› Forums › Herpes Questions › Should I trust the negative results of my HSV blood and culture tests? › Reply To: Should I trust the negative results of my HSV blood and culture tests?
Dear Terri,
Yes, I was only 10 days off Valtrex at the time of the last blood draw. A few last questions:
1) The last time I was at my doctor’s he said he could not request a Western Blot for me, only ELISA and Immunoblot. Could I rely on the results of those tests? From what I read from your book and other sources, they are very good at detecting herpes antibodies, specially Immunoblot. So would it be ok if I requested an Immunoblot test for both HSV 1 and 2? Should I also request a culture test to be done one one of my lesions?
2) Could you point me at peer-reviewed medical publications that attest to the fact that taking too much anti-viral therapy can actually make tests show false negative results? I am afraid that unless I come to my doctor’s office with that information, my insurance will not cover the costs of additional testing.
Thank you!!!