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reliability of herpes blood test

i got blood work done at 10.5 weeks after a possible exposure. it came back negative for herpes. how reliable is that? i know herpes can take up to 4 months to show and can also be without symptoms. i had itching at the time (for maybe a couple months), but i had also been in a foreign country with less than clean living arrangements and differences in the water, and i think it was a yeast infection. i dont know which blood test i got. thank you.
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101028 tn?1419603004
I too find it odd that you were dating someone with herpes so you just assumed you had herpes and went the whole holistic route instead of proper testing 4 years ago.  You can't really assume that anything was working for you since evidently you never had herpes to begin with.  Your risk of contracting hsv2 from a partner is very low to begin with.

Anyways you are testing negative at this point. I will gladly look at your blood test results if you post the numeric values here - ie hsv1 igg .43 and hsv2 igg . 67 or whatever they are.   If you don't believe your test results then perhaps repeat them with a herpes WB blood test and then if that too is negative - accept that you don't have herpes, throw yourself a party and move on past it!!!  If your genital symptoms don't clear up within 2 weeks of treating yourself with antifungals - seek out the advice of a dermatologist for a further work up.  

Sorry to hear that other things in your life aren't going so swell :(  Hopefully things start going better for you now.  

grace
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the responses.  

     Horny Goat Weed (epimedium) is an aphrodisiac in some of its forms; however it has been shown to inhibit herpes viral loading in the blood stream by as much as 82% and has been used long term in Asia with good results in preventing outbreaks.
     As for being invested psychologically in having herpes; why wouldn't I be if it was something that was possibly affecting my health and that of other people?  Or maybe your lack of concern reflects how so many people end up with herpes in the first place waringblender.  
     As a recap to what is happening with me I am doing far better now with the treatment that was prescribed for the yeast thing and I am taking your advice auntiejessi and moving on.  

Best of Luck
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
The test is very reliable at this point, and you need to move on from herpes.

You don't have it.

AJ
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Avatar universal
Doesn't sound like you have herpes, but you seem invested psychologically in having it, for whatever reason. Pretty strange.

Is horney[sic] goat weed an aphrodisiac of some kind?
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Avatar universal
Hello,  

     I wanted to relay my story as it seems it might help clear a couple of things up for others.  I was first exposed to herpes 4 years ago (long term girl friend, several exposures before she knew what it was, OR TOLD ME).  However I have never had a real severe out break.  I attribute this to my constant vigilance with l-lysine,bee polon, horney goat weed tea, and green tea, to name a few.  I have lived in constant fear of a herpes outbreak since the time I knew that I was exposed, partly because it has been so extreamly severe for the X-girlfriend who infected me (we still talk).  On occasion I have had what I believed to be very minor occurances, eg a couple of fluid filled bumps here and there over the past years.
     However I have been lucky, until recently.  I started to get what looked like a rash but with circular bumps that looked like pimples.  Of course I was freaked out!!  I thought I could fight it off and I redoubled my regimine of anti-herpes treatments.  After nine weeks of this and with situation getting only worse I finaly caved and went to the DR.  They took a long look and told me it was some kind of yeast infection on my skin (they were not even sure what kind due to the weird presentation as they put it).  I was not prepared for this being a guy you don't really think about yeast infections!  They gave me some cream and tried to send me on my way.  However I pressed them for a herpes blood test, they relented and perfomed it.  This morning the results came back, negative on both types.  Now I know I have been exposed to herpes, and it has been years not weeks since that exposure, So the antibodys should be in my blood by now. I have had sores even if very infrequently so my question is: How reliable is this blood test really?  
     These last nine weeks have been hell on earth for me. Relationship falling apart, feeling diesesd, and just the stress of having something that wont go away. Not knowing what and when this can strike you and worse not knowing for sure if it is something that I even have!  
     Just to complete my thought, the rash I am now fighting off now does have a very pimpley look to it and I did my research prior to just assuming anything.  Some itching and burning but not much, swollen Lymph nodes, pain down my inner thigh nerves, compared very closely to pics on internet, read hours of data (from here to europe,asia, and back).  I thought I was sure about it, Now I feel like I know less than I did before.  I am sorry to rant but I am at my wits end.  I hope this may be helpfull to others.
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101028 tn?1419603004
non-stop itching for months isn't likely to be due to herpes. that doesn't mean you don't have herpes - it just means that that probably wasn't the cause of your herpes.

The risk of contracting herpes from a one time encounter is pretty low but it could happen. ejaculation has nothing to do with contracting std's though.

Depending on what lab your doctor uses depends on if you can trust a 10 week result. I know - it gets tricky.

grace
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Avatar universal
i do not know which test i got, i would have to call and ask. i have not had any symptoms (blisters, etc) of herpes aside from the itching over the summer, which my gyn did not seem concerned about. (exposure was in may, test in august) it was a one time exposure, unprotected, he did not ***.

lets say i did not get a type-specific test like the one you suggested. ( i do not know much about types of testing or how many there are) what would be the likelihood then? (thanks for your help)
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Avatar universal
Did you have a type specific Herpes test like HerpesSelect for both HSV1 and HSV2? If you did and it came back negative for HSV1 and negative for HSV2 then it is approx 93% likely that you do not have HSV2. It can take 3-4 months or more for HSV1 to show up on a HerpesSelect test. However most cases show up in 3-4 weeks.
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