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herpes primary outbreak question
i'm 26/m who recently had sex with a female and the condom broke. a 5 later this person told me they found out they have herpes. i went to the clinic the same day and they gave me a blood test, and the doctor also found one small white lesion on the inside of my forskin. this lesion is about 1mm in diameter, white and flat with a red outline. the doctor told me this is suspicious of herpes and did a culture sample. the results from the culture and blood test and will be back in two weeks. for the time being i'm on valtrex 1000mg 2td, and was also given antibactiral meds for syphillis, ghonorrea and chlamidia as a precaution.
i accept that there is a high likelyhood that i have been infected with herpes, however i have some questions. the white lesion on my foreskin is flat, and not a cluster (just one). It is also painless and not itchy. from the pictures i've been looking at online it doesn't really look like a herpes blister or ulcer. from my symptoms it seems more along the lines of a genital wart.
Is it possible that i have a bacterial infection or HPV related wart instead of/in addition to herpes?
The lesion has not changed appearance at all in the last two days. Does this offer any insight? If it is herpes, would it grow in size and bubble up?
If it is in fact not herpes, will the hospital test the culture for what it may be?
thanks
i accept that there is a high likelyhood that i have been infected with herpes, however i have some questions. the white lesion on my foreskin is flat, and not a cluster (just one). It is also painless and not itchy. from the pictures i've been looking at online it doesn't really look like a herpes blister or ulcer. from my symptoms it seems more along the lines of a genital wart.
Is it possible that i have a bacterial infection or HPV related wart instead of/in addition to herpes?
The lesion has not changed appearance at all in the last two days. Does this offer any insight? If it is herpes, would it grow in size and bubble up?
If it is in fact not herpes, will the hospital test the culture for what it may be?
thanks
thanks grace for your reply.
she told me today she was confirmed to have HSV1.
I'd assume i gave it to her but i did not perform oral sex on her, and have not had any sores recently.
this leaves me even more in the dark as apparently catching genital HSV1 when you already have oral is pretty unlikely.
I called the clinic today, they said another week and a half for results (probably because they also did a blood test and wont give individual results until they're all in). this waiting is very hard on me.
she told me today she was confirmed to have HSV1.
I'd assume i gave it to her but i did not perform oral sex on her, and have not had any sores recently.
this leaves me even more in the dark as apparently catching genital HSV1 when you already have oral is pretty unlikely.
I called the clinic today, they said another week and a half for results (probably because they also did a blood test and wont give individual results until they're all in). this waiting is very hard on me.
at this point, you waiting for your own results is the best thing you can do. your provider should've never given you all the antibiotics you were given to cover bacterial std's though. antibiotics without documented infection is never in your best interest :( in the future, unless you have a + test result, don't let them give you antibiotics "just in case". the risk to your health from overuse isn't worth it!!
if you test negative for hsv2 at this point ( since you already know you have hsv1 orally from cold sores in your childhood ), repeat your hsv2 igg in 3 months to err on the side of caution. if you get symptoms of herpes before that 3 months is up, be seen within 48 hours for a repeat lesion culture.
is it likely this gal wasn't giving you the whole story? not really. herpes testing is not a part of routine std testing and she might never have been tested for it before this. what many folks assume is a newly acquired infection, is actually just their first obvious recurrence from a previous infection. condoms aren't a lot of protection against herpes either :(
if you test negative for hsv2 at this point ( since you already know you have hsv1 orally from cold sores in your childhood ), repeat your hsv2 igg in 3 months to err on the side of caution. if you get symptoms of herpes before that 3 months is up, be seen within 48 hours for a repeat lesion culture.
is it likely this gal wasn't giving you the whole story? not really. herpes testing is not a part of routine std testing and she might never have been tested for it before this. what many folks assume is a newly acquired infection, is actually just their first obvious recurrence from a previous infection. condoms aren't a lot of protection against herpes either :(
on the good advice of the people in this forum i spoke with the woman again and got some more information.
we had out encounter last sunday. I asked her if she thought she had lesions on sunday when we had sex, she said no although she said she couldn't be sure. on tuesday she said she felt a burning sensation during urination, went to the clinic, and tested positive for a UTI. I'm not sure if this was prodrome, or really an UTI, or both. This does put me a little more at ease as if she was at the clinic it seems unlikely the doc or NP would miss obvious signs of HSV (although perhaps could misdiagnose prodrome as a UTI. the positive test doesn't yield any answers though).
the saturday following our encounter (6 days later) she returned to the clinic because what she thought was a UTI had not healed, at this point the doc visually determined had herpes. this was the day i went in for my tests. none of her tests (or mine) have come back yet but she said she's on valtrex and its helping, so it seems very likely she does in fact have hsv.
the lesion on my foreskin seems to be fading but is still present, still asymptomatic. no new lesions have appeared. i was worried i was developing a flu but it turns out it was just strep (confirmed through culture). i'm starting to get cautiously optimistic that my original symptoms are not herpes, although i'm still well in the 2-12 day window for a high likelihood of primary infection. I also realize that i wont be completely out of the woods for 11 more weeks until i get a negative blood test.
does my thinking here make sense?
thank you for your time and for getting on me to further discuss this with her.
we had out encounter last sunday. I asked her if she thought she had lesions on sunday when we had sex, she said no although she said she couldn't be sure. on tuesday she said she felt a burning sensation during urination, went to the clinic, and tested positive for a UTI. I'm not sure if this was prodrome, or really an UTI, or both. This does put me a little more at ease as if she was at the clinic it seems unlikely the doc or NP would miss obvious signs of HSV (although perhaps could misdiagnose prodrome as a UTI. the positive test doesn't yield any answers though).
