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Hello,
I had a protected encounter with a high risk female (SW) on January 8th, 2021.
I do not recall seeing any visible herpes sores/symptoms during the sexual encounter. I did notice white spotty discharge from her vagina afterwards.About 3-4 days after the encounter, I began to feel a burning sensation/stinging pain on the head of the penis on the left side near the urethra, testicular pain, pain in the scrotum, groin pain, pain in the buttocks, nausea, and a loss of appetite.
I had a jock itch-like rash on both sides of the groin that did disappear within days after applying a mixture of antifungal and cortisone creams. Even though the rash has disappeared, I still do feel a dry/rashlike pain on the upper-inner thigh near the groin.
There is also the classing tingling sensation in the genitals and thighs that comes and goes.
I’ve also developed lower back pain since the week after the encounter that has not gone away. This is almost a daily issue.
I’ve had absolutely no sores or blisters, no painful urination but do sometimes experience burning.
What scares me the most is the constant irritation on the head of the penis as well as the constant groin pain. Redness around the urethra with small red bumps that do not blister or scab. They appear and disappear often. Almost daily. Stinging pain on the left side of the head of the penis also comes and goes. I also have small red bumps at the base of the penis head. The discomfort is constant. The bumps and irritation do subside with a mixture of clotrimazole and cortisone cream.
I’ve had a over 5 STI panels done in the past 5 weeks since the possible exposure. All were negative for all infections. All the Labcorp tests for Herpes have been negative as well with a <.90 range for both HSV1 and HSV2.
Both my primary and urologist are insisting that this cannot be an HSV2 infection, but I’ve read countless articles and posts stating that people were misdiagnosed with balanitis/jock itch/etc
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-Does this sound anything like a herpes infection?
It does not, no.-Would there be a change in antibody counts if I was tested once per week for 5 weeks with an IGG test at LabCorp?
By 6 weeks from infection, 70% of those who are going to be antibody positive, will be so.
So you might want to wait until then for an IgG test-Do herpes spots come and go?
well, they might come for a week and go away and come back a couple of months later but from what you are writing, that isn’t what you are talking about, correct? And they aren’t spots, they are sores or blisters or scabs.-If this was indeed a herpes infection would the antifungal/cortisone cream mixture make any difference?
Cortisone cream makes things worse with herpes as it suppresses the necessary cellular immune response.-Can herpes cause irritation that comes and goes on a day-to-day basis?
no-Can I have pains in the areas I specified without an actual outbreak? This has been going on for weeks.
Herpes doesn’t cause pains that last for weeks, no. OUtbreaks are more intermittent than that.-I read that a stinging pain at the head of the penis can indicate a sore inside the urethra. How can I find out of this is the case?
You could look, but I would disagree that that is a symptom of herpes. Herpes lesions in the urethra cause significant pain with urination, not pain on the penis head.-Can prodrome symptoms last for weeks?
No-Can a herpes outbreak be “invisible” but cause pain in multiple areas at once?
No-Would a western blot test be conclusive if It has only been 5-6 weeks after possible exposure?
No, we recommend waiting 12 weeks after a concerning encounter for the greatest accuracy.
The condom you used was definitely a good idea. Your symptoms sound far more fungal than herpetic to me.Terri
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If this was fungal, would there not be a very obvious rash in the pubic area as well?
maybe, not always
The jock itch only appeared recently (last week), which was about 4 weeks after possible exposure. There were no blisters, scabs, or lesions that came with the redness on both sides of the groin.I have some more concerns I’d appreciate your expert opinion on.
I have pain in the inner thighs as well as the groin. Almost every day. Both sides of the groin have an aching pain that is present for most of the day. The pain sometimes radiates lower (below the knees).
The testicalur pain is also daily. Present for hours, then disappears for an hour or so and returns.
Pain in the inner thighs feels like a dry, burning sensation that comes and goes multiple times a day.
Pain in the pubic area is also present on a daily basis. Not at all times, but comes and goes regularly throughout the day.
I’m constantly getting prick/pins sensations all around the pubic area with nothing that physically shows up.
