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Doctors can’t figure out my symptoms need help
Thank you for providing this outlet. I have consulted with 3 doctors and not sure what to do.
So about my exposure; one night stand with a woman who’s a stripper, she spit on her hand and gave me a handjob, then protected oral, and protected Vaginal. We had sex for 20 minutes protected, half way through I realized that she’s bleeding. She claims that she was just coming off of her period. After we finished I took off the Condom and noticed some dried blood all over my scrotum and surrounding areas.
Symptoms; two days later I started getting a tingle and itch all over my genital area. It felt like my pelvis skin was burning but internally. No sores, no lesions. The soreness and itchiness almost felt artificial on a sense or from within. The next day I started getting a burn after urinating. It would burn only after peeing not during. That’s when I decided to get tested. Went to doctor he ordered std tests and urinalysis. Everything came back clean. I asked for antibiotics just in case it was something the test wasn’t picking up, he hesitated but have it to me. Today is day 10 post exposure and I’m having the most intense burning in my urethra to the point of tears. I started getting a sensation of itch like when you get after shaving, like a pricky feeling all over
. It’s on the pelvis and the area between my scrotum and legs. Latest symptom was a red rash on the whole half of my scrotum, which has been red for 3 days and itchy, and made the skin flakes and peeling white patches. I went to a urologist who said everything looks normal and when I asked him could this be herpes? He said it’s extremely unlikely to have sores or herpes in the urethra without sores on the actual penis. I’m almost convinced this is HSV but since I can’t test or have no textbook sores/legions I’m just not sure what to do. I’m convinced it’s HSV because of all the tingling/artificial feeling itch that I’ve never felt before in my life. It felt like my skin was on fire from the inside. I’m hoping you could give me some type of insight since the Drs can’t.
Thanks in advance
So about my exposure; one night stand with a woman who’s a stripper, she spit on her hand and gave me a handjob, then protected oral, and protected Vaginal. We had sex for 20 minutes protected, half way through I realized that she’s bleeding. She claims that she was just coming off of her period. After we finished I took off the Condom and noticed some dried blood all over my scrotum and surrounding areas.
Symptoms; two days later I started getting a tingle and itch all over my genital area. It felt like my pelvis skin was burning but internally. No sores, no lesions. The soreness and itchiness almost felt artificial on a sense or from within. The next day I started getting a burn after urinating. It would burn only after peeing not during. That’s when I decided to get tested. Went to doctor he ordered std tests and urinalysis. Everything came back clean. I asked for antibiotics just in case it was something the test wasn’t picking up, he hesitated but have it to me. Today is day 10 post exposure and I’m having the most intense burning in my urethra to the point of tears. I started getting a sensation of itch like when you get after shaving, like a pricky feeling all over
. It’s on the pelvis and the area between my scrotum and legs. Latest symptom was a red rash on the whole half of my scrotum, which has been red for 3 days and itchy, and made the skin flakes and peeling white patches. I went to a urologist who said everything looks normal and when I asked him could this be herpes? He said it’s extremely unlikely to have sores or herpes in the urethra without sores on the actual penis. I’m almost convinced this is HSV but since I can’t test or have no textbook sores/legions I’m just not sure what to do. I’m convinced it’s HSV because of all the tingling/artificial feeling itch that I’ve never felt before in my life. It felt like my skin was on fire from the inside. I’m hoping you could give me some type of insight since the Drs can’t.
Thanks in advance
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I'm a little confused by some things.
Did you get an antibiotic? If you did, what did you get? You said, "he hesitated but have it to me." I think you mean "gave it to me", but I want to make sure.
"Latest symptom was a red rash on the whole half of my scrotum"- what does the whole half of your scrotum mean?
You could have herpes in your urethra. The level of pain you are describing is consistent with it, but is it still only hurting after you pee? If it isn't hurting when you pee, it's probably not herpes in your urethra. That would probably feel like razor blades, and bring you to your knees.
However, clearly something is happening, maybe a couple of things.
I can't diagnose you - I'm not a doctor, and if I were, I haven't examined you. These are just possibilities.
Peeling, flaky skin is usually suggestive of a fungal infection (yeast, jock itch, etc.), and you could absolutely have burning with that. That could be from the antibiotic use, or if she had a yeast infection, or even an oral yeast infection, when she used her spit.
You might also have an anal fissure, which is a tear in the lining of the anus. It can happen from straining, passing large stools, having diarrhea. Most of the time, it doesn't cause that many symptoms, and heals on its own, but we've had a lot of people, especially men, who have symptoms like you do and end up having an anal fissure.
You were are really low risk for herpes. Condoms don't offer 100% protection, but they do offer significant protection.
Have you seen a dermatologist? Or has any doc seen the current peeling skin? A fungal infection is pretty easy to identify.
Did you get an antibiotic? If you did, what did you get? You said, "he hesitated but have it to me." I think you mean "gave it to me", but I want to make sure.
"Latest symptom was a red rash on the whole half of my scrotum"- what does the whole half of your scrotum mean?
You could have herpes in your urethra. The level of pain you are describing is consistent with it, but is it still only hurting after you pee? If it isn't hurting when you pee, it's probably not herpes in your urethra. That would probably feel like razor blades, and bring you to your knees.
However, clearly something is happening, maybe a couple of things.
I can't diagnose you - I'm not a doctor, and if I were, I haven't examined you. These are just possibilities.
Peeling, flaky skin is usually suggestive of a fungal infection (yeast, jock itch, etc.), and you could absolutely have burning with that. That could be from the antibiotic use, or if she had a yeast infection, or even an oral yeast infection, when she used her spit.
