It was there for about 40 hours before resolving completely. Bump gone, redness gone, still a bit tender, but able to be retracted. Put myself on Valcyclovir 500mg regimen daily for past two years because of it. Tested multiple times for HSV2, all negative, and tested today for HSV1, negative, which may be influenced by the Valcyclovir, I know. 

My doctors—I’ve seen at least 10 at this point—have varying opinions, but all seem to think that taking Valtrex daily for that is contraindicated. They’ve examined me at least 50 times in the past two years and have never found anything that is even swabable nor herpetic lesion-like. 

Questions:

1. Does that sound like a typical initial outbreak from what was described in March 2019?

2. Thoughts on the necessity of taking Valcyclovir any longer?

it really isn't possible to know if what you had was HSV 1 or not.  There are three problems here:  1) from what you've said, the bump was not swab tested at the time it was there, 2) the IgG test for HSV 1 misses 70% of HSV 1 infections compared to the western blot and 3) you've been taking valtrex continuously so you may be impacting your antibody test, though two years out is a long time.  It's a shame that you decided to take this medicine for so long without a diagnosis and now, the medicine may be confusing the picture.  If you were my patient, I would recommend that you stop the Valtrex.  If you have an outbreak, get it swab tested.  If you don't, do a western blot three months after you stop taking the medicine.  However, IF you are positive for HSV 1 by the blot, you cannot know for certain if the infection is oral or genital.

Terri

Of course there is always a chance that this is correct - a 70% chance

Terri