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herpes and gonorrhea question for medical experts
Hi all,
This post might be a bit long but I would like to give all of the information. I recently got positive pcr test results back for both herpes and gonorrhea. My symptoms started with painful urination and then sores developed on the shaft of my penis. If required (for better info and analysis) I can outline all the details from how the symptoms started and progressed and what I was treated for at the start and testing, etc.
For now, I'll skip to the basis of my question. The sexual contact in question was no less than 27 days prior to my first sign of symptoms, and I think it was actually even more, up to 35 days maximum. Based on the research I have done, the incubation period for gonorrhea is normally between 4 and 14 days and for herpes its around the same. I do not see many resources stating incubations of 27 or 30 days. On top of this, the sexual contact in question was moderately low risk: it was unprotected genital contact with no penetration and for a short period of time. The person in question however is higher risk, since I know she gets around.
I would like hopefully some professional opinion on the likeliness that this sexual encounter was the source of the infections, based on the incubation period stated. I've already read almost every website regarding the incubation periods but they all give "typical" case durations. A few have said gonorrhea can take a month to show symptoms.
Please avoid speculation and guessing, I'm looking for someone with expertise in the subject or anyone else who has found proper research on it.
Im confused as to where this came from based on the incubation period. What is the probability? Likely but rare? Possible? Effectively zero? Please help me out.
Thank you
This post might be a bit long but I would like to give all of the information. I recently got positive pcr test results back for both herpes and gonorrhea. My symptoms started with painful urination and then sores developed on the shaft of my penis. If required (for better info and analysis) I can outline all the details from how the symptoms started and progressed and what I was treated for at the start and testing, etc.
For now, I'll skip to the basis of my question. The sexual contact in question was no less than 27 days prior to my first sign of symptoms, and I think it was actually even more, up to 35 days maximum. Based on the research I have done, the incubation period for gonorrhea is normally between 4 and 14 days and for herpes its around the same. I do not see many resources stating incubations of 27 or 30 days. On top of this, the sexual contact in question was moderately low risk: it was unprotected genital contact with no penetration and for a short period of time. The person in question however is higher risk, since I know she gets around.
I would like hopefully some professional opinion on the likeliness that this sexual encounter was the source of the infections, based on the incubation period stated. I've already read almost every website regarding the incubation periods but they all give "typical" case durations. A few have said gonorrhea can take a month to show symptoms.
Please avoid speculation and guessing, I'm looking for someone with expertise in the subject or anyone else who has found proper research on it.
Im confused as to where this came from based on the incubation period. What is the probability? Likely but rare? Possible? Effectively zero? Please help me out.
Thank you
Ya, the most logical conclusion (unfortunately) I can draw with this information is that I probably didn't have both of these for months or years without symptoms and it's more likely that she picked it up about a week before I came back from the 4 weeks away. Based on my having symptoms in the typical range for incubation, and the low risk of the previous encounter, and her having potential symptoms when we had sex after the 4 weeks..
Ugh, to me the worst part about the stds is not being able to know the absolute truth. Problem is I truly want to believe her that she didn't cheat, and I honestly don't believe she is the type (I have a good bs detector as well), but there is no way to know for sure without a lie detector lol.
Has anyone else been in this situation? Was it possible to accept the possibility your partner cheated and lied and stay with that person and be able to trust them down the road? I would prefer they admit it.. This has become psychiatric now so I'll end it here.
Thanks again for taking the time to help me.
Ugh, to me the worst part about the stds is not being able to know the absolute truth. Problem is I truly want to believe her that she didn't cheat, and I honestly don't believe she is the type (I have a good bs detector as well), but there is no way to know for sure without a lie detector lol.
Has anyone else been in this situation? Was it possible to accept the possibility your partner cheated and lied and stay with that person and be able to trust them down the road? I would prefer they admit it.. This has become psychiatric now so I'll end it here.
