Sacral Herpes Transmission

[SacralFears]

I have been obsessed with remaining ‘STD clean’ my entire life-Including requiring every partner to be tested before intimacy. I am in my 40’s-2 yrs ago received a massage from a therapist with a cold sore. A week later I had painful blisters on my lower back. Felt that it was shingles, until I thought about timeline, and researched herpes. I’d never even heard of sacral herpes! [How are Herpes an STD, yet I get it from my massage therapist cold sore?]
Because my nerves were so involved, I went to ER, and Dr. agreed it was likely herpes. It went away in a few weeks [I have scarring], to never return until literally 2-years later [last week]. This time it showed up as just ONE blister/spot on my lower back with a red raised area around it. Odd that it happened same week, 24-months later. I have not been tested.
Here are my questions:
1. Is this likely HSV 1, since it was from a COLD SORE? [I confronted therapist – she has had cold sores since she was a kid] And if so, how does that change the transmission of it to my partner’s genitals? Have you ever heard of it being transmitted through massage?
2. My ONE blister busted last Wednesday – my partner likes to snuggle, and while I kept him away for 5-days after the blister busted, he spooned me while there was still a scab/sore/pain.. there still is a scab/sore/pain 2 weeks after onset. What is his % likelihood of contracting this from spooning with his genitals against my back?
3. Since it is likely HSV 1 – is that why the outbreak took 2 years to reoccur, and wasn’t as severe?
4. I’ve seen you say that if you have HSV 2 that it sheds through genitals despite the location – is this the same with HSV1?
I am TERRIFIED that he has contracted this [we aren’t careful, due to 2-year gap since onset!] – and that will lead to me having genital sores – and just a vicious cycle of managing this.
I know I did nothing wrong and didn’t deserve this, but it doesn’t change the magnitude of it.

Thank you!

• This topic was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by SacralFears.

[Terri Warren]

1. Is this likely HSV 1, since it was from a COLD SORE? [I confronted therapist – she has had cold sores since she was a kid] And if so, how does that change the transmission of it to my partner’s genitals? Have you ever heard of it being transmitted through massage?

No, never, and I don’t see any mechanism for how that would happen. it just doesn’t make sense to me.

2. My ONE blister busted last Wednesday – my partner likes to snuggle, and while I kept him away for 5-days after the blister busted, he spooned me while there was still a scab/sore/pain.. there still is a scab/sore/pain 2 weeks after onset. What is his % likelihood of contracting this from spooning with his genitals against my back?

Well, since you didn’t have any of the lesions tested either time and you’ve not had an antibody test, I don’t know how to answer that. If it is herpes, it still seems unlikely he would get it from you.

3. Since it is likely HSV 1 – is that why the outbreak took 2 years to reoccur, and wasn’t as severe?

I have no idea if it is even herpes so I don’t know how to answer that.

4. I’ve seen you say that if you have HSV 2 that it sheds through genitals despite the location – is this the same with HSV1?

Yes

I am TERRIFIED that he has contracted this [we aren’t careful, due to 2-year gap since onset!] – and that will lead to me having genital sores – and just a vicious cycle of managing this.

You could get genital sores IF this is herpes. I think you tried to do the right thing about STD testing with each partner but the IgG test misses 30% of HSV 1 infections so you could definitely have had partners who were infected with HSV 1 and you could have been infected years ago. Attributing this to a massage therapist with a cold sore just don’t make sense, even though temporal they may have happened together.

You should get an antibody test or get the lesion swab tested if it comes up again. As cautious as you are, I’m surprised that you did not get right in to have this evaluated.

Terri
I know I did nothing wrong and didn’t deserve this, but it doesn’t change the magnitude of it.

[SacralFears]

I’ve been monogamous for 16+ years. This was the only thing that made sense to me. I truly originally thought this was shingles.

I have no idea if it is even herpes so I don’t know how to answer that.< What else could it be?

[Terri Warren]

You could get an antibody test to determine if you have herpes or not. The best is the western blot but second best is the IgG test which would be readily available to you – it misses 30% of HSV 1 infections which is the virus that causes cold sores, however, compared to the gold standard western blot

Terri

[SacralFears]

Thank you! I have an appointment for bloodworm at the EOM. I will ask then for whatever we can do without an outbreak [hopefully]. I’m still frustrated that I was concerned enough on the first round of this, to go to the ER – and they did nothing but agree with me that it was sacral herpes. Zero testing. At that time, I was having nerve issues in my left leg, that was definitely caused by the breakout – I could literally feel it in my nerves. Hence, why I was thinking shingles. But it seems sacral herpes can also create this, from my readings.

Last question: From reading other posts, it seems you are saying that HSV1 can NOT be transmitted from genitals to genitals? Am I reading that correctly?

Thank you for your answers!

[Terri Warren]

If you want to get an antibody test you should get the IgG test never the IgM test.
I did not say that it is impossible to transmit genital HSV one through intercourse. What I did say is it is highly unusual and that I personally have not seen it happen.

This is your final posts on the subscription. If you have more questions, feel free to renew.

Terri

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