Herpetic Whitlow

[Scared]

Hi. I have had genital HSV2 herpes for almost 9 years. I had my initial outbreak and had a swab test done at that time. I have not had any noticeable symptom of an outbreak since then. I recently came off of birth control and Paxil. I had bronchitis around this time and took an antibiotic. This caused a yeast infection around 12/9 to about 12/13. During this time I had touched my discharge not knowing what was going on because I had never had one. Went on diflucan and it was cleared up by the 13th of December. A few days later I started to feel tingling and burning so I assumed I was having a herpes outbreak. I started Valtrex on December 20th until January 3rd. Again, during this time I had touched myself several times looking for lesions and discharge, and my fingers did come in contact with my discharge. I never had any lesions occur this time. My question to you is, if I did not wash my hands after touching myself, was there a chance of me spreading it to my hands and how long would it take for it to show up on my hands if I did? I have not touched myself down there for about 13 days because I have been so upset about possibly not washing my hands. I don’t remember having a cut on my hand, but they were dry from the weather. I have OCD and have just started with my medicine again, but I work with children and I am very afraid that my hands could be shedding the virus. Then if I pass papers out to them I could pass it to them. Or if I touch my face, arms, my husband I may pass it to them. I have been wearing gloves at home and washing my face with two towels just so the water won’t possibly soak up to my face. I don’t have any of the symptoms of whitlow or any symptoms on my hands, but every spot or patch or dry skin makes me think so. Would my hands break out if I did spread it?

• This topic was modified 8 years ago by Scared.

[Terri Warren]

The good news is that once you have well established HSV 2 in one location (and nerve group) it is almost unheard of to get it in a totally new nerve group on the body. That includes your hands. Your hands are NOT shedding the virus so you don’t need to worry about children or your husband and you don’t need to wear gloves or anything like that at all. Your OCD is at play here and herpes and OCD does not make a good combination. On this issue, I hope you will trust me. Your nice immunity in your body will keep this virus in one nerve group, the genital one.

You have two more questions if you have things you need to ask.

Terri

[Scared]

Thank you so much. Like I said, I am starting my anxiety medicine again and going to speak with a counselor. Up until about 2 months ago I was happy and had accepted my HSV2. My husband is so supportive as well.
My next question then is kind of a follow up. Since my body does have a good immunity to this virus, what if I did have a cut on my skin that I didn’t realize and the discharge touched it. There still really isn’t a possibility that it could infect my hands, but not show up for awhile since I haven’t really had any genital symptoms in 9 years? Could I have actually infected it (even though it’s almost unheard of) and it may not show up until later? I just don’t want to put my contacts in one day and not realize that I actually did do this to myself. I read that the incubation period for whitlow is 2 to 20 days. Have you ever seen it happen after that amount of time?
I know it is my OCD, but hearing from someone as knowledgeable as you does help put my mind at ease.
Thank you again so much.

[Terri Warren]

once you have herpes in one location on your body, it is highly unlikely after about four months, that you would transmit the virus to yourself in a new location. It seems very unlikely that you would have herpetic whitlow for 9 years and not have finger or hand blistering. I am just not worried at this point about you infected a new part of your body.

Terri

[Scared]

okay. Here is a picture of my hands about a week ago. I had been washing them a lot and the index finger itched one time so I itched it pretty good. There were no blisters and it did not hurt, but it was red. Does it look like it could have been a herpes rash?

[Terri Warren]

This does NOT look like herpetic whitlow to me, no.

I am pleased that you are starting to take some anxiety meds and seeing a counselor, excellent steps to get back to your previous state of accepting your HSV 2.

We are now out of posts. If you have more questions, you can renew your subscription.

Terri

[Scared]

Thank you Terri. I paid for more questions. This information has helped me a lot. My next question is: You said it was almost unheard of to pass it on to my hands since I have good immunity. Since there is that small chance and if I did pass it to my hands in this past month, would I have already had symptoms on my hands? Besides the picture I sent you, which you said does not look like herpetic whitlow, would the symptoms have started already on my hands from this last month of touching discharge? I know the outbreak is most contagious if there are lesions. Until I get my anxiety and OCD under control I just would like some reassurance. I also accidently touched my underwear part that touches my genitals with the top of my hand yesterday. Washed them really well immediately. Could it be passed by touching that part of your underwear? Is that a risk? It has been very difficult to get past this. I am trying really hard. I really appreciate your help. You have been wonderful.

