Probability of HSV Infection

[AndHereIAm]

I’ve been gHSV-2+ for 3.5 years. I haven’t had a secondary outbreak with a sore, but I have experienced some tailbone sensation / nerve pain in my buttocks / backs of thighs.

I’ve been dating a long-time friend for 6 months. He’s known about my status. I take 500mg Valacyclovir per day. On New Years we stopped using condoms.

I caught COVID; we separated while I recovered. On Jan 28 we got back together and had unprotected sex each day for 3-4 days. On Jan 29, he additionally performed unprotected oral sex on me.

On Feb 1, I started to feel some sensation in my tailbone, started doubling my Valacyclovir, and we stopped having sex. That night his throat hurt. It continued to hurt for several days, in a particular spot. There was a pale streak near that spot. I saw on two occasions a very clear, very round bubble near that spot, which I worried might be a blister. Both times I asked him to try to swipe it with his tongue, thinking it might be a saliva bubble. I think the first time it went away? The second time it did not, but the following day nothing was there.

Once his throat started to feel better, late on Feb 5, he had an incident that seemed like he was getting a UTI—he felt a lot of urgency to urinate and not much came out. He drank lots of fluids including cranberry juice and baking soda in water. He had no further symptoms of a UTI.

Late on Feb 6, he started to feel tingling / burning in his penis, and saw a bump on the tip of his penis, which was gone after 1 hour. The tingling has remained since, and he’s also described it as stinging, burning, itching but not in a way that he wants to scratch. He feels this is concentrated at the tip, but also in his testicles and perineum. He has backaches and a sore neck. We’re nearing 4 full days and no spots or blisters or bumps have appeared.

The doctor today said this didn’t sound like herpes, but also suggested he test after 12 days (?). Nothing came up in a urine test.

Does this sound like herpes to you?

[AndHereIAm]

A couple more things to mention:

I started sharing my Valacyclovir about a full day after he began feeling the tingling / stinging / burning (when he first told me of the new development), 1000mg twice a day. I didn’t expect it would prevent blisters from developing, but I did hope it would shorten the duration.

He tested negative for HSV1 and 2 at the onset of our relationship.

I know: what else could it be?? We’re both so devastated that I am clinging to hope this is not herpes.

Thank you so much for providing HSV resources like this forum, sometimes for people like myself who want to use it like a wishing well or a crystal ball.

[AndHereIAm]

Also, no infidelity. Other STIs, though they’d be a relief in this case, seem super unlikely.

[AndHereIAm]

He’s in so much agony, between his burning groin and backaches, compounded by mental anguish. His doctor didn’t offer him anything and he’s been taking Ibuprofen, which just hasn’t cut it. Do you have recommendations for lessening his physical pain? My HSV-2 infection was also my body’s introduction to HSV, and my sores surely hurt, but he still doesn’t yet have sores, and I don’t remember this pain he’s in. Thank you, Terri.

[AndHereIAm]

Failed to mention he has been experiencing increased frequency of urination.

[AndHereIAm]

He has a new lump on his testes, approaching the size of a marble, and redness on the skin. He fortunately has an appointment with planned parenthood today.

[AndHereIAm]

Planned Parenthood also didn’t think this was HSV. She was most concerned about his body aches, had him test for COVID (negative), and “scolded us” for dosing with valacyclovir, so we stopped then, after having taken it for 8 days. Both providers thought chlamydia, and while we’re awaiting test results neither of us thinks that fits—I was tested 5 months after my last relationship and while he was tested within a couple days of his last encounter, and it could have been missed so early, that was pre-pandemic—over two years ago. Strange for it to show up so intensely now, I would think. His body aches are lessening, but the pain in his groin persists. He describes a stabbing pain in the tip of his penis, a “strained” feeling in his penis, aching in his testicles (particularly the one that had the lump, which we both saw but it hasn’t appeared again), and aching around his perineum (he also specifically mentioned his hip crease, where the underside of his groin meets his thigh). The morning after the lump he mentioned clear discharge from his urethra. He still has increased frequency of urination with smaller amounts, and I’ve learned it’s the same with his bowel movements, which are also softer to the point of being described as diarrhea. He has developed some sort of sore at the back of his teeth, but he thinks it’s a canker. My googling led me to wonder about prostatitis, as I feel there’s other moments in his medical history that might be tied into that possible diagnosis, with the lump possibly being epididymitis. His doctor is on vacation; the remainder of the medical practice seems unconcerned and unwilling to do anything in his doctor’s absence. He had the lab work (IgM, for whatever that’s worth) done yesterday as prescribed and we’re awaiting results. This morning there’s a small ”pimple” at the base of one of his pubic hairs, which I’ve never seen on him before—setting off our worry once again. Thank you, Terri.

[AndHereIAm]

HSV IgM came back <0.91. Negative for chlamydia and gonorrhea. He’s distrustful of the IgM because I told him to be (he’s concerned he was infected asymptotically earlier and missed the window when the IgM antibodies were present). He got an appointment with a different provider on Monday so we’ll see if they think it’s something like prostatitis, which seems remarkably similar to me.

I guess if you answer any questions on this thread, I’d like to know your opinion about the probability he’ll have an asymptotic infection, having neither HSV 1 nor 2. It seems to me if he gets infected he will know. If you feel we should not trust the IgM or you feel the symptoms I’ve described warrant further concern for a potential HSV infection, that would be really important to know so we can keep going down that path. Thanks, Terri. Hope all is well.

[Terri Warren]

Wow, that’s a lot of posts. This doesn’t sound like herpes to me but I can’t promise anything here.
Herpes causes constipation in some people with a new infection, not diarrhea. And he’s had no sores which is very important in all of this.
The CDC says never to do an IgM test – Mayo Clinic even stopped offering it as an optional test. It has no relevance here.
I hope someone will evaluate his prostate and see if that might be causing the issues here.

Terri

[Author]

Posts