Do I have herpes?

[zed1993]

I had a risky sexual encounter almost two months ago, although vaginal sex was protected I performed unprotected oral sex on the woman and received unprotected oral sex myself. I have had tests for everything except herpes and they all came back negative. About two weeks after the encounter I experienced balanitis in my penis, my penis was very irritated and I was unable to pull back my foreskin. As soon as I could I visited my doctor who suggested that it was probably thrush and prescribed me some cream and a cleanser which got rid of the problem. However, following this, my anus was extremely tender and itchy and I noticed blood on some toilet role after wiping. Again I visited the doctor and once more he diagnosed it as being thrush. Finally for what has been approximately two weeks, I have had frequent tingling and burning sensations in my thighs, I have regularly inspected myself and have seen no blisters but nonetheless the sensations refuse to completely disappear. Does anyone have any thoughts as to what this might be and could it be herpes?

[Life360_Dave]

None of what you mention suggests herpes as first time outbreak would be on your shaft from the oral and i suspect your constant touching may have caused the red sore to develop on your mound area. If your concerned its herpes then go have it swabbed to confirm what it is. You need to retest to rule out the false positive and also most important is find out if it was hsv1 or 2.

[zed1993]

Hi there,

I just thought I would ask you a few follow up questions as I wait for enough time to pass to take a second test. Recently my penis has been feeling warm and my penis head developed some redness, although since the application of some thrush cream this seems to have subsided. Nonetheless the head of my penis has for several weeks not looked as it normally does, it is far more textured (for lack of a better word) and often wrinklier than usual. Finally as of yesterday I have a lump on my pubic mound, it is about 1 cm in diameter and pretty much equidistant from the bottom left of my penis and left thigh. It is reddish in colour and sore to the touch. It is a solitary sore and the only thing even slightly resembling a herpes sore that I have noticed. I realised that my best option is to simply have it checked out but that will not be an option for a few days and so I was hoping you might be able to provide some insight as to whether or not you think it's possible that it is indeed a herpes lesion.

On a side note, am I able to invite the likes of Dr HHH or Grace in order to have a second and third opinion as they seem to be extremely prevalent on these particular forums and as you can imagine I would like as many opinions as possible.

All the best

[zed1993]

okay great thank you

[Life360_Dave]

A 3 could be a false positive so all you can do to verify is to retest and 12 weeks would be conclusive.

[zed1993]

Hi Life360, I realise that perhaps not enough time has passed but I recently had myself tested for herpes and the results were positive at 3. I am not entirely sure what test this was but after a bit of research I have concluded that it was probably IGg. Regardless my doctor seems fairly adamant that this result was indeed a false positive so now I am extremely confused as I'm sure you can imagine.

Hope to hear back soon.

[zed1993]

Excellent, thank you for your help.

[Life360_Dave]

Hi, i appears the this was a regretable expenience for you coming down with all these issues. To try to rest your mind a bit, thrush and these types of irritations that develop are not a sign of some terrible disease but is most commonly a simple  change in your skins pH as natural flora that is kept in check grows out of control.
Do your thigh issues appear herpes related? No they do not. First time oubreaks occur at point on contact,  like your penis shaft or pubic mound area. Tingling is a term most often used for those who already have herpes and can be used as a tool prediction pending outbreaks but should not last more than a few days before a sore appears.
Testing for herpes at 8 week post exposure is a good indicator and 3 months for conclusive.