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Hello Terry,
I apologize in advance for the lengthy post but want to give as much detail as I can which I hope will be helpful.
I am a 56 year old male in generally good health (as far as I know) with no previous history of sexual illness or disease.
10 weeks ago (on Sept 19th) I engaged in sex with a CSW (female escort). This consisted of brief unprotected oral sex (1-2 minutes perhaps max)and semi protected vaginal intercourse (also brief maybe 2-3 minutes). I say semi protected as the condom apparently split sometime during the act or perhaps immediately after as I was having some difficulty staying erect (due to guilt/fear) and was stretching the condom repeatedly as I was somewhat flacid. This was a single act and other than this I have been faithful to my wife of 27 years. I have high confidence that she has been faithful.
Sometime between 2-4 days after this risky exposure I began to feel a burning/stinging sensation or discomfort on one small spot on the left side of the shaft of my penis. The area is next to a skin tag about 1 inch below the glans which I have always had since I was a child I believe. I have had no other symptoms. At day 5 I went to urgent care and confessed the situation to the doctor. He tested for UTI (negative) as well as Gonorreah and Chlamydia. Both tests came back negative. He mentioned Herpes as a possible cause and advised me to come back if I got a rash or sores etc.
Since that time I have had almost constant discomfort in that one small area (about 9 weeks now). The severity of the discomfort has varied from day to day but I am always pretty much aware of it – sometimes as little as a pinching sensation to often a significant burning/stinging sensation which I would imagine a sore to feel like if one was truly there. I am usually somewhat pain free at night but then it normally bothers me more as the day progresses (at least when it flares up)-clothing seems to irritate it? I have been on very active crotch watch daily during this time and have not been able to find any evidence of blisters, sores or lesions which would explain the discomfort. The discomfort has been limited to that one small area and I have had no other symptoms and absolutely no discharge that I am aware of. I will say sex/masturbation seems to make it worse afterwards but not immediately afterwards (by the next day). The area MAY be slightly redder than the same spot on the other side but not realty all that noticeable or significant.
To finish the timeline. As I was still having symptoms I retested for Gonorreah and Chlamydia on Day 25 and both were negative again. At day 33 I tested for Trich which was also negative. At day 36 I went to my family GP. I mentioned the painful irritating spot (without going into any details on the encounter) and he took a look but didn’t see anything. I had been having some jock itch symptoms in my leg crease (no rash just itching which I had had for months off and on mostly at might or when I sweat) and he said the discomfort on my penis could be related to that (although the area on my penis does not itch at all). He suggested I put over the counter anti fungal cream on it which I did for a couple weeks but it didn’t help really. He also diagnosed me with a hernia (opposite side) but did not think that could cause the pain in my penis. He also did a Urine Analysis and found nothing.
As my symptoms have continued I finally pursued getting an antibiotic in case I had some type of NGU. I was prescribed a 1 gram dose of Zithromax (generic equivalent)on day 68 – on 11/12 approx. 2 weeks ago). It seemed to help reduce the symptoms but they have since returned but maybe somewhat lessen than before. One last thing – I tested myself yesterday for HIV (Oraquick Swab test) and it was negative. I know not conclusive at 10 weeks but reassuring to me.
So my question is – do these symptoms sound Herpes related? Is it possible to have on going discomfort for weeks without end with no visible sores/blisters etc? I am reluctant to get tested with all the false positives as it will only add to my confusion if I get a positive result and if this is not the cause of my symptoms. If you feel it is likely not Herpes related do you have any other thoughts on how I might follow up to determine the cause? At this point I don’t know whether to go to a dermatologist, urologist or neurologist. The only other possibilities I can think of at this point are that it could be a fungal or bacterial skin infection or possibly prostatitis. I do know I am not imagining it.
I do appreciate any help or advice. Thank you.
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So the odds of getting genital herpes at a single encounter are extremely small. They are not zero. However, your symptoms that persist and persist do not sound anything at all like herpes to me. It is unfortunate, in my view, that you did not obtain a baseline herpes antibody test because now, if you do test and you are positive, you cannot know if you’ve been infected for years or just got infected at this encounter.
Did you have other sexual partners before you married your wife? If yes, then you could have been infected for years or she could have been infected for years (if she had other partners before you.)
Whether you test at this point is your call. Only 5% of people test in the low positive range when they test for herpes so you are likely to have a clear result but I wonder if you will be able to relax about this without testing. What do you think?
Terri
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Correct, symptoms that you describe as going on for a long time are highly unlikely to be herpes.
I’m wondering – has anyone done a prostate exam for you the course of these visits? That could be a possibility.
If you are still concerned about herpes – is it possible to contact this person and pay for them to get tested? If negative then you could relax. I doubt if she is positive you would worry any more than you already are.You have one more opportunity to post with this membership. Let me know if you still have concerns that I can help with on this forum
Terri
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I doubt that either a fungal infection would cause your symptoms. If it is prostate involvement, that would likely be bacterial in nature. If you already had a prostate exam and it was normal, then I don’t really know what else this might be, especially since you’ve already been treated with antibiotics. But what you took is likely not effective against prostate infection.
Yes, it is very unlikely that herpes is causing your symptoms, I think.
We’ve exhausted your three posts. If you have other concerns, please feel free to renew your subscription.
Terri
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Atypical – I have had a very similar atypical experience post a 9/22 exposure to a CSW first neurological in extremities, but now just as you describe. Waiting to test HSV at 16 weeks, but treated for prostatitis with Cipro for 28 days with no change to variable local pain. I am interested to read what you are able to determine and will post my results.
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