[Question #1798] Possibility of having genital herpes?

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90 months ago

Hi, never had cold sores and had raw sex with this girl from Feb. to Oct. last year. The night after the first time, I got really sick from a cold and food poisoning so I don't know if I experienced initial symptoms. I experienced a bit of urine coming down to my urethra towards the end of Dec. or in the beginning of Jan. On Jan. 13th I felt a cold so I went to bed early with symptoms like tender lymph nodes underneath my neck. I woke up with the lymph nodes in my groins hurting instead; they were solid and seemed swollen on both sides. There's a burning sensation while urinating, and had to go to the bathroom frequently, (maybe from drinking too much?) Itchiness throughout the body (from anxiety? BUT), especially in the penis, perineum, and anal areas. My penis seemed a bit swollen, and red but not too sure if I misdiagnosed. I drank a lot of alcohol and walked around a lot which really hurt my groin lymph nodes, and the next morning I saw my penis head showing a little bit of weird dry area; my penis shrunk; and some sort of soft but painful lump on the shaft. It could have been underneath the foreskin. After a day or so, the lump disappeared so I couldn't get that checked at local clinic and by a urologist. Everything came back negative except HSV because they didn't test for it. About a week ago, after masturbating I noticed redness underneath one side of penis and it hurt, following that other small areas began hurting. Maybe from trying to observe too much? I see no visible lesions, but small bumps could be normal skin seems like herpes too. What’s my chance?

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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
90 months ago
It's very difficult to say what might be going on here.   I am assuming that you mean that you had sex without  a condom, right?
Do you have any idea about your previous partner's HSV status?
The bump that you described - did it break the surface of the skin at any time?  Herpes would likely break the skin.
The symptoms that you describe are a bit general and vague.  General redness and possible general swelling are not really classic herpes symptoms. 
Yes, most people have some bumps in the genital area - hair follicles, etc. 
Have you ever been tested for herpes?

Terri
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90 months ago
Thank you for responding! Sorry if my writing was hard to read because of the limit. I'll write more details, here.
Yes, I have never used condom with this girl. This girl never had any sexual relationship besides me and this other guy.

I went around to see all kinds of examples of herpes breakout from mild cases to bad ones to compare my lump and the small bumps, and the only the latter looked similar to some of the VERY mild ones which had no skin breaks, and regular skin at the same time. She claims that she never had cold sores, nor any weird signs like the pictures that I made her take a look at. Her test results are the same as mine.  

About the pain, I think it's a friction burn because it's been a week long and the redness disappeared but the pain persists, and the following burns are caused by me trying to observe any bumps, which made micro-abrasions on my sensitive skin. 
Itchiness disappeared soon after day 1. Now, the swollen glands, went away around the end of Jan. My urologist think I have stress related CPPS, because I still have pain in the perineum region and have to go to the bathroom frequently still. I've been prescribed with bactrim for a month just to make sure it's not from undiagnosed bacteria, and dysuria was already going away but it completely went away as I started taking the medicine. I am just worried if I have atypical case of herpes along with this. I have never got tested for herpes but am willing to go get a IGG test if it's worth it in this case. I know herpes can stay dormant but since I never had cold sores shouldn't I get these signs way before? Do you think I have genital herpes from the added details? Thank you!
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
90 months ago
I really don't know if you have genital herpes but from what you have written about yourself currently, THIS doesn't sound like herpes to me.  I think if you cannot put this worry to rest, you could get an IgG test - the CDC says herpes testing should be considered while doing an STD screen. Let me ask you - how many sex partners have you had in your lifetime?  Perhaps I can help you assess your risk better if I know that.

Terri
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90 months ago
This girl is the only one. For some reason, clinics here doesn't do any blood tests but swab only. I asked the physician to take a look at the dry area, and he said everything looks normal, but I couldn't get the bump checked out.
I'll make sure to get IGG test soon, but for now I can finally stop worrying about having herpes because it doesn't sound like it. Thank you.
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90 months ago
Also, if it is caused by GHSV1 would the symptoms like this happen this mildly?
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Terri Warren, RN, Nurse Practitioner
90 months ago
If this is your only lifetime partner, and your partner has only had you and one other person,I don't think a herpes antibody test is necessary.  You are what we call a low risk person - very limited number of partners.  If you do test and get a positive result we should talk again.  For now, I'm not worried about you!

Terri
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