Symptoms and test results

[Animal lover]

Hi!

I am a 53 year old male.

I had a girl friend in the summer of 2011 who was HSV2 positive. We had intercourse during a 4 month relationship. She never had lesions while we dated but I am aware of viral shedding. I had no symptoms dating her and have dated 2 other women since with the most recent relationships ending in late May 2014. To my knowledge, the other two women did not have HSV.

In late late September 2014, I was diagnosed with molluscum in the genital area. I also had a suspicious looking lesion on the shaft of my penis that my GP did not think was herpes but a dermatologist did. The dermatologist did a culture although the place had been present for weeks. It came back negative.

During this time period through present day, I have had tingling (pins and needles) in my lower back, sometimes abdomen, buttocks, and thighs (front and back at times) with some mild itching. Also I have some symptoms around my anal area. At times, the fronts of my thighs have had a burning sensation. Some of these symptoms have occurred daily for many weeks. I occasionally get what looks like a lesion on my upper thigh area but hard to tell if it HSV. I have at times also experienced sensitivity to clothing rubbing my abdomen and have developed redness around my waste while walking / exercising. Itching has occurred when this happens. Occasionally I have had tingling or sensations in my lower legs but not often.

Due the the suspicious looking place on the shaft of my penis, I was prescribed acyclovir for 10 days in early November. Symptoms did not change while taking it and the place did not go,away. The dermatologist used liquid N to remove it and said that he thought it was molluscum. On a recent visit to my GP, he thinks my symptoms are nerve pain possibly related to spinal stenosis or something similar. He does not think it is herpes.

I had a blood test for HSV 1 and 2 conducted last weeks through Quest labs….IGG. Both came back < 0.9.

Given this information, what are your thoughts and advice.

Thank you. I think you have a great service and appreciate what your are doing for those of us with concerns.

[Terri Warren]

And I agree with your GP this does not sound like genital herpes to me and the fact that your IgG is negative for both type I and type II is very good news. The lesion that was suspicious that lasted for a long time is very unlikely to be herpes. Herpes lesions do not last a long time; they come and they go. they don’t last for weeks or months. You have certainly waited long enough to obtain an accurate test. I would agree that the tingling or odd sensations that you have in your lower legs have nothing to do with genital herpes. I hope this helps to put your mind at rest and move on from this concern.

In the future when you have a new sex partner, it would likely be good for both you and your partner to be tested for herpes antibody to determine that neither of you are bringing any unsuspected infection to your new sexual relationship. You can feel confident about the results even before you take the test!

If you have other questions please feel free to ask

Terri

[Author]

Posts