Herpes or poison ivy? Or something else..

[Concerned1515]

Ok so about a month ago I had unprotected sex with a friend (I know stupid mistake). Anyway, the next day I started having "symptoms" which included an itchy feeling and tingling. I saw what looked like tiny red bumps on my shaft that went away like two days later. Then the tingling continued for a couple more weeks. It felt as though my pants were also rubbing the tip of my penis raw. I looked right under the rim of the tip of my penis and it had a white skit looking stuff that seemed to peel a little so I rubbed that away and a red shiny area was under it. Nothing raised just red. It stayed that way for about a week. I started freaking out and stressing really bad so I asked the girl if she had anything I should know about and she said no. She always gets checked at her gyno for urine samples and she actually went and got blood drawn about a week ago and tested negative (I didn't wittness her get it drawn or hearthe doctor call but this is what she said). It's been a month since we had sex and now I'm getting a rash-like area right at my waistline. It looks a lot like poison ivy or something like that and itches really bad. It's like a patchy area that is raised and red but doesn't have any noticeable sores. I recently went to an extremely wooded area where poison ivy definitely could have been a possibility. I have also gotten several mosquito bite-like red bumps around the main rash. One is on my left hip around the waist line, back near my waist line, my inner thigh about 3 inches from my groin, and there are a couple in my pubic hair. I also have a raised red line that itches like crazy on my lower back that has a couple itchy red spots around it. I also had a red rash that was on my chest/lower neck. I put hydrocortisone cream on both my chest and the rash on my lower stomach and the one on my chest seemed to go away but the other has not and seems to have gotten worse (although the hydrocortisone did help the itching somewhat). I'm not really sure what it could be. I have been known to have allergic reactions to laundry detergents but I'm scared since this happened right after I had sex with that girl. I went to the dr yesterday and she said it was poison ivy and prescribed me a steroid cream. I had her take a herpes blood test and swab the red area she said was poison ivy. Any idea of I'm freaking out or if there is a real possibility this is herpes as not poison ivy like she said?

[Concerned1515]

Well I'm hoping that's all I have. It still itches but I have been putting calamine lotion on it and it seems to be drying whatever the rash is up and it is starting to get darker red/purple and peeling. It went all around my waist and to my back. There are now like 5 red, raised, itchy lines between my hip and back. Then a few smaller bug bite sized dots in all the areas and some really really tiny random red dots (size of a thumb tac poit) that itch all around the area and some up my left side about 5 inches up from my waist line.

[gracefromHHP]

last time I had poison ivy, I had the rash continue to show up for 2 weeks I think it was. I looked terrible until it was all healed!!  was kinda entertaining though to see where all I had touched my body while out weeding ...lol.  

[Concerned1515]

I think I might need to. The main patch is now flat and getting darker red (which I assume means it is getting better). I have been using calamine lotion bc it was the only thing that seemed like it was relieving the itch. The area seems to be peeling like sunburn and is sort of rough to the touch. And now i have like 4 or 5 more raised itchy lines that have appeared on my back near the long line and on my hip. I have no idea what it could be. Maybe it is poison ivy but it's weird the spots keep showing up for this long. I have washed literally all my clothes and bed stuff.

[gracefromHHP]

no reason to think this is herpes - none of the symptoms you are having.

follow up with a dermatologist this week if the rash isn't getting better and you want a 2nd opinion.

[Concerned1515]

Like spread out over this big of an area or the 2x2 inch square rash on my lower stomach?

[gracefromHHP]

this wouldn't be herpes on this big of an area.

[Concerned1515]

Yea she said that the main rash on my stomach looked like either poison ivy or shingles and ruled out shingles bc of the itching and that I had more rash on my sides and back saying that shingles can't occur on that many areas. I guess I just had questions about the whole thing bc I'm really worried. My questions are 1) how long does it take for all of the herpes sores that are going to appear to show up? Like is it normal for an outbreak to start then new bumps appear over a week later to join the rest of the rash or do they all typically show up at the same time? 2) is it normal for a herpes rash to include straight lines like poison ivy? 3) is it normal for a herpes rash to be a raised area that is as big as 2 inches x 2 inches? And is it normal for herpes to itch like crazy for over a week and have no sores or pain? Thank you for your responses.

[gracefromHHP]

your provider seems to think it's poison ivy correct? they've seen you and evaluated your symptoms.

[Concerned1515]

What would the waist line rash sound like? It goes from my lower abdomen (right below my belly button) then my hip (few red itchy dots and a raised red line about and inch and a half long that itches like crazy) then on my lower back there is another red raised line that's extremely itchy that is about 3 inches long with other itchy red spots around it.

[gracefromHHP]

no std causes symptoms the next day.

except for your waistline rash, your other symptoms sound like a fungal infection going on. you were seen and your provider doesn't think your symptoms are std related. continue to follow up as needed.


grace