A few questions

[Worriedshawn]

So I have a few questions that have been touched on around the forum but I was hoping to get more detail and have all of the answers in one place:

1. I've read that if you never had HSV1 and get HSV2 you are more likely to have the "classic" outbreak. How often is this true?

2. I know the IGM test is not recommended because of false positives but I read a post by Terrie Warren that said a negative on the IGM is still a good sign even tho she advises people to avoid the test because of the potential for false positives. My question is how accurate is the negative IGM at 10 days in terms of negative prediction?

3. When people experience the tingles in the lower back butt legs and feet is it a  continuous line? If your knee tingles do you feel it from the lower back down the thigh to the knee or can it be just in the knee or just in the foot?

4. How effective are condoms in protecting males? Some reports by HHH say 50-90% some say 30% and others say very little protection for the male because females typically shed outside the vagina. What is the truth?

5. Some of the experts list the chance of a 1 time encounter with a condom as 1/1000 others as 1/10,000 and other studies show at 2x a week most people get it within 3 months so wouldn't that be 1/24? What's the truth?

6. If a person is asymptomatic is it plausible to assume that they would seroconvert faster or have detectable antibodies faster because the body prevented an outbreak so it had a higher immune response?

7. Does a younger person typically produce antibodies faster than an older person?

[Fleetwood20]

There is nothing in these symptoms that suggests herpes.

[Worriedshawn]

Thanks again your reassurance is always calming

[Worriedshawn]

Thanks for all of your helpful responses you really are a great asset.

You answered my original question several weeks ago about my encounter I was hoping I could give you some additional details for your opinion even though I'm pretty sure I know what the response will be.

So for about the first 5 weeks I had pain on the inside side of my left knee, and lower left back. I never experienced anything going down the back of my thigh or butt. For a few days around week 3 or 4 after my encounter I felt a tailbone pain but it went away about a week later.

Week 6 I had a pretty bad flu and after that the back pain and knee pain gradually went away. Week 8-9 my left foot has this weird tingling feeling that I haven't seen really referenced by anyone but it feels like a slight electrical feeling or like an insect or something is crawling on the bottom of my foot. It's not painful or that noticeable unless I'm sitting still either at my desk or driving that I notice it. It's a weird sensation but been there for a week and that's what got me concerned all over again.

I haven't noticed any blisters or anything should I be concerned about this foot thing or is it not herpes related?

[Fleetwood20]

However having said all the above, your circumstances are such that you do not have genital herpes.

[Fleetwood20]

To answer your questions:

1. Very true, it occurs somewhere between 80-95% in my experience.

2. It is a pointless test, some people do not even produce detectable IgM antibodies.

3. The tingles or crawling feeling is usually at the base of the spine only. The legs experience a sunburn feeling preceding a recurrent outbreak but not a primary outbreak.Both these sensations are quite rare.

4. 30-50% is my interpretation of data.

5. The odds are low ONLY if the infected person knows they are infected. If this is the case and sex avoided during potential outbreaks then transmission are 1 in 2,000 per episode type odds and get longer with antivirals and condoms.

6. Yes that is plausible.

7. Yes that is likely.