Sorry about the length... this has been an ongoing saga, and it's driving me crazy with worry and depression. I'd love any input on similar experiences to my story, but feel free to skip to my specific questions at the end.
About three months ago, I started having unprotected vaginal and oral sex with my girlfriend (she started taking the pill). We'd both tested clean for STDs in the past, though I don't believe herpes was ever included, as seems oddly typical.
A week or so later, I developed a bad case of folliculitis (inflamed hair follicles) on my upper thighs, accompanied by an isolated blister on a hairless part of the shaft of my penis that, over the course of a week, progressed through what seemed like the typical stages of a herpes outbreak -- though it could've also been a folliculitis boil, which progresses through similar stages if large enough. I also experienced swelling and pain in my lymph nodes, and tingling/itching on my scrotum (which has continued to this day). My primary MD ruled out -- wrongly, I now realize -- the possibility of herpes, saying that it "always" appeared as a cluster of blisters, rather than just one, and refused to do a swab or blood test. The blister itself didn't hurt too badly, nor did it itch at all. And I would've chalked it up to the folliculitis if the symptoms didn't continue...
About a month or two later, I got what appeared to be a cold sore for the first time in my life. Though again, it was mild, and could very well have been an unfortunately-located pimple. It never burst or anything -- it was just a red bump. It was followed by intense itching all over the bottom portion of my face. It cleared up within 3-4 days -- a rather short time for an initial herpes outbreak, I realize, but I was obsessively treating it with meds so maybe that helped.
Being somewhat paranoid by this time, I also started noticing other signs, such as pain and a large clear blister-like thing on my pointer finger... but that might've always been there and I just didn't notice -- the scar from an old burn, maybe? In any case, it's been there six weeks now, and still hurts occasionally... can whitlow last that long during the primary outbreak?
Around this time, I saw a dermatologist who said that while herpes was a possibility, it was unlikely given that I didn't have direct contact with any visible sores, and that the isolated penis blister and scrotal tingling were most likely red herrings -- a result of some sort of eczema. I had a 7-week blood test, which came back negative for both types of HSV. My girlfriend's came back positive for type 1, but apparently that's very common, and she's never experienced any outbreaks. She did however have a mild yeast infection, and I'm getting conflicting information as to whether that's contagious or not, or whether that has the capacity to cause blisters in men.
This past week has brought the latest symptoms. I first noticed some isolated pains in my penis, and a day later noticed two raised red dots. They were tiny, almost appearing like slightly red/inflammed sebaceous glands. But maybe this was a very mild recurrence? I noticed a different sort of pain this time around -- it feels like it's more "inside," like in the urethra, and at the tip of my penis. The dots have mostly disappeared, but the tip pain remains, and I think I'm noticing a very small amount of clear discharge. The scrotal tingling/itching has doubled since the dots appeared.
My 12 week HSV blood test, which I just got the results of, was again negative, so I'm supposed to wait another three months to retest... but I really need answers now, as this is driving me insane and I'm terrified of spreading this to other areas on my body and/or to my girlfriend (assuming I didn't get it from her).
So in a nutshell,
1. Has anyone had an experience even remotely similar to this?
2. Could syphilis, eczema, or a yeast infection be other possibilities? It seems like syphilis could theoretically explain the blisters/mouth sores, but not the scrotal tingling, and yeast the exact opposite. I would've thought herpes would show up for sure by now in a blood test, and cause more itching/pain than it has.
3. Is constant scrotal tingling a sign of herpes? It seems like that should only be happening during a prodrome, but I've read in some other people's herpes stories that they too experienced that for awhile after being infected.
4. Can whitlow last 6+ weeks during a primary outbreak?
5. In your estimation, am I just reading too much into all these symptoms? Is it more likely a combination of other factors/infections?
6. Any other comments/observations/ideas?
Thanks for any help.