Taking Valtrex, quite sure it's herpes, more sores appearing?

[peppermint1]

I have genital HSV-1, which I contracted almost 6 years ago. I no longer take suppressive therapy. I haven’t had an outbreak since, but my boyfriend + I had unprotected sex very briefly 3 weeks ago + he got 2 sores. They seemed very much like herpes. He went to his doctor the day after the sores appeared, almost exactly 24 hours. She said, given our history + their general appearance, they were definitely herpes + took a swab and blood test. He said he was tested for other STDs too, though it’d probably be too early for those to show up in the blood test.

Both the blood and swab tests came back negative. The blood test made sense to me, but it seemed strange the swab test would be negative. His doctor said the sores were too dry to culture (maybe because they were brand new) and he could re-test later, but she still felt confident it was herpes. He has a lot of the same symptoms I had: sore groin/lymph glands, itching, etc. He’s been on 1g of Valtrex three times a day for a full week now, and also applying lemon balm topically and taking L-Lysine. He had to re-fill his prescription are already because the sores are not changing much, he said, but that they look darker. Today, a week and one day after starting Valtrex, more sores appeared. After having only 2 he now has 7-10 more. He says they are not as raised or swollen as the two original lesions, and look almost like freckles.

I’m of course concerned about whether or not it’s a different STD he didn’t contract from me, but we’re also confused as to why more are appearing WHILE he’s on Valtrex. This is his first time with an STD so maybe it’s just running its course but I thought the Valtrex would stop new sores from cropping up, especially after a week.

Please advise. Even as someone with herpes, this is all new and scary. Thank you.

[Terri Warren]

Hmmmm. Odd. I think he likely needs another look at these herpes does not look like freckles. Are they like water blisters? Are they tender? I would also have expected new sores not to appear and you seem to be saying that they don’t look like the first set. have you seen them? Did the other ones crust and scab? How long after he got the first ones did he have the swab test? Are the original ones gone?

Terri

[Terri Warren]

Also, if he has new herpes, the antibody test would be negative, that is expected. And I do see that he was seen 24 hours after the lesions first appeared. Should have been a good swab test – do you know if it was a culture or PCR swab?

Terri

[peppermint1]

Thank you so much for getting back to me! Comforted already, ha. It seems the doctor tried to culture the lesions but said she was unable to. Definitely not a PCR swab. I’ve now seen the new ‘sores’ and they really do look like freckles, which is bizarre. They’re pretty unspectacular. I’m wondering if they’re stress-related or even if he’s just nitpicking and noticing things that have always been there (and I’m just not remembering every single mark on his body). The entirety of his genitals are really sore and tender so everything could just look swollen to him, because they really don’t look like sores. He’s definitely obsessing a bit which is understandable.

The initial lesions are still there, but have scabbed over completely. I noticed the scabs are very dark in color, which didn’t happen to me when mine scabbed over, but they are scabs for sure. Is the darkness of the scab unusual at all? He’s going to an infectious disease doctor to find out more.

We also wanted to know if, during an outbreak, does sexual arousal (not sexual activity) slow the healing process at all?

Thank you so much. This is a really supportive outlet you’ve created!

[Terri Warren]

Herpes sores do NOT look like freckles – even a little bit.
erections could break open scabs and if they do break open then yes, it could prolong healing. but that is kind of a moot point because he likely gets erections during his sleep most nights.
It sounds to me like the original ones are probably herpes and the freckles are freckles.

Terri

[peppermint1]

Hi Terri,
Thank you for your response. My boyfriend went to the infectious disease doctor, who gave him a blood test. Because the herpes lesions had scabbed over, I think the culture couldn’t happen, once again. I still think it’s probably too early for the blood test to come back positive (if he contracted it when I think he did, it would be October 12), but we’ll see. The doctor told him that if any of the freckles are actually new, they’re either a sign of HPV (and he could’ve contracted that at any point in time) or indications that new sores almost formed but were suppressed by the Valtrex. I don’t know about that HPV thing, but again, I’m not a doctor. I still think they’re freckles and maybe a new one appeared because that happens sometimes.

I will let you know what the blood test says!

[Terri Warren]

OK, if he does have new HSV 1, is it very unlikely it will show up in the blood test, but it could. And remember, even if the screening test is negative, the screening test misses 1 out of 4 cases, even if enough time has passed for accuracy which is optimally 12 weeks.

Terri

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