is it herpes?

[johnsmith150]

i had protected vaginal sex with 2 escorts on my vacation in thailand on different days.within 2 days i felt some itching and burning sensation at the time of urination.this got me really paranoid (maybe the feelings were also because i was really paranoid) and one day due to some itching i rubbed my penis and foreskin really really hard, and the next day (within a week of exposure) i got a rash on both sides of glans with tiny eruptions.this soon spread to pretty much all over my glans.dint particularly look like blisters or ulcers.i went to a doctor who said it could be herpes but told me to get a blood test done a month later and till then asked me to apply ' aciclovir cream' and 'sertaconazole cream' .On applying these creams, it looked a lot better within about 6 days.i went to another doctor who said it s very unlikely to be herpes as it had healed this quickly.in my opinion it had not healed completely tho  and there was some redness and tiny red spots on my glans.there was also some peeling off of skin from the glans and a foul smell. the rash reccured about a month from the first rash, and i applied sertaconazole cream.it took about 2 weeks for it to heal almost completely from the glans. within 2 days of this however,i noticed my foreskin in the lower part to be diffusely red.2 days after that i noticed very dark red patches(darker than previous episodes and more localised) on the tip of my glans.also, i have had a slight burning sensation at the time of urination all through these 2 months.and some burning sensation from the penis.there is sometimes a sudden pain which lasts less than a few seconds
Also,the inside of my urethral opening has been slightly reddish with tiny eruptions all through this period i believe

i got a herpes non specific igm and igg test done 8 weeks after exposure.the igm was positive and the igg was negative.i am right now in an area where i do not have access to good healthcare professionals.and i dont want to go to a doctor who confuses me more.i would be really really grateful if i could get help and advise regarding this issue

Thank you so much for taking the pains to read such a long question

[gracefromHHP]

really no reason to repeat your testing at the 6 month mark. it's ok to accept these negative results and move forward - congrats!!!

[johnsmith150]

i just wanted to update my situation here.i was able to see a dermatologist who couldn't really find anything on my penis but asked me to get retested for hsv igm and igg.when i hinted that igm s unreliable he refused to agree.nevertheless on his insistence,i got type specific igm and igg (these are at a little more than 12 weeks post exposure).and all the results came back negative.as of now,hopefully that s enough to believe i dont have herpes.i do plan to get tested again at 6 months. i would be grateful if i could get any suggestions.and i wanna thank this forum from all the posts i read and grace for helping me deal with this very tough period,which i m really really hoping i can put to rest.

[gracefromHHP]

stop back and update your post - many others with similar symptoms who benefit from reading updates :)

[johnsmith150]

okay.i will try and do the things you said and hopefully get a doctor who knows his stuff to examine it once.i really appreciate the help that thousands of people get from you.
thanks a lot

[gracefromHHP]

oh I didn't google it - the name looked like one of those antifungal /steroid combos.  so still they guessed from the sounds of it and threw creams at you hoping one would work :(  

some folks do have very sensitive skin and can become irritated by the topical antifugnals. At this point, you might even want to consider just stopping the topical and giving the lil guy some extra tlc. sometimes something as simple as a cornstarch based powder in the morning to the genital area before getting dressed is helpful to reduce friction and absorb moisture until the skin recovers and gets back to normal.  It might take a good week or more until you stop seeing redness at this point.

we don't recommend blood testing for chlamydia, it's not accurate.

you had protected sex so it's low risk that this is gonorrhea or chlamydia. Some basic urine testing would be helpful at this point to see if you have developed a ngu infection and a manual exam of your prostate would also be a good idea too.  You can give yourself infections from bacteria on the hands from masturbation so getting someone to do this sort of basic testing should be easy no matter where you are at right now.

herpes igm testing is very flawed testing and we don't recommend its use for adults here in the US. if you do repeat your testing, be sure to only get type specific herpes igg blood testing.

[johnsmith150]

thanks a lot for your reply grace.i believe i was prescribed sertaconazole cream which is an antifungal.i dont think he prescribed a steroid cream.so far (as prescribed by the original provider) i got an hiv,vdrl,an hsv non specific igm and igg done, and an anti chlamydial antibody test done. he did not ask me to get any urine test done. both hiv and vdrl were negative and i m awaiting the results for the anti - chlamydial.i am going through a really stressful time and all this is really affecting other parts of my life.
there are days when i look down there and it seems to have healed almost completely and the next day when i look there something new seems to have come up.
it would be really really nice to get some advise on how to go about things now
and what i did in thailand was a one off thing and the guilt of doing something as ridiculous as paying for sex accompanied by the stress of these lesions on my penis is really bothering me
Thanks a lot again for taking the time to read and reply

[gracefromHHP]

It's unfortunate that not only did the original provider you saw drop the ball and not do a lesion culture for herpes on your symptoms, they also prescribed acyclovir cream which has no effect on genital herpes lesions as well as a topical steroid which if this was really herpes, makes herpes worse :(  

Have you had any other std testing done or even some basic urine testing done?

grace