores in this initial episode, are my chances of recurring outbreaks less?

thank you very much for any help.

- worried

[crawford86]

To answer your (very good) question as to why I don't believe the blood test: it is because I had the blood test only 4-5 days after the potential infection.  IgG antibodies do not develop for 3-6 weeks, or possibly longer.  So I need to get another test done after a few more weeks go by.

No, lurking on board like this does not make me feel better.  

I did ask my "high risk" partner if she has herpes and she said no.  But she has been with a LOT of people and the fact is that many people with herpes do not know they have it. My definition of high-risk, in this specific case, is a swinger who has engaged in sex and group sex with dozens of people over the past 2-3 months.  Do the math.  Anything (everything) is possible.

Yes, I realize it was stupid to not wear a condom.  I was drunk and I made a huge mistake.  No need to rub it in.  I am not OCD.  I am here to seek information, not to be insulted, thank you :-)

[jj123123]

Did you ever figure out what the root of your condition was? I'm having the same symptoms (with a similar reason for the worries re: a "high risk" girl) and am wondering what the chances are that it isn't herpes. Thanks!

[waringblender]

Perhaps up to 50% of people who never get infected never have an outbreak, but it is far far less than 50% who never seroconvert. Hence, if you get a negative HSV2 blood test, why would you not believe it?

Is lurking and posting on a herpes board make you feel better about all of this? There is plenty of lit out there on OCD. You might want to look into it.

Did you ask your "very high risk" partner if they had herpes? What was their response? If you didn't ask, why are you assuming automatically that they have it? They have a 25% chance of having it.

Your definition of "high risk" is subjective, to say the least. I think anybody who doesn't use a condom is high risk. Hey, who does THAT remind you of?

If you are in the "science" end of things, then you would know that nothing short of a herpes blood test and/or a positive culture definitively answers the question of whether ANYBODY has herpes. To make judgmental remarks like "extremely high risk" just won't cut it. Given they were so "high risk," why were you not using a condom? It works both ways, dude. Yeesh.

[crawford86]

Thanks again for your comments.  I hope you are correct!

I don't know, however, how you can be so confident that I don't have herpes.  Up to 50% of the people who get infected NEVER have an outbreak.  

I am not a doctor, but I am involved in reseach.  I am on the science end of things, so I try not to believe in fairy tales.  I don't have an anxiety disorder.  Just an 85% fit of the early symptoms of Herpes coupled with the fact that I was with someone who I consider to be a VERY high risk partner.

If I don't have herpes, which I hope I don't, I have something that causes flu symptoms, headaches, burning sensation in the genitals and urinary tract, and swollen groin lymph nodes.  I've never had any flu like this before.

I'm not trying to be argumentative.  Just trying to provide accurate information for myself and for the future benfit of others who use this site.

Please take care of yourself as well!

Thanks.

[waringblender]

In this case, who cares what the peer reviewed literature says? You don't have herpes! That's the point I'm trying to make. We don't have any peer reviewed literature indicating that HSV negative people taking antivirals post exposure will prevent infection.

Working in the "medical industry" doesn't impress me one whit - sorry. The medical "industry" is crawling with people who believe in fairy tales, like the existence of god and other magical thinking.

Maybe the next peer reviewed literature you should be plowing through would be that related to anixety disorders. You take care, now.

[crawford86]

Dear Waringblender,

Thank you for your comments.  I appreciate you taking the time to write.

You are probably correct, and I hope you are.  However, I am involved in the medical industry and I only get my information from peer-reviewed medical literature.  So, in the interest of keeping the information on this site accurate, I must point out that you are incorrect about two things:

1 - in clinical trials Valtrex (and other herpes medications) have effectively aborted outbrakes of herpes in about 25% of subjects when taken as soon as the earliest symptoms appear.  You can find this in peer-reviewed medical literature for all of the Anti-viral herpes meds (valtrex, famvir, etc) but here is a snap-shot of some of these statistics: http://www.famvir.com/hcp/index.jsp

2- initial Herpes symptoms can appear anywhere from 2-20 days after being infected.

Yes, I am probably paranoid!  Agreed - I will not have unprotected sex anymore!

Thanks!!

[waringblender]

There's no evidence showing that taking Valtrex post encounter will do anything to "abort" an outbreak or anything else.

You sound acutely obsessed about herpes, but all of this urinary stuff started the day after the encounter, and no STDs get started that quickly. And now it's 2 weeks later and you are still in meltdown mode.

If you are this anxiety-ridden after having unprotected sex, don't have it anymore.

[gracefromHHP]

You need to wait and repeat the igg blood test 4 months after the last time you had sex.

Your doctor is wrong about the herpes igm test. It's not as accurate as other igm tests are and shouldn't even be ordered for adults.

grace

[crawford86]

Thank you again, Grace.

I also thought that the IgM test was worthless, but my physician said that this test was more likely to show early-stage antibodies than the IgG test.

It is true that I felt ill before having unprotected sex, but there were no symptoms involving my genital area until a few days after this encounter.  The burning sensation in my urethra, warm to-the-touch penis and scrotum, sometimes red scrotum, and swollen groin lymph nodes are the symptoms that really concern me.

I started taking valtrex only a few days after the potential exposure to HSV, so I could be one of the 25% of people who "abort" an outbreak of lesions by taking this anti-viral medication.

Are there any blood tests that 100% confirm the presence of HSV? How long do I have to wait until I am confident in the results of these tests?

Thanks again!

[gracefromHHP]

The igm herpes test is a poor test in general and it was pretty much a waste of time an dmoney to have it done.  http://www.medhelp.org/posts/STDs/Confusiion-over-other-IgM-Herpes-posts/show/248394 is a prior post by HHH that explains why it's a poor test in more detail.

You said you were ill prior to all of this. No reason to suspect that all your symptoms aren't related to that at this point.

grace

[crawford86]

Thank you, Grace.  I appreciate you taking the time to write.

I have followed up with my physician, but I am still quite concerned.  Most of the symptoms I have been experiencing (tingling, burning, fever, swollen lymph nodes, aches and pains) seem to be very typical of early-stage herpes prodrome.

Today is day 14 and my 'privates' feel back to normal.  No more burning or tingling.  Still no sores.  My groin lymph nodes are still quite swollen however.

I just wonder if i have the infection and the Valtrex successfully eliminated the outbreak of blisters.  Time will tell.

I did get additional blood tests done yesterday.  This time they are going to look at the IgM test.  If the IgG is still negative and the IgM is also negative, do you think I am in the clear?

[gracefromHHP]

This doesn't sound at all like genital herpes. You were ill a few days prior to the encounter even according to your post so those type of symptoms aren't likely to be related to the encounter.

You also haven't had any obvious lesions.

You should follow up on this with your provider to try to get to the bottom of things.

grace