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Specific questions regarding herpes

Hi everyone,
Just wanted to gain some perspective as I have been very anxious.

I slept with someone 14 years ago who tested negative for hsv2 at the time, later he tested positive after he slept with someone and she reported symptoms. I had 2 instances of non tender, small pimple like bump (one spot only)  one in 2008 ( 4 months after my last sexual encounter with him) and one this year in the crease between my labias I also was doing spin and had shaved recently but because of my anxiety I continued to pop and dig at it until I had myself convinced it looked herpetic so both times I had the area swabbed via culture they both were about 2.5 days after I found them. I didn’t have any itching, swelling pain or discharge. Both of the cultures came back negative and the doctors told me that since I already have HSV1 there’s a high risk for false positive so not to have the antibody test

For those of you who do have herpes do you think it’s possible to have only 2 minor outbreaks in 14 years? Do these instances sound like they could have been herpes? And would a culture 2.5 days symtoms still be reliable?

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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
Your doctor is a moron.

Yes, there is a chance for false positives, but that's manageable, because we know this, and we know that anything under a certain number on the test can be a false positive, and you can get that confirmed with another type of test. OR he can just start with the other type of test, like a BioKit or Western Blot instead of the IgG.

Your symptoms don't sound like herpes (and please, stop popping and digging at them - it's an easy way to cause infection). Loads of things can cause bumps in the genital area.

It's hard to say if you could have had only 2 outbreaks in all this time - some people get infrequent outbreaks, others get a lot. That's not really a determining factor. Cultures at 2.5 days could be accurate, but you'd been digging and popping, so probably not.

Just ask for the IgG blood test anyway. Tell him that you're a grown up and can handle the possible false positive, knowing it's a possibility. If the result is under a 3.5, it needs to be confirmed. (And this can happen to anyone, not just those with hsv1.) It may come back as clearly negative, and your doctor will have allowed you to waste all this time worrying because he's an idiot.

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