More confused about herpes than ever

[stillconfused33]

I am more confused than ever.  As I have explained in previous posts on here, I've been experiencing undiagnosed penis pain for about a year now after a sexual encounter.  For the most part, the pain is always on the left and right side of the shaft of the penis, just before it meets the head.  At times the pain is very sharp and feels like it is below the surface.  Other times it feels as if the skin itself is very irritated.  I was tested at STD test express using their 8 panel test (including HSV 1 and HSV 2) at 5, 9, 12, and 22 weeks post exposure.  Grace suggested to get herpes out of my head and to seek a dermatologist, which I did.  My doctor first insisted on a urologist.  I went to a urologist about 10 months post exposure who had no suggestions.  I then visited a dermatologist about 11 months post exposure who is stumped as well.  So I once again had STD Test express test me again for their 8 panel test using Labcorp, which again included HSV 1 and HSV 2 at 11 months post exposure which both came back negative again.  My doctor also ordered HSV 1 and HSV 2 tests which he said were sent to Mayo clinic which both came back negative at 11 months post exposure.  He then ordered a Western Blot test for HSV 1 and HSV 2 from the University of Washington.  The HSV 1 came back positive and HSV 2 came back negative at 11.5 months post exposure.  So do I discount the previous 6 HSV 1 and HSV 2 test results that all came back negative for HSV 1 and HSV 2 as all being wrong?  Or do I trust the Western blot which came back positive for HSV 1, negative for HSV 2?  

I would have never guessed being positive for HSV 1 because I've never had an oral outbreak.  I would have almost expected it to come back positive for HSV 2 because the pain is at my penis.  

If I really am positive for HSV 1, could this be what is causing the pain where the head and shaft of the penis meet?    

I'm thoroughly confused after the urologist and dermatologist came up empty and now I get a positive Western blot HSV 1 result with the previous 6 HSV 1 and HSV 2 tests all coming back negative.

[Life360_Dave]

1. if you only had hsv1 oral you would not have genital breakouts. you would need to have hsv1 in the genital ganglion to have a breakout there.

2. yes you can get hsv1 through oral on the genitals but you would not have an oral breakout as you would need to have it in your oral ganglion.

3. The initial outbreak from primary first time exposure tends to be at point of contact but recurrent out breaks can take place anywhere in the oral (chest and up) or genital ganglion ( boxer shorts and down)

4.the western blot is consider the gold standard in testing.

[stillconfused33]

Okay, so lets say that you kissed an individual who had HSV1, you would likely then have oral HSV1.  That being said, could you still have HSV1 genital outbreaks as well as oral outbreaks of HSV1?  

On the other hand, if you received oral sex from someone with HSV1 and contracted it through your genitals, you'd expect to have genital outbreaks?  Could you also then have oral HSV1 outbreaks even though it was contracted through your genitals?  

My point being, do your outbreaks tend to occur where the disease entered your body or does that have very little impact with where you have outbreaks?  

Also, after having 6 or 7 false negative HSV1 tests, it makes me wonder if any of the other tests I took could also be false negatives?  I had STD test express do syph, hsv 1, hsv 2, gon, chlamydia, hep b, hep c numerous times and everything came back negative.  I also had my doctor do these tests and they came back negative as well.  However, the Western blot for HSV 1 came back positive so can I really trust any of the rest of the results from STD test express?  

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, a blood test will only tell if you have it but not where. only a swab of a lesion would confirm the area.
Usually hsv1 is oral and hsv2 genital but a person can have either or both in either area.

[stillconfused33]

I don't understand your comment of "the problem is you don't kbow if it's oral or in the genitals".  I thought once you had herpes, you could develope an outbreak in either location, with hsv1 favoring the mouth and hsv 2 favoring the genitals?  Are herpes outbreaks specific to the location that it entered your body?  

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, i would trust the WB test but the problem is that you dont know if its oral or in the genitals. If you have a herpes lesion in your penis it would be very painful all the time and most likely its oral and was contracted at childhood.