You might also have an anal fissure, which is a tear in the lining of the anus. It can happen from straining, passing large stools, having diarrhea. Most of the time, it doesn't cause that many symptoms, and heals on its own, but we've had a lot of people, especially men, who have symptoms like you do and end up having an anal fissure.
You were are really low risk for herpes. Condoms don't offer 100% protection, but they do offer significant protection.
Have you seen a dermatologist? Or has any doc seen the current peeling skin? A fungal infection is pretty easy to identify.
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Thank you so much for the response!
So yes the doctor indeed gave me the antibiotic. It was 7 day course or doxycycline and a shot of rocephin, which after finishing the course that’s when I noticed the peeling skin. I’ve since used anti fungal cream and that peeling skin went away. Pretty sure the heavy antibiotics caused that. When I said half of the scrotum I mean only one side.
I still feel tingling and random itches all the time. Not sure if it’s psychosomatic or if it’s legit Or both but what I’m sure of is the pain after urination. It only happens after, never during, and it only happens when I’m not drinking a lot of water, like in the morning for instance.
I’m going on 3 weeks of this night mare, today makes day 21. Some people I’ve spoken too have written herpes off but with a clean urinalysis, and std panel, 2 antibiotics and these symptoms setting in right after questionable sex it’s hard for me to put anything else on the table.
The urologist claims he can’t find anything wrong, and ordered HIV/HSV/siphyls/ hepatitis blood work. It came back all negative except for HSV-1 at 1.65 index (barley positive). This was only 14 days post exposure so I’m sure it’s far from conclusive. The thing is that I was negative for hsv-1 5 years ago, but my ex had it. Not sure if in the span of 5 years I contracted it from her, she never had cold sores.
From the best of your knowledge, does herpes seem likely with these circumstances?
So yes the doctor indeed gave me the antibiotic. It was 7 day course or doxycycline and a shot of rocephin, which after finishing the course that’s when I noticed the peeling skin. I’ve since used anti fungal cream and that peeling skin went away. Pretty sure the heavy antibiotics caused that. When I said half of the scrotum I mean only one side.
I still feel tingling and random itches all the time. Not sure if it’s psychosomatic or if it’s legit Or both but what I’m sure of is the pain after urination. It only happens after, never during, and it only happens when I’m not drinking a lot of water, like in the morning for instance.
I’m going on 3 weeks of this night mare, today makes day 21. Some people I’ve spoken too have written herpes off but with a clean urinalysis, and std panel, 2 antibiotics and these symptoms setting in right after questionable sex it’s hard for me to put anything else on the table.
The urologist claims he can’t find anything wrong, and ordered HIV/HSV/siphyls/ hepatitis blood work. It came back all negative except for HSV-1 at 1.65 index (barley positive). This was only 14 days post exposure so I’m sure it’s far from conclusive. The thing is that I was negative for hsv-1 5 years ago, but my ex had it. Not sure if in the span of 5 years I contracted it from her, she never had cold sores.
From the best of your knowledge, does herpes seem likely with these circumstances?
Okay, so the doxy and rocephin would treat gonorrhea, chlamydia, and NGU, if you had those. It seems really likely that the peeling skin was fungal, either because she had yeast, or because of the antibiotics, or both.
Tingling and itches are usually psychosomatic. They aren't STD symptoms.
So the pain after urination when you aren't drinking a lot of water is really telling - that sounds like dehydration. Try drinking a glass of water before bed, and see if that helps. Lots of us are walking around slightly dehydrated and don't know it. Caffeine and alcohol are dehydrating, so if you drink a lot of those, and not enough water, that could be adding to it.
What you eat can also be irritating to your bladder, which in turn can irritate your urethra. Here's a list of foods that might be irritating - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/johns_hopkins_bayview/_docs/medical_services/gynecology_obstetrics/bladder_irritants.pdf
Try avoiding them for a few days and see if it helps.
Your 1.65 on the hsv1 test doesn't concern me at all. That could be a false positive, or the test 5 years ago could have missed an infection. The hsv1 IgG misses 30% of infections. Most likely, if this is a true infection, it's an existing oral infection. Billions of people globally have hsv1, and 90% won't ever get any symptoms.
Tingling and itches are usually psychosomatic. They aren't STD symptoms.
So the pain after urination when you aren't drinking a lot of water is really telling - that sounds like dehydration. Try drinking a glass of water before bed, and see if that helps. Lots of us are walking around slightly dehydrated and don't know it. Caffeine and alcohol are dehydrating, so if you drink a lot of those, and not enough water, that could be adding to it.
What you eat can also be irritating to your bladder, which in turn can irritate your urethra. Here's a list of foods that might be irritating - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/johns_hopkins_bayview/_docs/medical_services/gynecology_obstetrics/bladder_irritants.pdf
Try avoiding them for a few days and see if it helps.
Your 1.65 on the hsv1 test doesn't concern me at all. That could be a false positive, or the test 5 years ago could have missed an infection. The hsv1 IgG misses 30% of infections. Most likely, if this is a true infection, it's an existing oral infection. Billions of people globally have hsv1, and 90% won't ever get any symptoms.
Thank you so much. I will try to up my water intake and see if that helps. I guess all these symptoms happening right after exposure after I’ve never had them before are leaving me a bit paranoid. Would herpes typically show itself by now if a person was symptomatic? I’m 23 days post exposure
Symptoms of what - herpes? Yes, the typical window of symptoms of herpes is 2-12 days, or 2-20 days, depending on the source. Either way, you're out of it.
The chances that you got herpes from this encounter are really, really low. You had condom protected oral, so the chances are next to zero. They are low enough to not worry at all.
The chances that you got herpes from this encounter are really, really low. You had condom protected oral, so the chances are next to zero. They are low enough to not worry at all.
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You are reading content posted in the Herpes Community
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.
