Incubation periods for hsv1 oral to genital 8 months??

[Kato14c]

I am extremely grateful to have found this site because I have been to numerous  doctors who are telling me different things and I am extremely confused. I'm now 32, when I was 20 I developed severe blister like lesions on my vulva/vagina and I was a virgin. Prior to this outbreak my only sexual contact was with a guy who I kissed and had oral sex with 8 months previous. So no sexual contact in 8 months, never had intercourse, and that was the first and only time I had oral sex. I have never had a cold sore. I have no idea if the guy had a cold sore. 1 year after my initial outbreak I got another outbreak, ulcers in the vagina but were less severe. I went to the gum clinic because I was very confused as to why I was diagnosed with genital herpes even though I had no sexual activity. The doctor who saw my initial outbreak didn't run any tests but the anti viral medication cleared the sores up within a week. Anyway, I went to the gum clinic when I got the second outbreak, they did a swab which was negative, they never did blood tests. They didn't care less to follow anything up. When it happened a third time, again not at all severe but still a few ulcers, I just went to the doc and got the anti viral. It has only just recently happened a 4th time, I didn't need any medication because by the time I went to the doc she couldn't see the ulcer. She ran other tests like auto immune tests but came back normal. I have since been extremely anxious about this as I am so unsure if I have herpes or not, I'm afraid incase I pass it onto my partner who doesn't know because I don't know, no doctor has ever ran the blood tests and I feel like I've been given really bad care/advice and a lack of follow up. I was wondering how possible is this to be a hsv1 infection from the guy who gave me oral sex back then? I have been looking and researching the incubation period for transmission and I cannot find any evidence that it would take any longer than a few weeks to display symptoms let alone 8 months?!? Please advise many thanks

[Life360_Dave]

As a rule, symptoms would show up from 3 to 13 days or so post exposure but very often no symptoms appear. Showing up at 8 months would be considred an old infection.  Its very simple to find out if you have herpes and that would be a blood test. The problem in your case is that many people have oral hsv1 from childhood so coming back positive would not shed any light on your vaginal sores. But if it comes back negative, then youll have your answer.
Take the test and come back to let us know.

[Kato14c]

Thanks, but can you imagine my confusion when some doctors are telling me I have it and other doctors are telling me I have an auto immune disease, and if I was extremely unlucky to contract herpes back then from that one encounter why would it have taken 8 months to show symptoms? Very confused....is this where the doctors respond or do I need to post this in another forum to get some advice from an expert? Thanks

[Life360_Dave]

Hi and welcome. If the boy did not have any lip sores at the time he gave your oral sex, the odds you would have contracted it from a one time affair would be close to zero (but not zero). A blood test would confirm your status. Swabbs are only accurate for showing a positive.