the saturday following our encounter (6 days later) she returned to the clinic because what she thought was a UTI had not healed, at this point the doc visually determined had herpes. this was the day i went in for my tests. none of her tests (or mine) have come back yet but she said she's on valtrex and its helping, so it seems very likely she does in fact have hsv.
the lesion on my foreskin seems to be fading but is still present, still asymptomatic. no new lesions have appeared. i was worried i was developing a flu but it turns out it was just strep (confirmed through culture). i'm starting to get cautiously optimistic that my original symptoms are not herpes, although i'm still well in the 2-12 day window for a high likelihood of primary infection. I also realize that i wont be completely out of the woods for 11 more weeks until i get a negative blood test.
does my thinking here make sense?
thank you for your time and for getting on me to further discuss this with her.
she said she had had a UTI, and after i told her i had a concearn she went back and the doctor told her it was actually herpes. i'm not sure on exact timelines, i will try to get more information. i do get the feeling that she is not being truthful to me, and that scares me most, as she could have given me something much worse than herpes. I've had a full sti screen done and taken antibiotics as above.
i'm still trying to figure out if i really think that i caught herpes from her or maybe something else. we had sex all night a number of times, the condom broke during the first session, and i feel like i noticed it rather quickly after it happened. we used condoms without all the other times we had sex. she did give me unprotected oral sex, but i did not see any lesions on her mouth.
my foreskin was quite for a few days afterwards and i still have a few small friction cuts on my foreskin (i get these sometimes, likely from unprotected oral) as well as a torn frenulum. the doc that examined me completely ignored all of those and was only interested in the white lesion on the inside of my foreskin which he described as "highly suspicious" for herpes, and this was the one he swabbed. i didn't question him at the time but now doing some reading i'm not sure if i understand why he thought that. Its white, more or less flat, small, not itchy or painful, hasen't grown or changed in the three days i've seen it. no new lesions have appeared.
if this was a primary hsv infection would i not expect more discomfort? more lesions? how long would a hsv caused lesion take to erupt and blister?
thank you again for all of your time.
i'm still trying to figure out if i really think that i caught herpes from her or maybe something else. we had sex all night a number of times, the condom broke during the first session, and i feel like i noticed it rather quickly after it happened. we used condoms without all the other times we had sex. she did give me unprotected oral sex, but i did not see any lesions on her mouth.
my foreskin was quite for a few days afterwards and i still have a few small friction cuts on my foreskin (i get these sometimes, likely from unprotected oral) as well as a torn frenulum. the doc that examined me completely ignored all of those and was only interested in the white lesion on the inside of my foreskin which he described as "highly suspicious" for herpes, and this was the one he swabbed. i didn't question him at the time but now doing some reading i'm not sure if i understand why he thought that. Its white, more or less flat, small, not itchy or painful, hasen't grown or changed in the three days i've seen it. no new lesions have appeared.
if this was a primary hsv infection would i not expect more discomfort? more lesions? how long would a hsv caused lesion take to erupt and blister?
thank you again for all of your time.
It sounds like she wasn't being upfront with you - if I were you I would question her politely about it more, emphasizing that you don't blame her but just need whatever information she has about her symptoms and when they first appeared . . .
She might be more honest about it if you don't sound like you are passing blame for what happened (sometimes people know they have it, but mistakenly think condoms eliminate all the risk, so that they don't need to say anything about it: wishful and irresponsible thinking at best). She might not have the courage to tell you the truth, unless your make her feel like she's not to blame (like telling a child "you won't be in trouble if you just tell me the truth about what happened"), sometime it works - worth a shot if you need the info.
She might be more honest about it if you don't sound like you are passing blame for what happened (sometimes people know they have it, but mistakenly think condoms eliminate all the risk, so that they don't need to say anything about it: wishful and irresponsible thinking at best). She might not have the courage to tell you the truth, unless your make her feel like she's not to blame (like telling a child "you won't be in trouble if you just tell me the truth about what happened"), sometime it works - worth a shot if you need the info.
She isn't been forthcoming here, did she at least tell you she had a lesion or multiple lesions appear and they swabbed positive for HSV in 2-3 days?
Either way, you've had the right testing to manage the situation. It is a bit of a waiting game now.
Either way, you've had the right testing to manage the situation. It is a bit of a waiting game now.
thank you very much for your reply.
she told me about it 5 days after the encounter. the lesion the doctor tested appeared ~3 days after the encounter and prompted me to question her further. (when the condom broke, she had told me she had recently been tested and was clean). She has vaginal herpes, but doesn't know what kind she has yet (apparently she just found out). I got tested the same day she told me(both blood and culture).
I forgot to mention that i've had cold sores since i was a kid, so i presume i have oral HSV1.
she told me about it 5 days after the encounter. the lesion the doctor tested appeared ~3 days after the encounter and prompted me to question her further. (when the condom broke, she had told me she had recently been tested and was clean). She has vaginal herpes, but doesn't know what kind she has yet (apparently she just found out). I got tested the same day she told me(both blood and culture).
I forgot to mention that i've had cold sores since i was a kid, so i presume i have oral HSV1.
I agree there isn't much evidence of herpes in what you describe. No need for Valtrex at this stage, I'd stop taking it.
How long after your contact with the woman did she tell you about herpes, what type has she got and where? How long after did you test?
How long after your contact with the woman did she tell you about herpes, what type has she got and where? How long after did you test?
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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.