[Terri Warren]

No, touching your underwear is not a risk. I promise.
I know you are trying to get a handle on this and you are not alone in your worries. These are common questions and herpes is especially challenging for the person with OCD.
I am also not at all concerned about you touching discharge and getting this on your hands.
Keep trying, you can get past this with help from a therapist and medicine and maybe a little bit me.

Terri

[Scared]

HI Terri. I attached a few more pictures if you wouldn’t mind looking at them. Do any of these look like they could be herpes on top of my hand? Again, they did not hurt or blister, but just reassurance for myself. I continue to reread your post about it not being able to spread to make me feel better. These pictures were from last week. Do you have any statistics on passing herpes to other body parts after primary outbreak?
Met with my counselor today for the first time. Starting to feel a bit better.

[Terri Warren]

No.. None of these pictures look anything like herpetic whitlow.

Terri

[Scared]

Hi Terri. Thank you for being patient and understanding with my questions and pictures. I have ditched the gloves, but still have some anxiety about taking care of myself with genital herpes. My biggest concern is taking bathes/ showers. When showering should I use two different wash clothes or does it not survive in the water? I was also concerned with shaving down there. So is it safe to touch myself without worrying about spreading it to my hands? I know again this is my ocd, but not having an outbreak in almost 10 years has kind of made me feel I am getting it for the first time again.
THank you for your patience with me.

[Terri Warren]

You do not need to use different wash clothes. If you are worried about this, you could wash the genital area last if you are using a wash cloth for the entire shower or bath. Soap destroys the lipid layer that surrounds the virus and holds it together. It is safe to touch the genital area for shaving or whatever. You don’t need to worry about spreading it to your hands. Just wash your hands after touching the genital area and you will be just fine. And don’t wash for a long time – a simple soap and water wash is enough.

Terri

[Scared]

Hi Terri. Thank you so much for your responses. I really feel that I on the road back to where I’m supposed to be. 1.When you responded to me here are your responses true even if I had an outbreak or was shedding at the time I touched myself? (meaning that I was immune to spreading it with or without an outbreak)
2. Also, yesterday morning my index finger became sore. It is sore around the knuckle and little above. No itching or bumps or anything and it only hurts if I stretch my hand out. I just started a yoga tape so I could have done something with that, but I was wondering if you thought that could be a symptom of anything on my finger herpes related?
3.Have you ever seen anybody autoinoculate themselves on their hand years after having HSV2?

Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it more than you know!

[Terri Warren]

I am so glad that you feel you are back on the road to a healthy response to this problem. First about your finger. Soreness around the knuckle and a little above has nothing to do with how herpetic whitlow presents. Whitlow by definition is lesions on the finger and as we’ve talked about how these lesions are usually blisters that are tender. I certainly think that starting a new yoga class could cause your hands to be tender if you’re using them in the exercises of the yoga class. I have not seen anyone autoinoculate themselves on their hand or anywhere else after having HSV-2 for years.

My suggestions about washing or lack of washing apply whether there is an outbreak or shedding at the time that your hand touches the genital area. Soaps destroy the lipid layer around the virus whether there are obvious lesions present or only viral shedding is occurring. I think it is important that you do not over wash your hands. Over washing can become a bad habit and we don’t want that to happen with you.

Terri

[Scared]

Thank you for your response Terri. When you wrote, “I have not seen anyone autoinoculate themselves on their hand or anywhere else after having HSV2 for years” did you mean you have never seen it happen to anyone in a long time (years) or did you mean you have not seen it happen to a person that has had the virus for years?
Sorry, I just want to make sure I understood it correctly.
Thank you.

[Terri Warren]

What I meant was I have never seen a person who has had HSV 2 for years autoinoculate themselves on their hand. I’m not sure how to make this any clearer. So yes I mean that I have not seen that happen to a person who has had the virus for years.

