Looking for leads - HSV-2 or something else?

[johnnyjohnnerson]

So I'm back with no answers still after 6 weeks post exposure, 7 doctor visits including my primary care physician 2x, dermatologist 2x, urgent care once, and planned parenthood 2x. Looking for anyone who has had similar symptoms and has since found an answer or anyone out there to brainstorm with me and help me find answers!

My story:

Long relationship ended (we were both each others firsts, baseline negative for all STD's except HSV-1 is unknown)

1 time hook up/ encounter - unprotected oral sex (receiving), protected vaginal sex. Also unprotected mutual masturbation. Used my hands to touch myself after touching her for a few minutes.

2 days after hook up I felt itchy all over my groin and anus. Once I researched I was convinced I had an STI - most likely herpes.

Also felt a slight pinching-like feeling inside tip of penis. It was very mild though.

Day 3 I noticed spots (almost like freckles beneath my skin on the head of my penis - very faint but noticeable spots/dots)

Went to urgent care, doc told me no way it was herpes and prescribed scabies and fungal creams.

Somewhere around day 4-5 I still had all the symptoms + white/yellowish stuff on the bottom of my pubic hair. Was difficult to scrape off and it smelled strange.

Day 5 went to planned parenthood and was screened for STI's. All negative including HSV-2.

prescribed anti fungal creams.

Day 8 went to general practitioner. He said my symptoms did not seem to be STI related.

ran blood tests (not STI tests) - all came back normal
prescribed more anti fungal treatment (pills)

Day 14 I paid $165 to have a HIV test that can apparently find it within 10 days of possible exposure - came back negative

Day 16 went to GP again as I was having difficulty breathing and sleeping. Checked all my vitals and ran ECG - everything was fine. Blood work was once again fine. Told him that none of my symptoms had subsided. He recommended I stop worrying so much about STI's. Said it still didn't seem like one. Told me to try Lamisil for two weeks and go to a dermatologist.

Day 17 went to dermatologist. Found two small genital warts and froze them off. I told her those had been there for years and that I got warts all over when I was younger. She also said I had molluscum contagiosum on my groin, and eczema on my arms and back. Said she didn't see any signs of Herpes. Also prescribed another anti fungal cream.

Day 18 I started feeling like I had an ulcer or something. Stomach just didn't feel good at all. Started having diarrhea.

Day 30 went back to GP. Had blood work taken. All came back normal again including testing negative for all STD's including HSV-2, HIV 1 & 2,  Chlamydia, Gonorrhea & Hep A, B, & C.

Day
Day 35 went back to planned parenthood to have a "lesion" checked out. Doc told me it definitely did not look like herpes but instead looked like broken skin caused by friction. She also told me that she was very blunt and would tell me if she thought I should be concerned about herpes. She said my chances are low and swabbed the area. She also told me those "dots" on my glans and foreskin appeared to be fungal if anything and did not appear to be an STI.

Swab test came back "not isolated"

Day 40 I went kind of crazy calling my doctor demanding to be put on anti-virals. He said I have no indications of herpes or any STI but would prescribe acyclovir for peace of mind.

Day 42 I went to dermatologist again. She still said she does not see any signs of STI and that an itch this long does not indicate herpes. She basically just thought I was crazy I think.

Day 44 sore throat, feeling a cold coming on

Day 45 (today) woke up with sore throat. Went to take my morning pee and when I was done and "shaking" my penis I felt a weird sensation inside my penis. It felt like a scratchy/slight burning feeling. It was very mild and quickly went away and has not come back. I have had a fever all night and have been pretty itchy on my groin and anus.

This is where I stand today. Still with no answers. Still scared to have sex with anyone.

Other notes:
I have been taking acyclovir for 5 days (first day I took 400 mg 3x and for the rest of the days I have been taking 400mg 2x per day).

The itching has not stopped since 2 days after encounter. It's still there.

I have noticed things that I worry could be something but have body acne so they seem to just be related to that. That is what the dermatologist said both times. Every time something pops up though I worry.

Anti fungal creams and pills have failed. I was tested for all allergies (well all the common ones) and am not allergic to any.

Have not changed anything in my life or been exposed to anything new except that girls vagina the one time.

