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Possible symptoms or headgames????
Hello. I am 12 days removed from a stupid and brief sexual encounter with a person that has HSV-1. I am a male and was the receiver of unprotected oral sex from a girl for roughly 3 to 4 minutes. After it was over I noticed a small pink patch under her bottom lip, not on it. Of course I freaked out and began questioning. I wish I had seen it before. She said it was a healing cold sore and she gets them once or twice a year for the last 15 years or so and to not panic. She said it started tingling 6 days before our encounter and she immediately took her Acyclovir and started using the prescription cream. She said it never "oozes" or gets that big and that the dry skin had already fallen off. All that was left was a little pink patch roughly the size of a tic tac. I am fairly certain that my penis did not touch that "pink patch". It was under the lip and not on it. They might be irrelevant. Can you catch HSV from other parts? Was her sore even shedding at that point?
Anyway, I have been obsessing over this for the last 12 days now. On day 9 after exposure, I had 2 bouts of diarrhea, which of course panicked me. It could have been from the fast food the night before. No diarrhea since. On day 10, I started experiencing a strange vibrating sensation in my left thigh above my knee but no higher than mid thigh. It's like a cell phone vibration for like 1 to 2 seconds whenever i touch the area or move my leg a certain way. No pain, just an odd sensation. I have read that herpes can cause strange leg sensations so of course I am driving myself nuts.
I have NOT had any other noticeable symptoms of HSV. No tingling, spots, pain, fever, aches. I know I can't get a test this early. Stressed out! I have pretty much drank myself to sleep every night since and I have been using prescription pain killers to help sleep sometimes. Is it likely to experience this without the other symptoms? Also, How soon after you have been infected with HSV can you pass it on?
Anyway, I have been obsessing over this for the last 12 days now. On day 9 after exposure, I had 2 bouts of diarrhea, which of course panicked me. It could have been from the fast food the night before. No diarrhea since. On day 10, I started experiencing a strange vibrating sensation in my left thigh above my knee but no higher than mid thigh. It's like a cell phone vibration for like 1 to 2 seconds whenever i touch the area or move my leg a certain way. No pain, just an odd sensation. I have read that herpes can cause strange leg sensations so of course I am driving myself nuts.
I have NOT had any other noticeable symptoms of HSV. No tingling, spots, pain, fever, aches. I know I can't get a test this early. Stressed out! I have pretty much drank myself to sleep every night since and I have been using prescription pain killers to help sleep sometimes. Is it likely to experience this without the other symptoms? Also, How soon after you have been infected with HSV can you pass it on?
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Welcome to the forum.
I understand your concern. And I believe your partner behaved somewhat irresponsibly; the standard advice to people with recurrent herpes, whether genital or oral, is that they should not expose other persons during recurrent outbreaks, until the outbreak has totally healed -- i.e. no remaining redness, scab, etc. On the other hand, it is very likely her lesion was nearly healed and that she was not continuing to shed virus -- especially since she treated herself with acyclovir.
As for your symptoms, they do not even hint at herpes, which is not a plausible cause of diarrhea or the "vibrating" sensation in your thigh. Apparently you have read about the prodrome, i.e. nerve symptoms like tingling, burning, etc before an outbreak. However, that's an issue only for recurrent hepes outbreaks, not for the first symptoms of a new infection. The diarrhea probably was indeed related to a recent meal -- and the tingling sounds like anxiety making you notice otherwise trivial body sensations.
Had you acquired genital HSV-1, by now you probably would have had other, more typical symptoms -- especially painful blsiters/sores of the penis. Assuming such symptoms don't appear in the next few days -- i.e. within 2-3 weeks of the sexual contact -- I recommend against testing for HSV or any other STD. However, if you insist on testing, you should have an initial blood test right away, as a baseline against which to compare future test results; then have another HSV blood test about 3 months after the event.
In the meantime, stay mellow. It is very unilikey you were infected.
Regards-- HHH, MD
I understand your concern. And I believe your partner behaved somewhat irresponsibly; the standard advice to people with recurrent herpes, whether genital or oral, is that they should not expose other persons during recurrent outbreaks, until the outbreak has totally healed -- i.e. no remaining redness, scab, etc. On the other hand, it is very likely her lesion was nearly healed and that she was not continuing to shed virus -- especially since she treated herself with acyclovir.
As for your symptoms, they do not even hint at herpes, which is not a plausible cause of diarrhea or the "vibrating" sensation in your thigh. Apparently you have read about the prodrome, i.e. nerve symptoms like tingling, burning, etc before an outbreak. However, that's an issue only for recurrent hepes outbreaks, not for the first symptoms of a new infection. The diarrhea probably was indeed related to a recent meal -- and the tingling sounds like anxiety making you notice otherwise trivial body sensations.
Had you acquired genital HSV-1, by now you probably would have had other, more typical symptoms -- especially painful blsiters/sores of the penis. Assuming such symptoms don't appear in the next few days -- i.e. within 2-3 weeks of the sexual contact -- I recommend against testing for HSV or any other STD. However, if you insist on testing, you should have an initial blood test right away, as a baseline against which to compare future test results; then have another HSV blood test about 3 months after the event.
In the meantime, stay mellow. It is very unilikey you were infected.
Regards-- HHH, MD
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
In the very unlikely chance you were infected, probably it would be transmissible within a few days.
Thank you so much Dr Handsfield. You have brought my anxiety level down at least a good 80%. I should get tested in a few months anyway just for the piece of mind and responsibility. I suppose I myself could have been a carrier for years and not even known it. I was curious however as to how soon after infection you could pass the virus on to another person? Thanks again.
You are reading content posted in the STDs Forum
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.