Terri

[Scared]

Hi Terri. I had a few questions for you now about an outbreak that I had a few weeks ago. I had an outbreak went on Valtrex and was fine for about two weeks. At the time I was under an extreme amount of stress (this was about spreading it to my hands). I have recently started my anxiety medicine again, but I did end up having another outbreak. I was on Valtrex for two weeks, ending last Friday. During this outbreak I had two small sores, but had continued tingling down the back of my legs. The sores healed in about 2 days, but again the tingling has not stopped. I stopped the Valtrex this past Friday, but I am still have tingling. It does not seem to be as bad, but it is definitely still there. This has been going on for about two weeks straight. Could I still be having an outbreak do you think? I wake up fine, but as the day goes on I start to notice it. Also, on Saturday I noticed that I have become a tiny bit swollen on the outside of my vagina. No itching or blisters. Again, I am getting used to my medicine so my stress has been very high. I appreciate any incite that you have on this. Thank you so much.

[Terri Warren]

It’s certainly hard to know for certain if your tingling is related to herpes or to some other problem. Do you only have tingling around outbreaks?
The only way to really know if this is the virus being active on the nerve or not is to do some PCR swabbing from the genital tract. Is that something you are interested in doing?

Terri

[Scared]

Yes I would be interested in doing this. This was only my 2nd then 3rd outbreak in ten years. Both happening in the last month or so. So I’m not really sure if this is typical or not. I am pretty sure it does have to do with the herpes though because I was fine until my second outbreak about a month ago. I had read that some people get some prodome symptoms while taking Valtrex. Is that true? I was on it for two weeks then off for a week then back on for two weeks. I stopped Friday so was hoping that it may go away once it’s out of my system. Sometimes it feels like tingling, but then at night it seems to burn a bit too. I don’t really start feeling it much until the afternoon. I’m going to my doctor this morning to talk about it as well.

[Terri Warren]

I have also heard that about the tingling with Valtrex from some other people, but it’s difficult to sort out for sure what’s what – what’s herpes and what’s some impact from Valtrex. I would encourage you to ask your doctor for PCR swabs to take home and gather yourself and return to their office to send off to the lab. That will allow you to gather the swabs as soon as you get any symptoms. They may want you to come in for a visit for that, but it really is so much better to have swabs available at home. See what you can do.

Terri

[Scared]

Hi Terri, I believe I still had two posts. If not please let me know. Since I wrote you last my tingling legs turned into a burning nerve sensation on my labia with still some tingling. It has also caused swelling through out the day. I have done a lot of research and read about post herpetic neuraglia from genital herpes. I know it has not been studied a lot in genital herpes, but was wondering if you have ever worked with a patient with this? I have been currently tested for everything else (STDs, BV, yeast infection) with everything negative. The sensations are definitely nerve related. My doctor said that this could possibly be true, but it is rare. I have some good days and then some awful days. It is very depressing and has affected my day to day living. I am not taking antivirals at the time, but started some herbal treatment from a homeopath that helps treat herpes and HPV. So I guess my questions are: Have you ever worked with a patient with neuralgia? and will this ever go away?
Thank you so much for your help.

[Terri Warren]

I have worked with some patients with neuralgia, yes, and antiviral medicine does seem to help IF it is herpes related.
It could also be caused by disc compression and other things. Have you been checked out for those kinds of things?

Terri

[Scared]

Thank you so much for the response. Just knowing that I am not the only one is some relief. I am seeing a neurologist today to rule out disc or any other nerve related problems, but I am pretty confident that the location and swelling around my vulva is due to herpes. I have also ruled out all other STDs and such with my gynecologist. I can totally deal with outbreaks occasionally, but this has really gotten me down. Did the burning eventually stop for you patients? On average how long did it last?

[Terri Warren]

I’m not sure if it stops or not, honestly. I haven’t had too many people who have these symptoms due to herpes that are not helped a lot with daily antiviral therapy.
Has your doctor ruled out other stuff like yeast?

Terri

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