Classic Yeast Infection or Herpes?

[lokilover28]

Hi,

I just recently became sexually active and somewhat regret it because of the unhealthy amount of overthinking and worrying I do about possible STDs. I have only had protected genital sex with one person and unprotected oral sex with another. I am not too sure about their sexual history so I'm obviously slightly nervous.I had my annual pap smear and during that time my doctor also tested for  gonorrhea and chlamydia and the tests came back negative. Because I didn't want my parents to know and I couldn't pay anymore out of pocket, I decided not to get the other STD tests including herpes. And right now, I'm just really scared.

I have had plenty of history with recurrent yeast infections. I actually believe I get recurring yeast infections nearly every month. I have talked with my doctor about this and she prescribed me a medicine. However, usually a week before and a week after my period, I get these infections. Atleast I believe I do. I began reading and started to worry that these could actually be herpes outbreaks.

Usually I do get the classic cottage cheese discharge, plenty of itching and swelling, and general discomfort. A lot of times when I get itching, I scratch a lot to try to relieve the discomfort. This usually causes small tears in the skin or red irritation spots. Although the discharge is pretty much everywhere, the itching is usually specifically near the vaginal opening and on the labia majoria and sometimes near the anal region. This is why I am somewhat scared.

These "cuts" make it very painful to urinate. However, the pain only lasts about 1 or 2 days (sometimes less than a day) and then I'm assuming the cuts heal. When I do try to look for the cuts, they are usually very very small, somewhat circular, and red like raw skin as expected. These cuts recently occurred so I examined them with a mirror and they were nearly completely faded/gone the next day. I've never really noticed any bumps and definitely not any bumps that rupture into blisters. And I'm pretty sure the cuts only occur when I scratch down there. The skin around the area is pretty dry so I'm thinking this might contribute as well. I'm pretty sure I've been getting these symptoms even before I became sexually active but of course now I am more alert to them.

I've read and researched nearly everything I could think of about herpes and not a lot of these symptoms seem to match up. I just want an experts opinion. Could these "outbreaks" really occur nearly every month and sometimes twice a month? Could these symptoms still be herpes symptoms or just typical yeast infection? Would the lesions for herpes really heal that quickly (1-2 days)? Any advice or wisdom to put my mind at ease would be greatly appreciated!!

[lokilover28]

Thank you for your response! Im pretty confident these symptoms are my classic yeast infection. However, what if the symptoms of a first outbreak are mimimal? Of course there's so many articles and info about how the two conditions can mimic each other. Do the symptoms I explained still point to yeast infection?

[Fleetwood20]

I would agree, these are more classic of yeast infections. Without an initial outbreak of lesions, the chances of a herpes infection genitally are very remote.