[Westover820]

Condoms are a nice idea but I have a lot of irritation and itching in the scrotum area, and a very suspect set of stinging little red dots a couple months ago for the first time as well.

I’m at one year and three months though so I’m sure things are still settling down and five years from now it won’t be as much of a concern.

I guess I just find it really hard to believe that you need five solid days of treatment for it to be optimally effective, and I guess since there’s no actual data and everyone quoting this number doesn’t know why, maybe I’ll just do two days in advance. And then also make sure to dose it 1.5 hours before the actual act. For that peak plasma benefit.

[Westover820]

Thank you. Could you humor me on the mechanics/logic behind it then at least?

I have some background in biology and health so I find this stuff fascinating. Hopefully you can nerd-out with me for a moment on this:

There are steady state levels and there are peak plasma concentrations. But none of this really matters if youre trying to treat current viral activity. So while peak plasma concentrations occur within several hours, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the rumblings going on of the virus in the nerves and potentially towards the skin, have been “resolved“.

So how exactly do you remember them coming to this conclusion?

I have to admit that five days seems like a really long time for it to be effective. Especially if you’re in a phase already where you’re not exactly mid-outbreak. If you’re just relaxing in an asymptomatic time period, I honestly feel like you could probably take it for a day or two and be “good“ as far as transmitting. It’s always bothered me that people say five days because it is so excessively long .

Why do I care so much about this topic?

Because I get severe depression from Valtrex. neuropsychiatric symptoms which apparently have been acknowledged on the Mayo website, but not many other places. Lethargy, lack of motivation, depression, unexplained sadness, etc. It’s absolutely debilitating.

It I know that I’m going to be having sex soon, I don’t want to spend the entire week feeling completely horrible first.

[Westover820]

Forgot to add: why is the recommendation 5 days just to quell possible subclinical activity, but the recommendation to resolve a full-blown outbreak is 3 days? (Granted that’s 1,000mg but still…)

[Westover820]

Thanks for your reply. I have always felt there’s more than one thing going on here. As mentioned previously, the irritation on the glans is something I’ve had five or six times in the past. But it usually goes away on its own in a few days. This had lasted over three weeks.

Since the Cortizone cream seems to be working, it’s definitely not tied to herpes infection. But there never was anything on the glands visually. Now or in the past.

My concern was elsewhere down there. Incessant and vicious itching, which burned and hurt / ached deeply when scratched. No visual symptoms of fungal infection or jock-itch-like skin manifestations at all. But a burning itching fluid filled bump
on the inside of my leg. Granted incredibly small. And by itself.

Then weeks later, red scrotum syndrome. Textbook. Both sides bright red, and normal white skin color down the middle. Abrupt demarcation in difference of color.

And all of this preceded by urethral irritation after sex. followed by five days of pretty bad headaches a couple weeks later. followed by whole groin irritation and tenderness, followed by all this current stuff which lasted three more weeks. No idea what’s been going on.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by Westover820.

[Westover820]

Just an update, the irritation & pain on the head (only upon contact) has reduced a little with cortizone cream. It’s been 3 days. Will do 7.

But I seem to have developed Red Scrotum Syndrome. This is crazy, whatever is going on. It’s annoying that I always seem to get conditions that science has no clue the cause or treatment for.

[Westover820]

Terry I think you got me and the guy above confused. I was just replying to his question. But he’s a completely different person.

My story is in the other thread where you said you were going to respond me here.

Would you be able to read only what I wrote in the other thread and respond to it?

[Westover820]

What other post? I only have this one.

[Westover820]

This is the link to order the test:

https://depts.washington.edu/herpes/pages/hsv_resources

[Westover820]

Important note: #4 in the very first post above. This was IGG. Not IGM. So she had extremely low positive existing HSV-2 numbers.

Since she tested five days after our first encounter this ruled out the possibility that I gave anything to her. IGG takes weeks to show positive.

And she’s never had any symptoms that she was aware of.

As mentioned, she retested 33 days later and IgG was basically at the same level, so she hasn’t been on her way up. Further evidence I did not give her anything unknowingly.

[Westover820]

Last comment (if I have to pay more for doing this just let me know).

Current status: decided to stop the Valtrex cold turkey as of Thursday morning, just to see if everything explodes, and it was holding everything back.

Using the Lotrimin all over scrotum, sides of inner thighs, and now on the shaft and head.

At the very beginning of this I had put Lotrimin all over the head for two days and it did absolutely nothing, but the fact that it stopped my scrotum itch so quickly was my one and only cause/effect since this started.

I took more Diflucan yesterday thinking maybe I just needed another dose for a second week. (It’s once a week dosing)

The only thing I have left, as mentioned, is the Cipro I was given. Apparently you’re not supposed to take Diflucan and Cipro together so I was going to wait three or four days before popping the first Cipro.

Since I’m off the Valtrex completely now, either nothing new is going to happen, or this is going to get much worse very quickly. I actually took the last Valtrex Wednesday night, and it was Thursday night that was the thing on my other inner groin showed up.

Note: both of these bumps separately appeared right where the testicles touch and rest against the side of my leg.

So there’s my confusing, exhausting mess.

[Westover820]

Had to split this into two messages due to the 2000 character limit.

I don’t believe the bumps on my legs are folliculitis. They had that telltale burning itching. When you scratch them they didnt feel better. They actually stung.

But both were the size of pinheads. And where all my symptoms are (on my head and scrotum) there’s been nothing visual.

Today I had notable gooey clear non-smelling discharge from the tip. Im circumcised. But this comes and goes. Urethral irritation and inflammation has been constant for a month. I finally went and got a UTI urine test today. Will know in a few days. Too afraid to run IgG for HSV2.

Nothing seems to help the head of the penis. I don’t get how I can have zero visual symptoms and yet be in such pain. No swelling. No redness. Nothing. But if you brush a towel against it, I will scream. Nerve endings? Herpes nerve agitation? No idea.

Low positive HSV-2 (I’m told by University of Washington that runs the Western Blot) 90% of the time is actually negative and cross reacting with HSV1. She’s extremely low positive HSV2.

I suppose there’s a chance this is my HSV1 reactivating. But there’s been so many new things . I’ve never had a fluid filled bump. But they don’t look normal for folliculitis, I don’t think, and there is no hair in the middle.

I’ve gone back-and-forth a million times on whether this is fungal/yeast, bacterial, or just herpes doing what it does best: wreaking havoc on entire sections of your groin with non-specific weird sensory and nerve symptoms, and skin symptoms. messing with your head a million times over.

Nothing has improved or changed the head irritation on penis. Not even 2000 mg a day Valtrex for 7 days. In fact most recent bump on my leg came day 7 of that megadose Valtrex regimen.

I’m completely at a loss, exhausted, and don’t know how to proceed. Last thing I haven’t tried yet is Cipro to see if this is bacterial. But why scrotum itching if it is? I did a CVS UTI pee-stick test. Negative.

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