Itchiness

[Brooke033]

Hi Terry,
I was wondering if an extremely itchy anal opening could be the first sign of herpes. I did not see or feel any bumps but I also didn’t think it was herpes and didn’t inspect. It. 3 months later, I got my “first outbreak” on my vagina labia majora. with no pain or itchiness. My doctor said it didn’t look like a first outbreak as it was one single bump that she thought it was a clogged pore. It came back positive via swab for HSV2. One tested in June and it was 0.8. ( could that be a sign of being tested too soon? Why wouldn’t it be zero?It’s driving me mad, I feel so dirty. I have never had anal sex but my anal opening was soooo itchy a few days after I had sex with someone new. I remneber texting my friend and asking her if an anal yeast infection was possible. I have had sex with two guys in a year. The one I was dating for 6 months is going to be tested next month and the other has ghosted me because he tested in June at 0.8 and refuses to get retested. Thank you so much!

[Terri Warren]

It does sound like this was a recurrence, not a new infection, by the physical presentation.
The index value is almost never zero – it has a value almost always and the 0.8 is negative. How long before you had the positive swab test did you have sex with this person who tested negative at 0.8. This is a higher negative and it could be that he is in the process of going from negative to positive, which is a concern.

The anal itching that you had could have been a new infection with HSV – not possible to know at this time.

The sexual contacts that you had – were the protected or unprotected?

Terri

[Brooke033]

Both unprotected. I am ashamed to admit this but it’s best to be honest.
Slept with one Feb 3rd… and then another one Feb 8th cause I wasn’t sure which one I liked.
Feb 15th had anal itchiness for like a week or two -severe. Decided to date the Feb 3rd guy- he broke up with me in may. Slept with the second guy on may 18th and then had the swab test one bump on June 7th. The guy then got tested because “I’m nuts” and could have “given him herpes” and that’s when he got 0.8. His hsv 1 was 0.2 which makes me think it was too early to test. It seems like to me the second guy slept with someone else Eden though he denied it and gave me herpes from them. He constantly tells everyone I have herpes in my town. He won’t tell me his results and the other one said they will get tested on a few months when back from vacation. I am a doctor and feel so dumb for not using protection. Just the product of going through a bad divorce I guess 🙁 I’m driving myself mad and can’t function. I feel like I can’t move on from this until I know who has it to… I know that does sound crazy but it would feel like closure. I guess he doesn’t have any legal right to show me if he has herpes or not right?

[Terri Warren]

well, I suppose your could sue him and get his medical records, but I do think you are on the wrong track here. Honestly, unless these are the only two people you’ve ever had sex with in your life, you cannot know if this was even from either of them, right? If you had done an IgG test at the time of the swab test, you could have known more about timing than you currently do.

Your energy would be better spent, in my opinion, working through this change in your health status. It might also help to work on the guilt you feel for having unprotected sex and its contribution to this infection. Learn to forgive yourself for this decision. Bad divorces are like that – they mess with your head and bad decisions happen.

Terri

• This reply was modified 4 months, 3 weeks ago by Terri Warren.

[Brooke033]

Hey Terri,
Thank you for your response. Last question – is it possible to have anal itchiness as a initial infection if you did not ever have anal sex? It seems like my second outbreak was on one side of my vagina and my other outbreak was on the other side so I am thinking it could spread… the third time I got an outbreak my anal opening was really itchy again so I am just wondering if the anal itchiness could have been my first sign of it or that’s impossible because I never had anal sex thank you so much and I am out of questions after this so thank you thank you!

[Terri Warren]

It is certainly possible to have anal itching and not have it be herpes. It is also possible to have anal itching from herpes and never having had anal sex. The virus can travel along different nerves, including around the anus, to get to the surface of the skin, without YOU transferring the virus to a new location.

Terri

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