She was tested (5-6 weeks after her last exposure before me / 1 week after me) - negative for any STI's

I do occasionally itch all over like I did today. Was on my legs (inner thighs, ankles, groin and anus).

I believe doctors only know how to diagnose herpes in those with "common" symptoms and I worry I am one of the unlucky "strange" cases.

I am worried about passing this on and am scared to now have sex with anyone.

Any help or thoughts would be awesome

[mkh9]

Well, she may have more immunity to it. Some of it depends on your long chain fatty acids in the skin and other immunity. How dry you keep your skin and so forth. I used the same shower for years and never got athletes foot from my husband either. I did finally get it about 10 years later. I don't know why but that is just the way of things. Maybe my feet were too damp or I got older. Getting a fungal infection is  a bit different than getting an STD. An STD is more likely if you had one but still not 100%. If someone had the flu you may not get it either due to your immune system or that you had seen the strain before. There are lots of things that got on with our immune systems. It doesn't mean you don't have it. Or that she may not get it in the future. But since you are being treated, you may have knocked it down where it isn't in the stage that it is contagious or infectious. Those are my thoughts here.
mkh9

[johnnyjohnnerson]

only problem I'm having with the fungal diagnoses is that my current GF doesn't have any signs of it and we have been cuddling pretty much naked for two weeks now. Also the girl I think I caught this from doesn't have any itching at all. See the struggle I'm having here?

[mkh9]

So they think it is fungal, and getting better. That is good as it is very treatable (with the right meds). No it is too late now for the IgM. It would be back down by now. So you can only go with the IgG. No. I think you are doing what you can at this point. See if the meds clear it up. Do keep it very dry. Keep the towels very clean and wash anything in contact with the area often.
mkh9

[johnnyjohnnerson]

This does help a lot. I went to planned parenthood again yesterday and the new Doctor told me he was quite positive this was not HSV-2 and that it was a fungal infection that is improving. He told me to keep the area dry and make sure of that 3x a day and to stop worrying. He urged me not to take another IgG test but I insisted so he let me. They are testing for HSV-1 and HSV-2. This will be my 7 week since exposure test).

Now you are making me think I need a IgM test as my original two IgG tests (one at 5 days post possible exposure & one at 5 weeks post exposure) were .13 negative. That shows that I didn't have it before the encounter. Am I getting the wrong test done?

[mkh9]

Well, it maybe it is genital warts. But they seem to look larger then the one you have. Molluscum definitely should have some indentation or central thing in the middle. If it doesn't it probably isn't that. The photos were hard to see except the leg one because they are so small. But I'm not so sure it looks like a fungus either. I'm not an expert at looking at the clinical end of things (the persons skin vs. working in the lab). But I have seen these before.  It doesn't look like herpes really either. They look like blisters.  HSV IgG comes up for sure by 3 months in a blood test. So the best thing to do is to get the "blister" cultured. But since they are blisters they probably aren't Herpes unless you have some tiny blisters. It is possible the ones at the tip of the penis are. They are tiny. But if the doctor says no they are aren't I would believe them. They have seen a lot of them and know exactly what to look for. The HSV test if you had a IgM early test such as before a month it would have shown new infection. Now with the IgG you will just be checking if you were ever exposed. That is ok though. Then you will know. Herpes hurts a lot when you get an outbreak. I have HSV 1 orally and genitally and had a first outbreak after many years of being exposed. It can do that. It stays in the nerve cells for years. But you would see it in the blood nevertheless at 3 months even if it doesn't show on the skin.
hope this helps.
mkh9

[johnnyjohnnerson]

So those were the girls Mollucum. Mine were smaller and on my scrotum. The dermatologist saw them and told me not to worry about them. My entire groin itches, not just where the Mollucum is. Actually I'm not sure those itch at all, on me at least. Hard to tell though because my whole groin itches. The girl said they don't itch her either and she has had them for a while.

No burning with urination. I will look into the others as well as check myself for testicular cancer. My doctor wasn't worried even though I asked him about that or lymphoma when I was in. Maybe my blood work would've been off if that were the case?