Thanks again for taking the time to help me.
really nothing more I can add about the encounter in question.
yes, gonorrhea symptoms will clear up on their own in time even without treatment. not treating it though typically ends up causing fertility issues due to damage from the infection.
really nothing definite that you can determine at this point about who had it first and when if you didn't both have full std testing prior to starting to be intimate together. certainly have that difficult conversation with your partner and get it out of the way.
yes, gonorrhea symptoms will clear up on their own in time even without treatment. not treating it though typically ends up causing fertility issues due to damage from the infection.
really nothing definite that you can determine at this point about who had it first and when if you didn't both have full std testing prior to starting to be intimate together. certainly have that difficult conversation with your partner and get it out of the way.
Ok I'm going to confuse the issue a bit now with the rest of the details.
I have a current girlfriend, and we've been seeing each other since before the skin to skin contact mentioned above, and we always had unprotected sex with no symptoms for months before.
Two weeks after the skin to skin incident (and 10 days before my symptoms, so in between), my current gf and I had unprotected sex for the first time in 4 weeks with no pain no problems. 12 hours after this, we had sex again no pain. 12 hours later (evening again) and after sex, she was in extreme pain. All the sex was reasonably hard and it had been 4 weeks since we had sex. The next day or two she was still in pain, had some spotting, and it hurt for her to pee a bit. We went to the clinic and they inspected her visually and diagnosed her with a cut or torn vaginal wall and gave her vaginal tablets to help the healing.
During the tablet use, she noticed a yellowish discharge, but it was exactly the same colour as the tablets (we opened one) so this is not conclusive evidence of discharge. After completing the tablets (6 days) she was fine and we resumed unprotected sex as usual, no pain. 3 days later (10 days after the first sex in 4 weeks), I get my first symptoms.
Its now been 3 weeks since her symptoms stopped and she hasn't had anymore or been treated for gonorrhea (from what I understand, gonorrhea won't heal itself, so if she had it the symptoms wouldn't stop, right?).
If the likeliness of my first skin to skin encounter is as low as you say it is, this means I either had both infections before and was asymptomatic for a long time (possibly years) and then randomly became symptomatic (seems unlikely) OR it means she cheated on me during the 4 week period we were apart.
I realize medically and statistically and based on the symptoms appearing 10 days after being back with my gf, that what makes the mose sense is that she cheated and I got it from her, and the vaginal tear diagnosis was a misdiagnosis of herpes/gonorrhea.
So the reason I wanted to know about the likeliness of the skin to skin contact some 30 days before symptoms, is because I don't want to accuse her if it's possible that was the source.
So can you give your opinion on the full details now please?
Also, can someone get gonorrhea and have symptoms, and have the symptoms go away without treatment? I.e. Intermittent symptoms?
Also, can urine and swab pcr tests for gonorrhea come back negative if you aren't having symptoms? She is currently doing tests for all std's (except igg and igm, no place to do those here).
Basically if she comes back negative (unless false-negatives are possible as per above), then I think I can assume I had it before, or got it from the skin to skin. If she comes back positive, it's much more likely she cheated during the 4 weeks and I got it from her. Logical?
Sorry for length of post, and thank you.
I have a current girlfriend, and we've been seeing each other since before the skin to skin contact mentioned above, and we always had unprotected sex with no symptoms for months before.
Two weeks after the skin to skin incident (and 10 days before my symptoms, so in between), my current gf and I had unprotected sex for the first time in 4 weeks with no pain no problems. 12 hours after this, we had sex again no pain. 12 hours later (evening again) and after sex, she was in extreme pain. All the sex was reasonably hard and it had been 4 weeks since we had sex. The next day or two she was still in pain, had some spotting, and it hurt for her to pee a bit. We went to the clinic and they inspected her visually and diagnosed her with a cut or torn vaginal wall and gave her vaginal tablets to help the healing.
During the tablet use, she noticed a yellowish discharge, but it was exactly the same colour as the tablets (we opened one) so this is not conclusive evidence of discharge. After completing the tablets (6 days) she was fine and we resumed unprotected sex as usual, no pain. 3 days later (10 days after the first sex in 4 weeks), I get my first symptoms.
