Had unprotected sex with same partner of 1+ year Sunday, had slight irritation after sex. Used RepHresh clean balance two part kit on Tuesday (douche and vaginal gel) first time using such a product.   Made everything much worse. Burning while urinating, itchy, lesions after use. Gyno diagnosed today as herpes. Lab results are not back yet. Is giving diagnosis before lab results and only visual exam standard practice? Should I take Valacyclovir as she persceibed before test results are back? 

oh yes, yes, take the medicine until the results are back.  For sure.  I have no idea what RepHresh is - are you spelling that correctly?  Has your partner had an antibody test for herpes?  My wild guess is that you were getting herpes (if that's what this is), used the medicine and the medicine may have had no impact but that the herpes was blowing up on it's own.  I"m so hoping your doctor did a swab test - did they ?  If not, then I would suggest that you not take the medicine until you've had a swab test, Molly.

Terri
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Thanks for your reply. It's spelled correctly but the product that I took was just an over the counter douche and vaginal gel. 

If the swab test from the lesion is positive, you don't need a western blot, no.  But if the swab test is negative, I would suggest that you wait about 12 weeks from the point of contact and do an IgG antibody test. It is certainly possible that it is an allergic reaction to the stuff you used also.  Hard to say at this poit.

Terri
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Apparently the swab test was positive, the delivery of the results was confusing and over the phone. I've asked for the Patient Portal to be updated with results as I'd like to look at them. 

The delivery of this news seems a bit heartless and incomplete.  You need to know the type of the virus - HSV 1 and HSV 2 are very different diseases in the genital area and you need to know the type to accurately think about transmission to another person.  I would say that it is very likely that the lab still has your specimen.  I would call immediately today and ask that the specimen be typed (and you can add "as the CDC recommends for all positive swab tests in their 2015 STD treatment guidelines".  Be forceful - you need to know and it will take a while for a blood test to tell you.  I hope you will obtain reading materials about herpes so you can get accurate information to help you and you can always come back here with questions.  This is your last post on this subscription, but feel free to renew if you have more questions, OK? 

Best
Terri
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