I have been to a dermatologist twice. I could look into an infectious disease doctor but do you think this will be a waste of my money since I have already been to urgent care, a dermatologist twice, my general practitioner twice, and planned parenthood twice?

Also I am going today again to planned parenthood to have my 7 week HSV-2 test. From what I understand around 80 % of newly infected patients will test positive by this time.

[mkh9]

These do look a lot like Mollucum. If you see any that have a indented center then you will know that is what they are. They are circular with an indented center. Sometimes they don't start out with the indent but then later get the indent. They are very itchy.

The scrotal pain could be a lot of things but often a urinary tract infection, injury, etc. I assume you check yourself for testicular cancer monthly. A lot men don't but you should. I don't think that is related but it is something that should always be said if not by your doctor. Also, kidney stones, hernia. But since it is dull it could be from a slight injury or maybe urinary tract infection. Do you have any burning with urination?

If you had a blood infection you would have a high fever.

Not sure whether it is fungal (yeast).

You might want to see a dermatologist and/or a infectious disease doctor. T
mkh9

mkh9

[johnnyjohnnerson]

Thank you so much for your reply!

It doesn't matter if you are not a doctor. Most of the time it seems the people on these forums are more well versed on specific topics than Doctors anyways. I'm sure doctors don't spend countless days and nights researching about herpes and STD's like many here have. All I am ever looking for is advice so I can look into the right treatments. Usually I am the one asking my doc for certain meds anyways or trying to relay messages to him about my condition.

So the girl sent a pic of what looked to be molluscum contagiosum after all of this happened and said it's the only thing she could find anywhere while examining herself really well.

https://flic.kr/p/pp5HDK
(I hope that's what this is and not an overlooked herpes breakout)

The pills I took were fluconazole. He gave me two one packs and told me to take the first, then the second one week later.

I have been using lamisil for quite a while. Not sure if it's helping much but I'm also not sure I've been perfect in using it twice a day every day. The spots on penile head are still there as well as the itching.

https://flic.kr/p/q4h5Mm
https://flic.kr/p/q4qxR4
https://flic.kr/p/q4p7BF
https://flic.kr/p/pea8Xh
As far as testing for Trichomonas or other bacteria I don't think they did. My doctor did mention something about seeing bacteria in my blood work if it was present but that it wasn't. I may have misunderstood that though so I'm not sure.

Thank you again for your help. Might be worth it to note that the girls still claims she has no symptoms at all and I also swear I have a very minimal but persistent dull ache in my scrotum so I'm not sure what to make of that.

thanks

[mkh9]

Hi and sorry you are having these problems. I am not a doctor just a microbiologist. It does sound like either a fungal (or yeast) or the molluscum contagiosum.  The molluscum contagiosum takes a long time to go away and itches a whole lot. If you also have a fungal problem and it is a yeast did you take the fluconazole? Often times they give you that topical and the yeast is becoming very resistant to it. So you need terbinafine topical. This is Lamisil Cream. But you may have to ask a doctor to see if you can use it in the anal area or on the penis. I don't think you can. It is for non sensitive areas. They may have to give you an oral terbinafine prescription. If you take that you can't drink alcohol and have to drink a lot of water as it is hard on your liver.  Do you know if they also tested you for Trichomonas and two other bacteria that are not as common
1. Mycoplama genitalium and 1. Ureaplasma urealyticum.  These also cause STI's but are not always tested for. So if you can check to see if they tested for these three organisms it would good to find out and if not get tested for them. They have a "research use only" PCR or molecular test for the last two. But the labs do test for them and validated their test. They call it research use only because they don't want to pay for the huge fee for FDA clearance now.
hope this helps.
mkh9

[johnnyjohnnerson]

some additional notes I forgot to add:

The tip of my penis has been pretty sensitive and feels very dry and scaly during this entire mess. It seems to be worse when I am erect.

Ejaculating seems slightly off (almost like there is more pressure up there towards the tip or something. No sharp pain, but just extra pressure which feels slightly uncomfortable and worth noticing).

I have had occasional incidences where it feels like I have a rash, but there is not one. This happens on my inner thighs, the space between my scrotum and thigh, and above my penis around my pubic bone area. It feels like a burn as if I will look and it will be all red. But when I look there is nothing abnormal.