I have an IGG test scheduled with Labcorp next week, which would be the 7 week mark.
My urologist ruled out prostatitis.
If not a new herpes infection, what do you think would explain the pains/sensations?
I don’t know but they definitely don’t sound like herpes to me because of their constant natureWould mycoplasma/ureaplasma cause symptoms like these?
noSince a condom was used, where should I watch out for possible sores?
at the base of the penisHow common is an outbreak on the head of the penis or the scrotum if protection was used?
uncommonHow common is an outbreak underneath the foreskin?
commonYou state that this may be a fungal infection. Would that cause testicular pains, groin pains, and stinging pains at the tip of the penis?
it woul dnotStatistically speaking, IF this woman in fact had the virus, what are the chances that I could have been infected?
with a condom used and a single encounter? Extremely unlikely -
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With your experience, have you seen these feelings in asymptomatic new infections that later turn into a diagnosis?
I don’t think I can accurately answer that for everyone but for my practice, is someone has sensations that worry them, like these worry you, I asked them to start with an IgG test or western blot (which is better) to rule these things in or out as hepres.I had been using antifungal creams per my doctors orders (underneath foreskin) to treat balanitis, but the skin around the urethra has begun to peel. The irritation I mentioned previously is now gone, but there is peeling. Tiny peeled skin remnants can be found all over the under part of the foreskin when pulled back. Can herpes cause this kind of peeling?
NoDoes herpes cause perineal pain without an outbreak?
Does herpes cause any pain at all without an outbreak? Again, I’ve seen so many people state it does, but there’s obviously so many other issues that they may just be grouping with herpes.
Without a swab test to know if there is virus present with symptoms, I cannot imagine exactly how people know that this is prodrome, unless the period of time these are present is very short and followed right away with an outbreak. If people have been accurately diagnosed with herpes, and they feel prodromal sensations, followed by an outbreak, I think it is reasonable to say this is prodrome. But so many, many, many people tell me they have symptoms similar to this, they are very concerned the could be related to herpes, they have had no sores or lesions, and they do one or several antibody tests to see if they are infected. For those without lesions, a very very small percentage of these people test positive on the western blotI was also feeling intense pain in the penis yesterday. It was extremely odd. The pain was present but not to touch. I would feel the bad ache all over the penis, but when I touched the area… nothing. No pain with touch.
My doctor is trying to get me to see a pain management specialist. I don’t want to manage the pain, i want to find out what’s causing it.
DO you think an STI/Herpes can be causing all of these issues?
This is starting to affect my mental well being.
I hear that, and if you want to have the best answer about do you have herpes, work with you own provide or me to get the western blot. You can speculate about this sensation or that sensation for a long while, but it just doesn’t get you anywhere, would you agree?Terri
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I’ve been doing some reading, and found that pudendal neuralgia is something that can be present in herpes patients with or without lesions. What are your thoughts on this? Any ideas based on experience?
That is possible but quite unlikely. I don’t recall seeing this personally, no.
If you are negative at 6 weeks, given your experience, and we must take that into account, I think it is extremely unlikely that you will be positive at 12 weeks.
How many patients have I treated over the years? Well, let me think. My clinic was open for 35 years, I saw about 15 patients a day, most of them for herpes concerns, 5 days a week, and 4 years online, you do the math. Why do you ask?
I don’t know our ethnicity, but I will tell you that in my experience, people not born in the US or whose parents were not born in the US, there are more false positives at higher numbers on the IgG test. Just so you know.
Terri
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The IgG is a flawed test – for people that take longer to be positive, hard to know if that’s a real positive or false positive. I don’t have an answer for you other than that.
In my experience, once the IgG test misses an infection, it misses it more than once.
I don’t have a statistic on “how rare”. A guess would be 95%
Outbreaks happening while wearing a condom usually happen at the base of the penis.
What I said was that I see more people now than I used to who are 1st or 2nd generation Americans who have false positives values over 3.5.Honestly, I don’t think you have herpes and I don’t think I have anything to add to this conversation at this point. I believe we have covered every possibility
Terri
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