Its now been 3 weeks since her symptoms stopped and she hasn't had anymore or been treated for gonorrhea (from what I understand, gonorrhea won't heal itself, so if she had it the symptoms wouldn't stop, right?).
If the likeliness of my first skin to skin encounter is as low as you say it is, this means I either had both infections before and was asymptomatic for a long time (possibly years) and then randomly became symptomatic (seems unlikely) OR it means she cheated on me during the 4 week period we were apart.
I realize medically and statistically and based on the symptoms appearing 10 days after being back with my gf, that what makes the mose sense is that she cheated and I got it from her, and the vaginal tear diagnosis was a misdiagnosis of herpes/gonorrhea.
So the reason I wanted to know about the likeliness of the skin to skin contact some 30 days before symptoms, is because I don't want to accuse her if it's possible that was the source.
So can you give your opinion on the full details now please?
Also, can someone get gonorrhea and have symptoms, and have the symptoms go away without treatment? I.e. Intermittent symptoms?
Also, can urine and swab pcr tests for gonorrhea come back negative if you aren't having symptoms? She is currently doing tests for all std's (except igg and igm, no place to do those here).
Basically if she comes back negative (unless false-negatives are possible as per above), then I think I can assume I had it before, or got it from the skin to skin. If she comes back positive, it's much more likely she cheated during the 4 weeks and I got it from her. Logical?
Sorry for length of post, and thank you.
it's far more likely you had both infections prior to this encounter.
typically std testing is only 2-3 std's and doesn't include herpes testing. you can call monday to see what you were actually last tested for to start trying to figure this out more.
typically std testing is only 2-3 std's and doesn't include herpes testing. you can call monday to see what you were actually last tested for to start trying to figure this out more.
So a lot of the reading I'm doing on other posts here and the internet seem to think that non-penetrative genital rubbing is a veery low risk event. Although reading general sti facts shows otherwise - without stating likelihoods, the general facts always say "skin to skin" contact can transmit many of them.
So what are the realistic opinions on the probability of my situation described above being the source? Let's assume the person in question was in fact infected with both, are the odds even in the realm of reasonable possibility considering what I've described and also the unusually long incubation?
Thanks again
So what are the realistic opinions on the probability of my situation described above being the source? Let's assume the person in question was in fact infected with both, are the odds even in the realm of reasonable possibility considering what I've described and also the unusually long incubation?
Thanks again
I had a full medical about a year ago for work purposes. Not sure if they did any std tests though, but I came out in good health then. Aside from that, we can essentially say never. I've mostly had long term faithful relationships.
Another theory of mine is that I had asymptomatic herpes for years and then got the gonorrhea from this no penetration encounter, which then resulting in my first herpes OB due to the stress of the gonorrhea issues. Does this sound plausible?
How likely is non penetrative organ to organ contact to transfer gonorrhea? Also, is it possible to have a 27-35 day incubation period for gonorrhea?
To answer your first question, I have not had contact with the partner in question since the event, but I doubt she's done any testing.
If she was the source, is the incubation time stated above possible for these infections?
Appreciate your help
Another theory of mine is that I had asymptomatic herpes for years and then got the gonorrhea from this no penetration encounter, which then resulting in my first herpes OB due to the stress of the gonorrhea issues. Does this sound plausible?
How likely is non penetrative organ to organ contact to transfer gonorrhea? Also, is it possible to have a 27-35 day incubation period for gonorrhea?
To answer your first question, I have not had contact with the partner in question since the event, but I doubt she's done any testing.
If she was the source, is the incubation time stated above possible for these infections?
Appreciate your help
has this partner followed up on their own testing?
it's very low risk to contract gonorrhea and herpes from naked outer course. when was the last time you had std testing prior to this encounter?
grace
it's very low risk to contract gonorrhea and herpes from naked outer course. when was the last time you had std testing prior to this encounter?
grace
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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.
