[Vazi]

Quick addition: tomorrow, Friday, will be 1 week since I was exposed.

Questions are what do I next, how do I protect my partner further, and could my burning be some kind of immune or nerve response to exposure??

[Vazi]

An update:

1. The brief face touch before having sex with my partner with my fingers a week ago seems to have resolved with no negative outcome. I know I was panicked and over reacting.

2. At the point our main concern is whether I have acquired ghsv1.
The situation as it stands:

I was 100% exposed to my partners new ohsv1 outbreak via oral sex. My partner’s culture came back negative, but their DR said that this was likely because they took valacyclovir and that the appearance looked very typical for ohsv1 and that we should still assume they have it until we can do an igg blood test (they tested negative for hsv1 & 2 on blood test a few months ago, so this would definitely confirm things), plus they had kissed me a few days earlier when I had a cold sore.

A few days later I started having extremely intense burning and itching inside my vagina and around my vulva. My symptoms didn’t respond to antifungals, antibiotics, or antivirals. The sensation was EXTREMELY intense, like the worst yeast infection of my life, was almost constant and especially bad with any friction.

I had a pcr swab of the entire area done 4 days after onset of those symptoms, and 7 days after the exposure. This was at the height of the burning symptoms. As of today, I received a negative pcr swab result. I still have no lesions, rash, or bumps. I know all that tells me is that I’m not shedding right now. My burning sensation is USUALLY down to a 3-5 on pain scale instead of an 8-10. I am on a third dose of flucanazole, which is perhaps helping.

At this point I don’t know what to think or how to proceed. I know you typically say that getting the same hsv strain in a second location is very rare, so I should have been protected. Nonetheless the timing of exposure and then sudden intense burning points to SOMETHING happening.

How would you advise I proceed? Live and see and swab anything that looks weird? Could the burning and subsequent maybe yeast still be a reaction to exposure?

[Vazi]

As an update:
It’s Monday so we’re hoping to get my partner’s swab back today, but again meanwhile we feel pretty certain they have been infected orally. Over the weekend I bit the bullet and paid out of pocket to get a genital swab for an hsv pcr test. Will wait for that.

I continue to have burning all over my vulva, inside and out. The itching seems gone at this point but the burn is persistent with any contact–underwear, fingers, etc. It is distinctly not a tingle, but rather the same kind of burning as I’ve had when I tried using over the counter Monistat for yeast years ago.

Continue to have no visible symptoms. No lesions, bumps, rash, or even redness anywhere in the “boxer shorts area.”

The urgent care Dr put me on both flucanazole and terconazole just in case (couldn’t test for yeast because the lab charged a few hundred for it).

If nothing changes next week once I have insurance I will do the full gamut of sti and sexual health testing, this is all just frightening and devastating. Not to mention physically extremely uncomfortable and painful.

[Vazi]

Their symptoms began about 36-48 hours after they were exposed to the virus from kissing me: flu-like symptoms. Those resolved and at the end of day 3 after exposure they began to develop their first lesion inside the mouth. The following morning they performed oral sex on me… a few hours later we put the whole story together and realized what must have happened. Stupid, but what is done is done now. They went and got a swab and blood test done 6 days after onset of symptoms and 4 days after first appearance of oral outbreak– as I said, we’re still waiting for the swab, but it was such a classic case according to most descriptions, lined up so clearly with my own initial outbreak symptoms years ago, and I definitely had a cold sore, that neither of us are in doubt as to what the swab will show.

Meanwhile, I continue to have fairly strong itching and burning of my vulva. That started about 24-48 hours after the incidence of oral sex during the start of their outbreak. I am now on day 8 after genital exposure and day 7 or so of these symptoms. Unfortunately, this is happening during a gap in my insurance coverage so I can’t go get a swab test until Nov 1, or be able to check for yeast or BV. I am stuck with trying to self manage and hope for the best.

I continue to have no visual symptoms whatsoever. No cuts, bumps, rash, or even redness. No discharge to indicate something else, although none of the times I’ve been formally diagnosed with BV or yeast displayed with abnormal discharge either.
I took a flucanazole in case (I had extra) 2 days ago with no changes.

This has all been fairly traumatic to go from banal cold sores to definitely infecting my parter with oral hsv1 to being frightened of infecting one or both of us genitally.

Re my initial fear about passing it to my partner after touching their face and then penetrating them with my fingers–they haven’t had any subsequent symptoms genitally 4 days after that, beyond yeast which they always get.

[Vazi]

Hello– yes, they tested negative a few months ago for hsv1. I have a known hsv1 positive from years ago and get classic cold sores on my lips.

They are still waiting for the results of their swab test, but presented with classic initial outbreak symptoms after kissing me while I had a sore coming on I didn’t know about yet. They experienced light flu like symptoms & lesions inside the mouth. It was also almost identical to my own initial outbreak ago years ago after which I tested positive for hsv1. So even though we’re waiting for their swab results it seems like a very good assumption they have it.

[Vazi]

I’d love to pre-emptively ask a follow up question for when you get to my post:

My partner also performed oral sex on me during the beginning of their outbreak. We didn’t know at the time they were having one. They already had a lesion in their mouth but because neither of us was expecting them to have picked up hsv1 from me, they had assumed it was a regular canker sore. Nobody’s fault at this point.

I know that your general stance has been that it is very difficult to transmit the same hsv strain from one body part to another once the virus is established, as it is with me. However since that time about a week ago, I have felt a generalized itching and burning sensation in the area of my vulva. I have no other symptoms and no changes to the skin on my genitals and the itchy burning feeling has neither worsened nor improved.

Now, it could be yeast or sometimes I get post-menstrual itchiness, but it feels much more extreme than normal. I am noticeably uncomfortable when at rest. Is there some possibility this is the pre-symptoms of a re-infection? Or, is it a possible symptom of my body fighting off the reintroduction of the virus? It does feel like very unusual timing to suddenly have this symptom immediately after that episode.

[Vazi]

Final piece of information: my partner has been extremely diligent about not touching their mouth or any other part of their face, so I do not think there was a risk of them having touched their mouth or lips and then other parts of their face.

But as I said, I did caress their lower face, staying well away from their mouth, but I did touch. I know that cold sores CAN appear on the chin to nose area beyond the lips, hence my anxiety. And I also know that as this is a brand new infection for them, their protection from spreading the virus elsewhere is minimal.

[Vazi]

I want to add: I know that generally only the mucus membrane where the sore is or will shortly appear is contagious, but I don’t know if the virus is more prevalent during an initial outbreak or if it can travel onto the surrounding skin enough to be contagious.

There was also some clothes shedding in between so I don’t know if contact with other objects would change anything.

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