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To give this all context, last week I had sex many times unprotected, more than I have had in a long time. 1 guy in January and that ended in January and 1 guy for the last 2 weeks. Both assured me that they were “clean” and I believe them, although I know that Herpes is not normally part of an STD battery of tests, so either one could be a carrier. I have always had a hard time having sex, being diagnosed with vulvadynia and such. I am also on antibiotics and prone to yeast infections. So, last Friday I was extremely sore. I was on my feet all night for work and felt uncomfortable down there and felt like it was a yeast infection. I normally do not have the typical “cottage cheese” symptom, just very itchy. So Saturday I took a Diflucan. Sunday was a bit better but still really was itchy and uncomfortable to walk which I attributed to the sex and I needed to use heat and ice packs for comfort. I did hurt to urinate as I noticed I had redness. I did not have any another other symptoms like fatigue, flu-like symptoms etc.
On Monday I went to my doctor, and she said that inside looked like it could be trauma from all the sex or herpes. There were no other sores anywhere else, not on the outside labia or on the cervix. The inside labia on both sides had an area of redness the size of a dime near the vaginal opening and i think on that may have been a sore/ulcer (I don’t understand the difference.) So I am freaking out that this is herpes. I did take another Diflucan, and I also started on Valtrex on Monday, as she said it wouldn’t hurt if I did not have it. I have been feeling better physically and am able to urinate without it burning since yesterday, but still have some residual discomfort. My question is, she took a swab for samples. How reliable are the swab tests? I feel like there was a convergence of situations between vigorous sex, antibiotics, potential yeast infection so I am afraid to ask if this sounds like herpes. I know that I can’t change anything that happened in the past, but I am having anxiety over this. I can attach a picture, but is there an option to email it? Thank you so much for your time. This is a great resource.
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If the swab tests are positive, they are reliable. If they are negative, they may not be reliable. It’s hard to say from your description if this might be herpes, honestly – so many things going on down there!
The problem with taking much Valtrex without a firm diagnosis is that you can interfere with antibody development so diagnosing you down the road with an antibody test if the swab test is negative would be made more difficult. Taking a week isn’t going to make a huge difference, but If you were my patient, I would ask you to stop there. Have you had any antibody testing at this point?
Terri
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If the swab test is positive, I think you need go no further with testing. But if the swab test is negative, I would strongly recommend an IgG antibody test for HSV 1 and 2. The sooner you do it, the better because if you do have new herpes, you will be making antibody during this time and the testing will be less accurate to know if you had it before or have just acquired it.
Terri
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