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Constant mild penis pain - Herpes?
Hello. I'll try to make this relatively brief. A couple of months ago, I had a long sexual encounter with someone I'd just met, with included lots of kissing and naked body rubbing, including genital-to-genital, but no penetration, oral or otherwise. A few days later, I started to feel a burning sensation on my penis, but no noticeable lesions or sores. Some sort of substance (whitish, grayish) did appear on my penis head and shaft though and I could rub it away with my fingertips. I thought I had a yeast infection so I used some cream for 7 days.
Nearly a month after the encounter I was still feeling some mild burning on the penis shaft, so I decided to see a doctor. He thought it might be nerve pain due to herpes; I was thinking similarly. He prescribed 10 days of Valtrex and I had igG tests for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 done. The HSV-2 result was <.91, and the HSV-1 result was 1.4 or so. In August 2011, I had the same tests done with similar results (1.08 adn 1.65 respectively). The pain ALMOST completely went away after the seventh day of the prescription, but I didn't go back to "normal".
About a week and a half ago, I had another sexual encounter of a similar sort. Lots of kissing, rubbing, naked body contact, no penetration. A few days later, the pain increased, no lesions or sores, slight redness in a couple of small areas in my penis shaft, and a bit of the same substance appeared which I could rub away with my fingertips. There is still some pain today; bearable, but causing a little discomfort and lots of stress.
I'm wondering if this could be herpes; I've been wondering for a while now. I do plan to get retested later this month.
By the way, I've had a high sex drive for a long time now and I masturbated a lot before the encounter I mentioned at the beginning. I am uncut and I didn't use any lubrication, with no problem. Since the encounter, I don't masturbate as often and my penis skin looks a bit different and seems to be drier. The main concern of mine is the constant mild pain.
Any advice? Counsel? Thanks.
Nearly a month after the encounter I was still feeling some mild burning on the penis shaft, so I decided to see a doctor. He thought it might be nerve pain due to herpes; I was thinking similarly. He prescribed 10 days of Valtrex and I had igG tests for both HSV-1 and HSV-2 done. The HSV-2 result was <.91, and the HSV-1 result was 1.4 or so. In August 2011, I had the same tests done with similar results (1.08 adn 1.65 respectively). The pain ALMOST completely went away after the seventh day of the prescription, but I didn't go back to "normal".
About a week and a half ago, I had another sexual encounter of a similar sort. Lots of kissing, rubbing, naked body contact, no penetration. A few days later, the pain increased, no lesions or sores, slight redness in a couple of small areas in my penis shaft, and a bit of the same substance appeared which I could rub away with my fingertips. There is still some pain today; bearable, but causing a little discomfort and lots of stress.
I'm wondering if this could be herpes; I've been wondering for a while now. I do plan to get retested later this month.
By the way, I've had a high sex drive for a long time now and I masturbated a lot before the encounter I mentioned at the beginning. I am uncut and I didn't use any lubrication, with no problem. Since the encounter, I don't masturbate as often and my penis skin looks a bit different and seems to be drier. The main concern of mine is the constant mild pain.
Any advice? Counsel? Thanks.
Not likely, you'd need to assume an oral infection at this stage. Even if it was genital, it is unlikely to cause such issues years post an infection.
Thanks for your reply. It seems that I have been HSV-1 positive for at least two years. Do you think that this could this be genital HSV-1?
There is not really a link between your symptoms and herpes as a first choice of diagnosis. I have no idea what your doctor was thinking.
The chance of a Genital HSV infection from the episodes you describe is extremely small, even if the partners had HSV2 in the first place.
It seems much more likely you have a bacterial or fungal infection from the sexual episodes or even not given a lot of masturbation that would be weakening your skin defenses. The pain could even be a form of bruising or small leakage inside the penis.
Follow up with testing in a further 3 months to be conclusive, but I don't see any particular reason to be concerned.
The chance of a Genital HSV infection from the episodes you describe is extremely small, even if the partners had HSV2 in the first place.
It seems much more likely you have a bacterial or fungal infection from the sexual episodes or even not given a lot of masturbation that would be weakening your skin defenses. The pain could even be a form of bruising or small leakage inside the penis.
Follow up with testing in a further 3 months to be conclusive, but I don't see any particular reason to be concerned.
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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.
